Louisiana school forcing pregnant girls to home school

[Alecto]

Slut shaming at its finest. Do the boys get the same treatment? Of course not!

From the ACLU: (link not broken, major site)

In a Louisiana public school, female students who are suspected of being pregnant are told that they must take a pregnancy test. Under school policy, those who are pregnant or refuse to take the test are kicked out and forced to undergo home schooling.

Welcome to Delhi Charter School, in Delhi, Louisiana, a school of 600 students that does not believe its female students have a right to education free from discrimination. According to its Student Pregnancy Policy, the school has a right to not only force testing upon girls, but to send them to a physician of the school administration’s choice. A positive test result, or failure to take the test at all, means administrators can forbid a girl from taking classes and force her to pursue a course of home study if she wishes to continue her education with the school.

I lived about an hour from Delhi and this doesn't surprise me in the least. This part of Louisiana is known as "Lower Arkansas" and is heavily fundie/Southern Baptist/Evangelical. However, what they are doing is a direct violation of Title IX.

[CanadianHippie]

The school officials may not want the female students to have the right to an education, but the law says they have that right and law trumps the narrow minded opinions of a bunch of old twits every time.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Yeah. I guess the good news is that the report coming from the ACLU means someone is at least fighting this...

[Coconut Flan]

Regressing 40 or 50 years or maybe more?

[keeperrox]

It's a charter school. They get to operate under their own special set of rules. Unfortunately, they are often also using public funds to do so. Blech. It's just another way that republicans have downright assaulted the middle and lower classes.

[E Street Fan]

Regressing 40 or 50 years or maybe more?

No kidding. Next up in Louisiana: homes for unwed mothers and forced adoptions.

But the ACLU (I am a member) are just commie libruls anyway. :x

[Alecto]

It's a charter school. They get to operate under their own special set of rules. Unfortunately, they are often also using public funds to do so. Blech. It's just another way that republicans have downright assaulted the middle and lower classes.

Charter schools can't violate federal law. This is kin to a charter school refusing a 504 plan for a student.

[meda]

It's a charter school. They get to operate under their own special set of rules. Unfortunately, they are often also using public funds to do so. Blech. It's just another way that republicans have downright assaulted the middle and lower classes.

I was thinking the same thing' although in this case there is a good chance that they are receiving federal funds, which would require them to comply with title 9

[keeperrox]

Charter schools can't violate federal law. This is kin to a charter school refusing a 504 plan for a student.

They aren't refusing to educate the girls, though. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them. I pretty much don't agree with charter schools at all. They just divert much needed funds away from poor and struggling schools and don't operate on the same rigorous standards that public schools are required to. Plus, they can refuse enrollment to anyone they damn well please, which public schools don't have the luxury of doing.

[NurseNell]

The school officials may not want the female students to have the right to an education, but the law says they have that right and law trumps the narrow minded opinions of a bunch of old twits every time.

It's a charter school and maybe that's why they can do this? Charter schools get public money but set their own policies and rules. But still, since public money is used I can't see how they can do this.

Whenever I hear of a school doing this I always want to ask, what about the baby's father? I actually did bring this up at my son's Catholic h.s. They used the fact that the h.s. was on the 3rd floor (it was a K thru 12 school) as a reason for not letting pregnant girls continue at the school after the 3rd month. They could home school or go to the public high school for pregnant and parenting teens. I said I didn't think it was fair to not let the girls continue but the boys could. That's when they told me the 3rd floor nonsense. And then they added, we know who the mothers are, we can't prove who the fathers are. Oh yes, slut shaming. At my other son's Catholic h.s. they let the girls stay because they had learned how hard it was for the girl's to make up what they missed after being at the school for pregnant and parenting teens. Let's just say the standards weren't the same.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Who, exactly is supposed to do the homeschooling? It's a very small percentage of the population that actually has the financial ability and proper qualifications to homeschool.

[keeperrox]

Who, exactly is supposed to do the homeschooling? It's a very small percentage of the population that actually has the financial ability and proper qualifications to homeschool.

I know nothing about how the charter school we're talking operates, but typically the school will send a "homebound instructor" to tutor and give assignments from the regular ed teachers for a few hours week or make some sort of cyber education available. It's the whole equal but separate argument, which we all know isn't really equal at all.

[latraviata]

Slut shaming at its finest. Do the boys get the same treatment? Of course not!

From the ACLU: (link not broken, major site)

I lived about an hour from Delhi and this doesn't surprise me in the least. This part of Louisiana is known as "Lower Arkansas" and is heavily fundie/Southern Baptist/Evangelical. However, what they are doing is a direct violation of Title IX.

Does this school provide any sex ed at all???

[mockingbird]

They aren't refusing to educate the girls, though. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them. I pretty much don't agree with charter schools at all. They just divert much needed funds away from poor and struggling schools and don't operate on the same rigorous standards that public schools are required to. Plus, they can refuse enrollment to anyone they damn well please, which public schools don't have the luxury of doing.

Even if this is unfortunately true, is it legal for them to require the girls to have a pregnancy test and go to a specific doctor? That sounds like it could be a HIPAA violation?

[luckystone]

I love how failure to take the test also means you get sent off to home schooling.

On what grounds do they suspect these girls are pregnant and ask for a test? Giant tummies? Seeing the ones who have boyfriends?

[CanadianHippie]

I love how failure to take the test also means you get sent off to home schooling.

On what grounds do they suspect these girls are pregnant and ask for a test? Giant tummies? Seeing the ones who have boyfriends?

Honestly, it's probably catty, mean girl gossip that causes them to "suspect". Which means not only do the girls have to deal with bullying from other girls, but from the school too.

[NurseNell]

Even if this is unfortunately true, is it legal for them to require the girls to have a pregnancy test and go to a specific doctor? That sounds like it could be a HIPAA violation?

I sure wouldn't think so. They can't force a girl to take a pregnancy test in any other school. A parent would have a right to take them to court if they forced the issue. The HIPAA violation would come in ti place if the doctor revealed information or tests results without the written consent of the girl and her parents. Now, if he's offering free OB care that might be another thing. :? :violin:

[NurseNell]

Does this school provide any sex ed at all???

Why would that matter? Schools that provide sex ed still have students who get pregnant. At the school district I worked in as a nurse high schools had Health Start Clinics where girls could get birth control prescribed. Those schools still had lots of pregnant students.

[ElphabaGalinda]

This is wrong on so many levels. How do they determine which girls they should force to take pregnancy tests? How can they even legally force a girl to take a pregnancy test or go to a certail doctor? It can't be legal for a publically funded school to refuse to let a girl attend the school for being pregnant. They should be taken to court and stopped.

[keeperrox]

Even if this is unfortunately true, is it legal for them to require the girls to have a pregnancy test and go to a specific doctor? That sounds like it could be a HIPAA violation?

Honestly, I'm not sure. When I was in high school, if you fell asleep in class more than once, you were sent to the nurse for a drug test. Now, that was in 1996-2000, but I watched a kid get escorted out of my sociology class due to a second offense. It was in our student handbook, and it was something families signed off on at the beginning of each school year. I assume that you could opt out, but as an athlete, we were pretty much expected to sign it.

My high school teaching experience was in an inner city school district that had a high percentage of teenage parents, so things operated very differently there. We had a small clinic right in our building where the girls could get tested and also get their depo shots administered (both voluntarily). My classroom was next to the parenting program, which was funded from an outside source, and all expecting parents were offered placement in the program, both female and male. Teenage pregnancy wasn't shunned in this community, it was celebrated (which offers a whole other host of problems; I had 10th graders with 3 children already). Things were very openly spoken about there.

[Beammeup]

I'm pretty surprised the school feels they can force a medical test on a minor without parental permission. And what nerve they have to invade anyone's privacy like that.

[NurseNell]

My high school teaching experience was in an inner city school district that had a high percentage of teenage parents, so things operated very differently there. We had a small clinic right in our building where the girls could get tested and also get their depo shots administered (both voluntarily). My classroom was next to the parenting program, which was funded from an outside source, and all expecting parents were offered placement in the program, both female and male. Teenage pregnancy wasn't shunned in this community, it was celebrated (which offers a whole other host of problems; I had 10th graders with 3 children already). Things were very openly spoken about there.

That's interesting the fathers could participate in the program too. That really is how it should be. Was there a nursery and day care in the high school for the babies and toddlers? The urban district I was in had nurseries and day cares in each high school. There was also a separate high school for just pregnant and parenting teens. It was up to the student and her parents whether she transferred to that school or stayed in her own school.

[keeperrox]

That's interesting the fathers could participate in the program too. That really is how it should be. Was there a nursery and day care in the high school for the babies and toddlers? The urban district I was in had nurseries and day cares in each high school. There was also a separate high school for just pregnant and parenting teens. It was up to the student and her parents whether she transferred to that school or stayed in her own school.

The YMCA ran a daycare in the building, but it was open to the community, on a tuition scale, and there was a decent waiting list. Very few students chose to use it. There was also a childcare program that was 3 credits that was run by the students (and one teacher), but it was only 2 or 3 days a week for half a day, so I don't know of any students who used that either. But that really has nothing to do with what this thread is about, so I'll stop going off topic now.

[NjoyingNsanity]

This has the potential to go really wrong, the students obviously know about the rule so all it would take is one bully, jealous ex or mean spirited gossip to cause some real problems for a girl even if she wasn't pregnant or hadn't even become sexually active. Likewise could a teacher suspect a student if they were just a little pudgy, or maybe threw up because of something as benign as food poisoning, nerves or a stomach bug? Could a undiagnosed diabetic face having to take a pregnancy test after a bout of hypoglycemia, since one of the symptoms is dizziness?

I can understand the school wanting the girl to homeschool considering shit that happened at my high school that put the mother and baby in danger like people thinking it was funny to push, shove or trip a pregnant girl. From a safety/liability aspect I can see them trying to cover their ass against a lawsuit.

[NurseNell]

This has the potential to go really wrong, the students obviously know about the rule so all it would take is one bully, jealous ex or mean spirited gossip to cause some real problems for a girl even if she wasn't pregnant or hadn't even become sexually active. Likewise could a teacher suspect a student if they were just a little pudgy, or maybe threw up because of something as benign as food poisoning, nerves or a stomach bug? Could a undiagnosed diabetic face having to take a pregnancy test after a bout of hypoglycemia, since one of the symptoms is dizziness?

I can understand the school wanting the girl to homeschool considering shit that happened at my high school that put the mother and baby in danger like people thinking it was funny to push, shove or trip a pregnant girl. From a safety/liability aspect I can see them trying to cover their ass against a lawsuit.

Exactly. I guess since the ACLU is involved this will go to court and certainly found to be illegal.