George Bush: Louse enabler?

George Bush: Louse enabler?I don't really like the No Child Left Behind law. Maybe it leaves fewer children behind but it tends to deaden the teaching of average and above average kids. However, I didn't realize until I read today's Wall St. Journal that there is a health policy impact. (See Kink in Federal Law Is Prompting Schools To Stop Picking Nits.)Schools didn't listen too much when the American Academy of Pediatrics said"No Nit" policies that ban infested kids from school are unnecessary. Schools still tended to send kids home and not let them return for several days, until they could prove they were nit free. A lot of money was wasted on useless and dangerous treatments, and school time wasted on head checks. But since No Child started measuring schools on attendance, there has been a major rethink. Schools are realizing that eliminating "No Nit" is an easy way to beef up attendance.There's a long-running fight between the No Nit people and those who take a more lenient stand. The policy changes have added fuel to that fire. The article hints at some correlation between attitude and hair length:

[An assistant superintendent in KY who pushed through a lice tolerance policy] says some miffed parents claim he's insensitive to the issue because he is bald.

Meanwhile in LA:

The new [lice tolerance] policy upsets Barbara Bernato, whose daughter, Mikayla, got head lice last fall while attending kindergarten... After discovering a second infestation in February, Ms. Bernato spent six hours combing the nits out of her daughter's waist-length hair.

Why does a kindergartener have waist-length hair in the first place?I'm a lice tolerance guy myself. I'm bald, too, so maybe that's why.