Delhi Charter School in Louisiana has a new policy to combat teenage pregnancy. The school administrators reserve the right to give any girls they suspect to be pregnant a pregnancy test. If the girls are pregnant they are not able to continue attending the school. Students who refuse to be tested will be removed.
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) believes this policy is a violation of federal law. ACLU representative, Tiseme Zegeye explains this in the following statement.
“The policy’s complete disregard for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, is astonishing. Title IX and its regulations explicitly mandate that schools cannot exclude any student from an education program or activity, “including any class or extracurricular activity, on the basis of such student’s pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy or recovery therefrom.”
The ACLU is asking that the school dispel their policy against pregnant students. As of now representatives from Delhi Charter School have not responded to this request.
From Huffintgon Post:
According to Delhi Charter School policy,students “suspected” of being pregnant are required to take a pregnancy test. If the test proves positive, or if a student declines to take the test, she’ll no longer be permitted to take classes on campus and must either transfer to another school or begin a home school program. From the student handbook:
If an administrator or teacher suspects a student is pregnant, a parent conference will be held. The school reserves the right to require any female student to take a pregnancy test to confirm whether or not the suspected student is in fact pregnant. The school further reserves the right to refer the suspected student to a physician of its choice. If the test indicates that the student is pregnant, the student will not be permitted to attend classes on the campus of Delhi Charter School.If a student is determined to be pregnant and wishes to continue to attend Delhi Charter School, the student will be required to pursue a course of home study that will be provided by the school”... Any student who is suspected of being pregnant and who refuses to submit to a pregnancy test shall be treated as a pregnant student and will be offered home study opportunities. If home study opportunities are not acceptable, the student will be counseled to seek other educational opportunities.
BMWK, let us know what you think about this school. Have they gone overboard, or is this exactly what’s needed to ensure the students remain focused on school?
On our facebook page, we are hearing from educators that say a pregnant student is a distraction to the other students. I never thought about it in that way. But forcing pregnancy tests on young girls is a bit much in my opinion. And when would they make that call…when the girl looks obviously pregnant…like in the 3rd or 4th trimester? Or what if they just heard a rumor that a girl was pregnant…would they make her take a test even if she did not look pregnant….sounds like a sticky situation. And what about the boy? Will he be required to do some type of special education or program if he is found to be the father? To me, more programs to focus on preventing pregnancy are needed.
Hmmm…I’d be interested in knowing what constitutes a “suspicion” of pregnancy. In addition to a violation of civil liberties, this also screams HIPAA violation to me.
Also, what about gender discrimination? Young girls don’t get pregnant by themselves o_O
I think even before getting to whether or not pregnant students should be allowed to attend school, forcing a girl to take a pregnancy test upon “suspicion of pregnancy” is absolutely a violation of her privacy. How do they even approach the idea of “suspicion of pregnancy” with a student? Is there a rumor going around? Does the girl look like she’s packed on a couple pounds and then become subject to this? Are the parents notified and do they have to consent to it? I honestly can’t understand how something like this is legal. What’s next, pelvic exams upon suspicion of loss of virginity? I’m not saying that measures shouldn’t be taken to curb teen pregnancy, but this isn’t it.
This is really ludicrous to me…smh. So what because she is pregnant now she cannot be educated, will be singled out, and isolated. I’m sure that is going to help her. WOW.
My thoughts exactly. So now where she has wanted to continue her education and better her life, she is instead being publicly humiliated for her mistakes and forced to either be homeschooled or go to another school. To be honest, if I had children, I would remove them from that school because they do not show any kind of love and compassion for the children. She needs love and support during this time not rejection.
This is a violation of their civil rights and discrimination. It won’t be long before civil rights activits get involved on this one.
I am beyond floored. What if the young lady was raped?! As one of the comments stated above what about the her “mate”?? To sticky, and the way they are handling it seems to impersonal. I know the feeling of being shunned to well and this is not a decent or excepting way to handle a very intense situation.
Everyone is focused on the pregnant girl, maybe if we concern ourselves with the other kids, stop coddling these girls and remove the unnecessary distractions we might lessen all the teen pregnancy. They are still able to get an educationand graduate.teen pregnancy in this country is shameful it’s time someone took a stand.
I believe that it would crack down on the teen pregnancy. Chartered schools are different then public school and are owned by people not the government. Now with the violation of those rights the parents and students have already agreed to the school terms when their children were enrolled. So it has to be agreed upon before the child could enroll, I believe their should be more schools that adapt to this since the pregnancy pack that the teen girls made years ago, and I believe that it could counteract that type of risky behavior in the future. Also pregnant students can become a liability if harmed or injured accidental or intentional in the schools at the owners expense. I believe that the owner has a right to say I am not going to be responsible for the safety of pregnant students or create special classes for those who cannot attend the regular classes, so they will have to remain home and we will provide assistance for them or transfer to another school. there are many schools out there that have there own rules that are separate from the public schools. I have a daughter who attends a chartered school and their socks have to be checked for the right color or they can’t attend. In the end I will say this… If parents have a problem with it let them send their children to a school where teen pregnancy is welcomed.
To the other commentors I do apologize but to Ms. Charmaine you sound like a fucking retard everything you said rubs me the wrong way. First of all most public schools are converting to charter schools so we go not kno who owns/runs the school. Second its okay for the young lady to b forced to take a pregnancy test by her HIGH SCHOOL NOT HER PARENTS HER HIGH SCHOOL. Third what about the young man or not so young man who sperm impregnats her? Do we keep telling our young men that is ok to b irresposible u can continue to make babies and just leave her to be a mother. Does anybody who makes these policies realize the biggest problem teen moms have is being outcast that’s why these young ladies are making pacts to get pregnant so they can have and raise their babies together what happens to the young woman whose being raped by her uncle and has nowhere to go
This is definitely a violation of civil rights, irregardless if they put it in a handbook. Teen pregnancy isn’t new, how many of our parents, grandparents and so forth started having children in their early teens. Many were forced to have abortions, put the children up for adoption, or sent away like lepers! When mistakes like this happen, one doesn’t need to be ostrasized, she needs to know that she CAN continue on, and complete her education to ensure she can properly care for herself and her child. Many schools implement programs to help these girls, and have a high success rate if graduation. My God, if something like this is ok with people, beware of the door being opened! This could offset so much more, that will eventually come knocking at your very door. And be very careful of your ‘not my daughter’ attitude, they still have to grow up and get past their high school years, pray your ‘holier than thou’ smugness doesn’t come back to make you choke on your own words!!
I’m just curious how this measure combats teen pregnancy. It would appear that it’s designed to only remove the offending teens from sight as opposed to dealing with education to prevent pregnancy.
They used to do this at my highschool. Most girls who got pregnant did better at a highschool designed with a program for young mothers anyway. I just wish the fathers could be sent off somewhere too.
Now I agree that the boys should be punished/confronted but the biggest issue here isn’t about the school PARENTING these girls its why the parents themselves aren’t teaching and talking to their kids about teen pregnancy and the pit falls of it. Instead of being more concerned with your club gear and baby daddy/baby momma drama or what ratchetness is going on on Love and Hip Hop, you need to from a young age start telling them how disgusting teen pregnancy is. How it leads to poverty and a down grade of life style for you and your child. How your teen years are suppose to be a time of freedom and getting to know yourself. Not responsibility and paying for diapers. This is coming from a teen mom. I was 18 when I had my daughter and I am 25 now. You can’t get mad at the boys they will do what you let them do to YOUR body. At the end YOU have to carry that baby for and have that baby not him. He was immature when u slept with him so you can’t get angry because he hasn’t developmentally matured yet. He and she isn’t suppose to! They are children so they act like them. I tell my daughter even if you don’t like school get use to it and do the best you can so you can get a good job and buy yourself whatever you want. Spoil yourself. I also tell her she shouldn’t have children untill she is married. Because the person she should have children by should prove his love by committing to you in front of friends and family. I say these things and will keep saying them, even If she doesn’t abide by them I know I am telling her right from wrong. You have to draw a line and hope they have a conscious to stay on the right side. So when she is ready to have sex(if it is before marriage) I will commend her for coming to me and asking for birth control, not let her figure these things out on her own and then be angry when she turns up pregnant. My point, I don’t let anyone raise or instill in my child for me. I’m talking to her on her level as the media and her friends introduce things(that are ALWAYS wrong) I just nonchalantly reprogram her with biblical prinicples believing firmly that as I train her and live as a role model she will not depart from it as she gets older.
There goes the poverty rate. If the young ladies are kicked out of school then how will they get the proper education and graduate…go to college and etc. this is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. Giving pregnancy tests at school based on suspicions that is utterly ridiculous. Surely the parents of the expecting young ladies are doing something about this. If theres a large % of the girls getting then maybe the school needs to hand out condemns or step up their game on sex education. Another thing is that teen pregnancy is gloried on shows such as 16 & pregnant and Teen Mom.