Kids With Head Lice to Stay in Class: Acceptable or Ridiculous? [Poll]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended a new regulation on class attendance of students with head lice. Katu.com reported that AAP medical specialists deemed that the students afflicted with head lice should be allowed to attend class. This recommendation came about in lieu of the fact that head lice was known to have not make others sick.

Mom Christe Wedlund shared her experience with having a student with head lice in class. "It's been in our fifth grade for, I don't know, it seems like for six months now," she said.

Another school teacher shared a totally different experience. Asher Canty said, "No, we usually don't have kids; they just stay home."

A school librarian, Marie Flanigan, maintains an open mind about keeping kids with head lice in class. "We always send 'em home, that's all I can tell you," she said. "But I don't know if they spread more that way or not."

The American Academy of Pediatrics doctors cited that head lice do not hurt other kids as much as missing school would hurt their learning abilities.

Meanwhile, a Plano, Texas mom, Tracy Wineberg, is aware of the effects that kids catching head lice from a classmate poses, as reported by CBS Local. Wineberg's seven-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, caught head lice from another student the previous year.

Wineberg shared, "It's a pain to have to pick their [students'] hair through to get all the eggs and everything out of it."

According to Wineberg, her daughter recovered from lice after over two weeks. For this reason, Ashlyn's mom thought it was "ridiculous" for doctors to see it acceptable to keep kids with head lice in class.

The Texas mom also revealed that once caught, her daughter's head lice became recurrent. She shared, "Within another week she had it again, so we had to do prescription shampoo."

The American Academy of Pediatrics stated they issued the school recommendation with regard head lice under the premise that "head lice is a nuisance, not a serious disease or a sign of poor hygiene."

Susan Hoff, a health and safety policies supervisor at United Way Childcare Centers, values school time. However, she does not see kids having head lice as acceptable to be in class. She said, "As a parent I feel like if my child or there were children in the classroom that had lice I would want them to go home."

According to Today.com, AAP doctors additionally advised with the following message regarding students with head lice: "Pediatricians are encouraged to educate schools and communities that no-nit policies are unjust and should be abandoned. Children can finish the school day, be treated, and return to school."

Should kids with head lice be allowed to attend class?