We are a charter high school that targets students who have failed in other high school environments and who may have children. The legal implications for schools in retaining these students on the roles during a maternity leave would be of interest to all who attract this population. Present law does not easily accommodate such situations.

This is punishing teen mothers and withholding education from them. They already have difficulty enough being a mother while being children themselves. Let them have a break and work with them to get back on track and quit making education so difficult. We are not punishing the fathers of the babies?

Students receive home bound instructions for a variety of medical reasons, and there is nothing logical about withholding this from teen mothers, as if it is some sort of punishment for their behavior. The biggest complaint that people have about teen mothers is that they are an economic burden to taxpayers. If that's the concern, it really makes no sense to encourage them to drop out of school by forcing them to return too early after giving birth. The idea of punishment for young, single women has existed since the Puritans landed in the New World, but it has never stopped premarital sex. Schools are not in the business of enforcing morality; they are in the business of teaching. As such, everything possible should be done to keep a teen mother in school. After all, Title IX is supposed to protect a teen mother's right to get an education EQUAL to that of her peers I say all this as a former teen mother who will graduate with her Ph.D. and who is currently the researching the phenomenon of teen mothers who go to college.

Students that are pg should be transferred to online virtual high schools so they can graduate on time. More than ever they need their education and hopefully will be able to go on to an online college so they go to school, work and raise their baby. Mother's need more education than anyone since 50% of them end up single before their kids are grown. That's my opinion and I've been teaching school for 30 years.

I'm a teacher's aide bilingual interpreter and I notice that teen pregnancy is becoming a trend. My opinion on the poll is that, regardless of status, child bearing mothers have a right to maternity leave. The child needs the mother more than ever when it is new born and forcing a mother to focus on education while neglecting her child is a subtractive approach to getting these moms educated. I think there should be a balance. They should be provided with the leave and with a number of alternate choices such as night school, a general equivalency diploma, or online schooling. They need to graduate to get a good job and support the child. The structure of the family is ultimately the more important issue.

I agree with you, Melissa, but don't forget that college is also an option. Teen mothers should not be pushed towards a GED or night school classes without a college prep curriculum if that is not what they want. Online schooling, on the other hand, seems like a fantastic option! Title IX guarantees these women the right to an education equal to that of their peers - with the girl herself making the choice about what curriculum she will follow. Too many times, young women don't know they have this right and are forced into night school or down some other path that will not get them to college.

The rise in teen pregnancy is disturbing and deserves serious attention by legisltors, educators, and parents. But this question addresses the student herself. Like any student, they deserve the best that we, as teachers can give. How is it benefiting our world to punish the mother and and child as they continue to grow if we don't allow that bonding period. Educated parents recognize the importance of this time. A young mother already has a tough road. For schools to not assist would just exacerbate the difficulty in two young lives.

The problem is getting teen births down while supporting the future of the new child and mother. Mothers need the bonding time, need the time for their hormones to straighten out and that happens better with their babies. Mothers who come back too soon - as in with work as well- can become so stressed that it compounds so many issues, including probably dropping out.

Mothers need time to refocus, plan, heal, and reinvent themselves as mothers- whether you are 16 or 40. The problem is, how to we keep from making it easier for a teen to have baby than a young adult. With all of these supports in high school, and none later how do we keep teens from thinking this is their best time to have a child. Something has got to change, but I don't believe denying a new mother maternity leave is the answer - don't punish the baby.

Not only do we need to support the teen who is pregnant so she can be a good mom, we need to remember that her child deserves to have a chance at a bright future.

Our school routinely offers the opportunity for 'home-bound' educational services to a teen mother. This involves either on-line work or packet-based work depending upon the situation. A coordinator visits the student on a weekly basis. This may continue for three months, then, depending upon the health of the mother and child, the mother is encouraged to return to school and day-care is provided for the child.
The difficulty, we find, is often that the teen mother doesn't have the commitment to education that the school has in providing it. Our teen mothers often drop out for family reasons other than those related to the child.
Our society, too, needs to emphasize parental responsibility on behalf of the fathers. Often I hear my high school students (male) discuss the children they have fathered. Few of them are from the same mother. Yes, I do protest. That just ensures that they don't talk to or around me.