Teen Parents Want to Succeed in School—Let's Treat Them Like They Belong There, Because They Do

While in law school, I was an active student government leader in the UC system and spent a lot of time talking with high school students and their advocates about how to make higher education accessible for everyone. As I had more and more of these conversations, a troubling theme started to emerge—many students reported being denied the opportunity to take the college prep classes necessary to apply to a four-year college. And a disproportionate number were students who were either pregnant or parenting.

Fast-forward to today. I’ve spent the past year researching what California schools can do to provide pregnant and parenting students with equal educational opportunities. Our report, “Breaking Down Educational Barriers for California’s Pregnant & Parenting Students,” was released yesterday.

In the course of my research, I had the pleasure of speaking with pregnant and parenting students who described parenthood as a positive force in their life. I spoke with teens who felt a newfound motivation to succeed and graduate, but were facing unnecessary barriers to success.

Meet Norma

Let me tell you about one amazing student I met, named Norma. Norma was determined to graduate from high school and go to college. She was in the 10th grade when she gave birth to her daughter and, right away, she faced issues with her school.

Even though Norma had a cesarean section and needed time to recover, her school required that she return to school a mere five days after her surgery. The school also had no place for her to pump breast milk and told her that pumping milk at school was “not recommended” even though the right to do so is protected by law.

At the repeated urging of school staff, Norma hesitantly transferred to a continuation school. But she soon found that none of the classes were even remotely challenging. Advanced placement classes were out of the question. No foreign languages were offered—which are a requirement for applying to the UC and CSU systems. She wanted to take geometry but a parenting class was offered at the same time—and the school insisted that she take the parenting class.

Norma transferred back to the mainstream school as soon as she could. She went on to graduate, even though doing so required going to Saturday school to make up for absences that had already been excused because of parenting duties.

Her daughter is now a lively and adorable three-year-old, and Norma is in community college. Sociology is her favorite class.

But getting there wasn’t easy. The truth is, it shouldn’t have been as hard as it was. Norma deserved better.

All students have the right to a quality education, including pregnant and parenting students. And schools in California are bound by federal and state law to provide pregnant and parenting students with equal opportunity in the classroom.

Specifically, students have a right to take time off from school to address medical issues associated with pregnancy. Students also have a right to pump milk at school. They have a right to take classes that prepare them for college, and they have a right to an education at continuation school comparable to the one they would have received otherwise.  

(Read our know your rights information for pregnant and parenting students.)

Now is a critical time to address this issue. Education funding in California has gone through a major overhaul recently under the Local Control Funding Formula—which could be used to support pregnant and parenting students, as they overlap with many of formula’s priority populations.

We know these students can thrive when they have the support they need and that the law requires. So let’s make it happen.

Angélica Salceda is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the ACLU of Northern California.