Pregnant and Parenting Teens Fight Discrimination
Cecilia, an Antelope Valley High School junior, was torn between having to choose between day care for her child or taking classes that would prepare her for college.
Upon enrolling in a state program that provides child care and parenting classes and helps pregnant and parenting teens finish high school, Cecilia found that she no longer had the option of taking honors and college prep classes at her local high school. Cecilia needed child care through the program, known as California School Age Families Program (Cal-SAFE), but she also wanted to prepare for college. "I wanted to continue taking the college preparatory courses that I was taking before my daughter was born," said Cecilia. "That wasn’t possible under the way the program was being run."
In the Antelope Valley, Cal-SAFE is administered by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), in cooperation with the Antelope Valley Union High School District. LACOE insisted that students in Cal-SAFE could not take classes in a regular high school, but had to attend LACOE's independentstudy type classroom instead. LACOE's classroom did not offer college prep or foreign language classes.
The ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit against LACOE and the Antelope Valley Union High School District on behalf of pregnant and parenting teens who were funneled into sub-standard alternative education programs instead of being given the opportunity to continue
their education at their local high schools while receiving Cal-SAFE services. The lawsuit, which alleges violations of federal Title IX law, is ongoing. As a result of settlement negotiations, however, LACOE has agreed to allow Cecilia to attend classes at her regular high school while continuing to get child care services.
"I brought this lawsuit so that I could have the same chances and opportunities as everyone else," said Cecilia. "Because
I have a daughter, I need those opportunities even more."
"Instead of providing these students with the opportunity to continue receiving the best education possible, administrators presented students with what amounts to a false choice between child care for
their children and receiving a quality education," said Ranjana Natarajan, an ACLU/SC staff attorney. "These students want to attend their local comprehensive high school without losing the necessary
support services that will help them continue with their academic goals."
