Sioux City Journal

Woman charged with sending lice-infested kids to school

9:35 AM

Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2008

BELLE VERNON, Pa. (AP) -- A woman in western Pennsylvania is charged with endangering her two children for allegedly ignoring warnings and sending the kids to school with lice.

Authorities in Belle Vernon, Pa., say Nicole Lynn Holmes remains in jail Wednesday awaiting a preliminary hearing.

School officials in the town south of Pittsburgh told police the problem arose in February when Holmes was told she had to get her children treated before they could return to school.

But police say she later sent the two youngsters back to school without treatment and exposed other children to lice.

Court staff said Wednesday that a public defender would be assigned to represent Holmes at the preliminary hearing Friday.

Story Comments

Jacki wrote on Apr 5, 2008 8:59 AM:

" I think the issue is the parents of those children who ALAYS have head lice, not the ones who may have an occasional case. Lice may not carry disease, but they can cause severe irritation to the child. Those parents who do not properly take care of the situation should be charged with neglect! "

in the know wrote on Apr 4, 2008 10:14 AM:

" Lice are a nuisance but they do NOT carry disease. Yes, if a child itches too much they can scratch their skin and that in turn can get infected. To me it makes more sense to crack down on the parents who ignore vaccination requirements...that has potentially a greater health impact on your children than lice. Lice can be anywhere...not just in school ie: movie theater seats, the furry parts of coats, hair brushes, etc. The type that infest humans do not live on animals and can only live off of a human for 24 hours. Every school has the repeat offenders for lice...but take them to court? Seems a bit extreme to me. Send a social worker to the house to check on the situations in the home and if there is a problem...then yes take them to court for the child(ren) sake. Education on the parents part, teachers part, and students part all tie together to prevent/control infestation / transmission. Lice can infect the wealthy just as much as the poor....it is not necessarily a sign of uncleanliness! "

Jackie wrote on Apr 3, 2008 8:29 AM:

" I agree with Carrie! Thanks to repeat offenders, I have had to treat my kids upto 3 times for lice. When I said something about other parents and kids the first go around, I was told it was taken care of but when I had to treat my kids 2nd and 3rd times, that is when the school finally did something! Again after I had to say something about those parents and kids! "

Carrie wrote on Apr 2, 2008 11:16 AM:

" I would like to see some of this same type of charges brought up against many parents in some of the school systems around our area. It seems as though the same students have a recurrence of head lice in our city school systems. The students are totally embarressed with this situation but the parents aren't following through with the treatments and the combing out the eggs and bugs. This is not something the students can do for themselves. Why can't we make the parents accountable for their lack of responsibility? We see this on a daily basis over and over. "