by ANNA LIMONTAS SALISBURY
Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective members with executive director, Benita Miller, seated second from the right PHOTO/Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective
The commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a pregnant students’ bill of rights that guarantees students, among other things, a tranquil learning environment, tutors and financial aid and advice.
California has a School Age Families Education Program focused on not only keeping pregnant teens in school but also moving them on to higher education and a working life.
Florida and Pennsylvania mandate school districts to provide programs to assist teen parents and to continue expanding program opportunities.
But these states are the exceptions, according to a recent study by the National Women’s Law Center, based in Washington, D.C. Its “Pregnancy Test for Schools” report published in June found that only 23 states offer services to support pregnant teens.
That finding spotlights the lack of full enforcement of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the anti-discrimination mandate that celebrated its 40th anniversary on June 23.
Jane’s Due Process is a nonprofit legal advocacy group in Austin, Texas, that has been defending the rights of pregnant teens since 2001.
“School districts are much more proactive in handling potential Title IX complaints than they used to be,” said Tina Hester, executive director of Jane’s Due Process. But that doesn’t mean all the problems are solved. “We did have a call to the hotline recently in which a middle school principal and counselor were trying to force a pregnant 12-year-old girl into leaving.”
According to the caller’s mother, school officials wanted her daughter to leave school because they thought she was setting a bad example for others students, Hester said. This student has by now missed so much school she will probably have to repeat the grade.