Louisiana school forcing pregnant girls to home school

[MonkeyMomma]

http://www.aclu.org/blog/reproductive-f ... ests-girls

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.

[Hane]

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

Back in 1979, I was at a YWCA convention and struck up a conversation with a delegate from Louisiana. At that time, it was ILLEGAL to teach sex ed in Louisiana! Louisiananans, help me out here: is that still the case?

[Beammeup]

I poked through the school policies linked by the ACLU. The school has a mandatory corporal punishment requirement. If the parents don't agree, the children can't attend the school.

[NurseNell]

I poked through the school policies linked by the ACLU. The school has a mandatory corporal punishment requirement. If the parents don't agree, the children can't attend the school.

It would be a cold day in hell before I sent my child to a school with such a policy.

[Maat Mama]

Wow, if girls could go to high school in Gilead (setting of The Handmaid's Tale,) this is what it would look like. Shocking. :shock:

[Beammeup]

It would be a cold day in hell before I sent my child to a school with such a policy.

Likewise. I also would tell my girls to refuse to take a pregnancy test.

[luckystone]

Likewise. I also would tell my girls to refuse to take a pregnancy test.

I wonder if any girls will stage a rebellion? All gossiping about each other being pregnant then refusing to take a test until they have to get rid of most of the female students :lol: that would be awesome.

[crawfishgirl]

I attended high school in LA in the early 80's. If I remember correctly (it's been many years), the only sex ed we had was watching a film about STD's. We also had a couple of pregnant girls attending school - I never heard anything about them not being allowed to stay.

To show how far we've come as a society - my mother eloped during high school when she was 16. The high school that she attended (MS, not LA) did not normally allow married people (or maybe it was just married women? I'm not sure) to continue to attend high school. (No pregnancy - just a teenage romance.) My grandparents had to go to the school and beg for her to be allowed to continue to attend. Fortunately, the school relented, and she was able to attend until graduation. This would have been in the late 1950's.

Times have really changed, thank goodness.

[latraviata]

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.

I thought it had some sort of effect, at least that is what I know from studies. As a school, one could do something to try to prevent teen pregnancy instead of coerce them to have a pregnancy test, which is in in my country described as a 'violation of bodily integrity'.

[NurseNell]

Likewise. I also would tell my girls to refuse to take a pregnancy test.

That goes without saying.

[TinyDancer87]

I hope this school gets sued or taken to court, which in turn would publicly establish that forcing girls to take any test- let alone a medical one- just because they're girls is discriminatory and illegal. AND to kick one out because she is pregnant is also illegal. I hope this gets publicly announced to educated the southern population that this is NOT okay.

[Beammeup]

From my reading of the policies, this really appears to be a Christian school pretending to be a charter school so they can get federal and state funds for their religious school. I don't care if you want a religious education for your children, but I don't want my tax dollars paying for it.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

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.

I don't agree at all with what the school is doing to girls, but I do need to clarify a few things about charter schools. I'm an education major and starting my senior year in just a few weeks. Anyway, there is a lot of confusion surrounding charter schools. I'm not trying to handslap at all. I just know that there can be confusion about what charter schools can and cannot do.

Charter schools are still public schools. They operate within a given school district. Essentially, each school district figures out what it costs to educate one student per year, in my area approximately $9,000. That amount is then sent to the charter school based on the number of students attending ($9,000 x whatever number of students). If there are students from multiple districts, each district sends what they would pay for thier individual student. They are held to the same standards; meaning they are still required to take the state examinations for No Child Left Behind. They have to meet AYP just like the normal public schools do. Also, they are not allowed to refuse admission to anyone because they are publicly funded. If the school has more applicants than it does positions then a lottery system goes into effect to determine who attends.

[NurseNell]

Charter schools are still public schools. They operate within a given school district. Essentially, each school district figures out what it costs to educate one student per year, in my area approximately $9,000. That amount is then sent to the charter school based on the number of students attending ($9,000 x whatever number of students). If there are students from multiple districts, each district sends what they would pay for thier individual student. They are held to the same standards; meaning they are still required to take the state examinations for No Child Left Behind. They have to meet AYP just like the normal public schools do. Also, they are not allowed to refuse admission to anyone because they are publicly funded. If the school has more applicants than it does positions then a lottery system goes into effect to determine who attends.

Charter schools started in MN and there are a lot of charter schools in the Twin Cities. Some are geared toward ethnic groups, although anyone can attend. I definitely feel charter schools have their place . The Somali community has a charter school, the Hmong have more than one. A friend of mine started a charter school for native Spanish speaking kids. The charter middle schools were better than most of the public middle schools. I even knew public school teachers who sent their kids to the charter middle schools. There is an excellent charter school for the performing arts.

The charter schools seem to spend a greater part of the day in academic pursuits. There aren't the never ending special days and programs. The charter schools in the Twin Cities had an expectation that parents would be involved. Public schools really try to have that expectation but way too many parents just don't get involved. Even when the school pays for cabs to bring parents to and from parent/teacher conferences. The parents sending their kids to charter schools represent all socioeconomic groups so they aren't different in that way. But they take an interest in their kids' education. The Somali charter school was in my neighborhood. When it was dismissal time there were parents helping and the kids were orderly instead of running and screaming down the street. There were no fights after school.

edited to fix weird typing errors

[dawbs]

*snip*

They are held to the same standards; meaning they are still required to take the state examinations for No Child Left Behind. They have to meet AYP just like the normal public schools do. Also, they are not allowed to refuse admission to anyone because they are publicly funded. If the school has more applicants than it does positions then a lottery system goes into effect to determine who attends.

Well, the rules on charter schools vary from state to state. (my state's standards are different than what you posted). In some states, they can refuse admission.

And while they may not be allowed to refuse admission blatantly in your state, they can often find ways to do so, regardless. For example, charter schools local to me, in areas where students must ride busses to school (rural) often don't provide bussing services. On the surface, this is NBD. In practice, it means that parents who don't have a car or who aren't available at 7:30 am and 3:30 PM can't send their kids there--it weeds out lower income students and students who have both parents work.

That may not be the intent, but it is still how it works out--suddenly many of the middle-class students are sucked out of the local school system and the lower income students remain.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

Charter schools started in MN and there are a lot of charter schools in the Twin Cities. Some are geared toward ethnic groups, although anyone can attend th I definitely feel charter schools have their place.e schools. The Somali community has a charter school, the Hmong have more than one. A friend of mine started a charter school for native Spanish speaking kids. The charter middle schools were better than most of the public middle schools. I even knew public school teachers who sent their kids to the charter middle schools. There is an excellent charter school for the performing arts.

The charter schools seem to spend a greater part of the day in academic pursuits. There aren't the never ending special days and programs. The charter schools in the Twin Cities had an expectation that parents would be involved. Public schools really try to have that expectation but way too many parents just don't get involved. Even when the school pays for cabs to bring parents to and from parent/teacher conferences. The parents sending their kids to charter schools represent all socioeconomic groups so they aren't different in that way. But they take an interest in their kids' education. The Somali charter school was in my neighborhood. When it was dismissal time there were parents helping and the kids were orderly instead of running and screaming down the street. There were no fights after school.

You are right. There are some great charter schools in Minnesota. There are some really good ones in Colorado. There is a great one where I live in PA that is run by the same people who started one of the best charter schools in the country, in Colorado. I would love to send my kids there, when I have them. It is only K-8 though.

Most charter schools have a theme to them. Like you mentioned, many are based around ethnic groups, but there are a lot for STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and for the liberal arts.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I poked through the school policies linked by the ACLU. The school has a mandatory corporal punishment requirement. If the parents don't agree, the children can't attend the school.

[Double-checks calendar, since this post raises the possibility of a time warp]

It's 2012, people. Did Louisiana not get the memo?

Help a Canadian out here, since ALL of this sounds outrageous. Where I live, pregnancy discrimination is illegal and would result in a human rights complaint even if done by a private school. Likewise, corporal punishment by a school would result in assault charges and loss of teaching license. Now, I realize I'm criticizing a foreign culture here, but humour me again and tell me how this is justified. Where are those stats showing that Louisiana is doing a good job of keeping its teen pregnancy rate low and having students stay in school and do well?

[Samantha]

[Double-checks calendar, since this post raises the possibility of a time warp]

It's 2012, people. Did Louisiana not get the memo?

Help a Canadian out here, since ALL of this sounds outrageous. Where I live, pregnancy discrimination is illegal and would result in a human rights complaint even if done by a private school. Likewise, corporal punishment by a school would result in assault charges and loss of teaching license. Now, I realize I'm criticizing a foreign culture here, but humour me again and tell me how this is justified. Where are those stats showing that Louisiana is doing a good job of keeping its teen pregnancy rate low and having students stay in school and do well?

I don't know. This is a totally foreign thing to me being in Michigan. It is totally illegal in our schools to administer corporal punishment.

And as an aside on charter schools: Here in Michigan, our Snyder just signed a bill that removes the cap on charter schools. So now we have a bunch of for-profit schools coming in from out of state, and using public money that should be going to the poorer districts. It's a bad bad thing. Since I'm going into secondary education, I'm very afriad I will not find a job.

[freejoytoo]

Holy shit. We are going backwards to before the sexual revolution.

[NurseNell]

Holy shit. We are going backwards to before the sexual revolution.

Wasn't it Louisiana that introduced the concept of covenant marriages for any marriage there?

[kb2]

Many private schools in Louisiana just expel pregnant female students (...but never seem to find teenage paternity very notable). It does show a special amount of evilness to claim to have a home study program so they can keep the voucher or tuition money of students they're refusing to teach.

And as for actually, like, following federal guidelines on discrimination and whatnot...no one voted for the new voucher system here actually thinking that great bastions of learning would thrive because, no longer stifled by socialism, they would achieve amazing success on the free market due to their awesomeness. The fancy private school set is horrified by the idea of accepting public school students into their schools, and they have all sorts of plans to keep their student population the same. The dinky backwoods religious private school set is ecstatic that they can find more straight children to attend their school so they can fight the gay agenda together. Everyone is either planning to use the voucher system to become less integrated racially, politically, and economically, or planning ways to keep the educational system as unequal as possible so they can remain at the top.

I hate people.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

Well, the rules on charter schools vary from state to state. (my state's standards are different than what you posted). In some states, they can refuse admission.

And while they may not be allowed to refuse admission blatantly in your state, they can often find ways to do so, regardless. For example, charter schools local to me, in areas where students must ride busses to school (rural) often don't provide bussing services. On the surface, this is NBD. In practice, it means that parents who don't have a car or who aren't available at 7:30 am and 3:30 PM can't send their kids there--it weeds out lower income students and students who have both parents work.

That may not be the intent, but it is still how it works out--suddenly many of the middle-class students are sucked out of the local school system and the lower income students remain.

That is a fair point about busing/transportation and how it impacts who ends up going to charter schools. Although this documentary definitely presents with some bias, Waiting for Superman goes in depth with charter schools and the need for a different school model in America. It might be worth your time, if you are interested, because it seems as though you are pretty passionate about issues regarding schools and school choice.

[Rosa]

It's not just that middle-class students go to charter schools, it's that charter schools often push out kids with special needs. They can't actually FORCE you to take your kid out, but they can be difficult to work with and strongly suggest that your child might not belong in that particular school...

They also typically have different hiring rules for teachers, and the kinds of requirements and commitments that this place has - it differs by school, but they may require a commitment for parent involvement, or a commitment to extracurricular activities, to allow children in.

They are also self-selecting just by having more paperwork - that gets you a certain kind of parent.

(I'm in Minneapolis, we have not only a ton of charter schools but a wide variety of noncharter public schools and "concentrations" of certain minority students to make second-language instruction and cultural issues easier.)

I wonder if the ACLU will get this place closed down. They won against a charter school here (Tarek ibn Ziyad) but it's easier to get people up in arms against an Islamic school than a Christian one.

[meda]

[Double-checks calendar, since this post raises the possibility of a time warp]

It's 2012, people. Did Louisiana not get the memo?

Help a Canadian out here, since ALL of this sounds outrageous. Where I live, pregnancy discrimination is illegal and would result in a human rights complaint even if done by a private school. Likewise, corporal punishment by a school would result in assault charges and loss of teaching license. Now, I realize I'm criticizing a foreign culture here, but humour me again and tell me how this is justified. Where are those stats showing that Louisiana is doing a good job of keeping its teen pregnancy rate low and having students stay in school and do well?

Pregnancy discrimination would be actionable here under federal law if the school is receiving federal funds. They probably are, which is why the ACLU is running with it. In the absence of federal funds, a student in a state public or charter school (or private school) may have a cause of action under state discrimination laws depending on the state. I am guessing that Louisiana does not offer much in the way of a cause of action in such matters. Charter school/public school laws are for the most part set at the state level, not federal, so rules about what students a Charter school has to admit vary widely. A few states still law corporal punishment, most don't. In my state, this school would be shamed, have it's charter status revoked, and be sued under state law so fast it would make your head spin. This is a fucked up Louisiana thing, not a US thing.

[QueenNocturne]

My local news station here in Ohio had a story about this case, and that the charter school is changing its policy.

No idea as to what the new policy will be (the story was quite short and lacking in information), but hopefully it's an improvement.