Cabrillo Unified School District will no longer require children to be free nits (lice eggs) in order to return to school, according to CUSD Superintendent Robert Gaskill.

The district and site administrators met today and have agreed that students will only be sent home if they have:

• active, adult head lice OR
• nits where there is no record of treatment OR
• any combination of the two

 
Students will not be readmitted with active, adult head lice. 

Superintendent Gaskill describes this policy as consistent with the current policy, which require no "untreated" nits, but it is a radically different interpretation of that policy. And it will have a significant impact on district families whose children are found to have head lice.

Parents will now only have to say they’ve treated the live lice in oder to have their children re-admitted to school. Children will be re-inspected within seven to ten days and treatment kits will be available to parents who cannot afford them.

The district is revising the packet sent home with children found to have head lice to reflect these changes.

Recently, our family has had the opportunity to experience first-hand the Cabrillo Unified School District’s "no-nits" policy toward head lice.

The policy is broken.  Not only does it impose needless misery and expense on district families, it’s unsupported by scientific, medical or public health evidence.

Under the policy, no child will be admitted to school if there are nits (head lice eggs) present in the child’s hair. While no-nits policies are common among school districts, they are universally opposed by the very public health and medical organizations cited in the district’s policy: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public Health, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Association of School Nurses, and California School Nurses Association.

The life cycle of a louse

The good news is that a couple of weekly treatments will kill any lice that hatch before they are mature enough (eight days old) to lay more eggs.

But there are no medications that can remove nits. Nor can hours of combing remove all the nits. Nits have evolved to stay cemented to a person’s hair. They can be tediously removed if they can be found, but only if you inspect every side of every single hair on the child’s head. There is a reason why nit-picking has become a metaphor for the futile pursuit of trivial outcomes.

That is why a no-lice policy is effective and a no-nits policy is no improvement.

The district’s cure is worse than the disease

The district’s no-nits policy causes unnecessarily lost school days. But most of the misery happens at home, away from the school.

The policy almost certainly results lost income and increased expenses for many Coastside families that work two jobs and cannot afford to pay for childcare.

Even more hidden is the unnecessary misery the district’s policy creates for parents and children.

I’ve seen parents discussing ineffective folk remedies, and futilely coming their childrens hair for hours in a vain attempt to remove nits. We have no idea how many have been driven out of desperation to overuse anti-lice medications.

Only the CUSD board can solve this problem

Because the no-nits policy was adopted by the district board last December, only the board can reverse the policy. I spoke to the board meeting Thursday night about why it must reverse the policy and I’m trying to get the board to put this on the agenda of its next meeting. 

Because the board only meets once a month, it’s critical for the board to strike down this prejudicial, punitive, and unscientific policy at its next meeting.

I know that the board is dealing with much weightier matters right now. But this is an opportunity for them to solve a serious district problem quickly and simply.

Follow the link for quotes from the CDC, California Department of Public Health, California School Nurses Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics saying why they oppose this policy.

A new pre-game tailgate party will launch at the Friday, October 2 football game at Half Moon Bay High School.

The party will feature barbeque with water and snacks, face painting supported by the High School’s Art Department, pictures taken with the "Cougie" mascot, and music. The party is sponsored by the high school’s Associated Student Council and is free to everyone.

The event is called the "Smokehouse Game," referring to the barbeque. It will be held in the High School’s parking lot from 5-6 PM. The varsity football game against El Camino follows immediately at 6 PM, and all community members at the Smokehouse event are invited to attend. Tickets for the game are $5 at the gate.

"I love having community spirit at our football games, and I hope this event will boost that," said Student Council Executive Board Member, Chris Probert.

"We haven’t done this before and we’re very enthusiastic to see the community turnout at our pre-game party," said Rob Lawrence, the High School’s Activities Director and ASB Advisor.

The following letter has been distributed to the community by Rob Gaskill, superintendent of the Cabrillo Unified School District. There will be a second "Town Hall Meeting on Adequate School Funding" sponsored by the Cabrillo Education Foundation from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23 in the Cunha Intermediate Library.

As a direct result of what Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi recently deemed "the worst recession since the Great Depression," funding for schools in the State of California (previously ranked an abysmal 46th nationally) is headed even lower.  The agreement reached between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders last month virtually guarantees it.  In the span of less than twenty-four months, the State Budget has shriveled from over $100 billion to $85 billion.  As a result of a combination of cuts, deferrals, and IOU’s (deficits) applied to the revenue limit guarantee, the already underfunded per student "guarantee" of $6,366.74 that schools should be receiving this year will instead amount to $5,198.12… a reduction of over 18%!  Given these facts, it should surprise no one that the Cabrillo Unified School District Budget that was just under $30 million in 2008-09 will level off at approximately $25 million next year.  As you might well imagine, school districts across the state are scrambling to "make do" with much less… and valuable programs (and staff members) are falling by the wayside. 

This is certainly not the first time the District has faced a budget crisis and it might not be the last.  But this one is the most challenging to date. This "for the foreseeable future" reduction in state funding has created a structural deficit for most districts… and structural deficits are serious matters. If you are taking in less money than you are spending, you have a problem and that problem can grow exponentially over time.  The other challenge posed by a structural deficit is that the response nearly always requires reductions in on-going expenditures and that almost always translates into program and people; reductions that can remain "off the table" indefinitely until funding levels increase or new funding sources are identified. 

We have taken a number of proactive steps to address this growing crisis along the way.  Our classrooms are currently at, or near, the maximum class sizes stipulated by contract at all levels.  We have been operating under a "hold" on state categorical program carryover amounts and a freeze on non-essential purchases and travel for over a year. 

Last year’s (08-09) budget was reduced by $497,483 via staffing to ratio, serving students with specialized needs within the district, freezing non-essential travel and purchases, and reducing Fund 17 reserves by $1.0 million.

This year (09-10), the District Budget was further reduced by $440,476 via:

• $137,188 in reduced administrative staffing at the District Office
• $  60,000 in reduced athletic funding
• $  70,000 in reduced classified staffing at the District Office
• $  53,037 in reduced classified staffing at elementary school sites
• $  42,394 in reduced classified staffing at secondary school sites
• $  28,843 in reduced counseling (.5) at Half Moon Bay High School
• $  25,000 reduction in consult support
• $  20,000 in projected energy savings
• $  4,284 in miscellaneous program cuts

NEW this summer is Coastside Childrens’ Program’s 6-week "Buena Vida Spanish Immersion Camp" where campers will speak in conversational Spanish with professional, bilingual staff.

Each week highlights a different country (Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain, El Salvador, Venezuela), and will include books, crafts, songs and special presenters.

"CCP’s Buena Vida Spanish Immersion" camp runs M-F, 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM, June 22 to July 31 at CCP Hatch Elementary School.
Cost is $210 per week.

Visit www.coastsidechildren.org to register or call Mayra at 712-7415.
 
Also, CCP Montara (728-7419 located at Farallone View Elementary School) and CCP Half Moon Bay (726-7412 located at Hatch Elementary School) are hosting our 10-week "Fog City Summer Camp" – this will be a blast for kids ages 5-12.

Weekly themes include ‘Science behind Magic,’ ‘What’s Cookin’ Good Lookin’,’ ‘Let’s Have a Party,’ ‘Sports Freak’ and more. There will be art, music, sports, field trips and special guests!

"Fog City" runs M-F, 7 AM to 6 PM, June 15 to August 19.
 
 
Taara Hoffman
Executive Director
Coastside Children’s Programs
494 Miramontes Avenue
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650.726.5691 phone
650.726.5660 fax

Coastside Childrens’ Programs Preschool in Montara (at the Farallone View Elementary School campus in our CCP building) opened June 1.
 
Over the years we’ve received interest about a preschool in that area (as you know, we have our current preschool in HMB at the Community United Methodist Church – unaffiliated with the Church).
 
We got to work and were successful in securing funding from the SmartKids Preschool Expansion Fund. We also got some facility rehabilitation funding from CDBG (community development block grant from San Mateo County).
 
So, we now have a new preschool classroom on the site of CCP Montara as well as a wonderful new preschool playground – complete with sandbox, climbing structure and tricycle path!

The Cunha Intermediate School Band Boosters will host an E-Waste recycling collection event on Saturday, May 30th 2009 from 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Cabrillo School District office parking lot at 498 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay (next to Hatch Elementary School). All proceeds from the event benefit the band program at Cunha Intermediate School.

E-waste items that can be recycled for free at the event include computer desktops, laptops, keyboards, monitors, televisions, cell phones, pagers, and many other items. "We can take almost anything with a plug," say organizers. "Just drive up and we’ll unload for you."

Items that cannot be accepted include fluorescent bulbs, furniture, large appliances, refrigerators, solvents, paints, or oil.

"Recycle your e-waste at this event and you’ll be doing two good things at the same time" say organizers, "Greening the community and filling it with music."

You’re invited to share ideas with other community members on what we can do to assure our high quality education on the Coastside is not adversely affected by future state budget cuts. In 2010/2011 our district faces a projected additional $1.2M deficit.

June 4, 2009, 7 to 9pm
Mavericks Convention Center (formerly the Harbor House), 107 Broadway Ave, Princeton by the Sea .
Facilitated by Pat Brown, with funding from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation
RSVP: [email protected] or 650-726.7871. Limited seating available.