After having my baby I was placed into continuation school[.] [I]t was never explained to me why I couldn’t go back to a regular high school…It was later…at the [alternate] program graduation that I learned I could’ve c[o]me to any public school and rejoined the program.” It is important to note that while some of us have been pushed to alternate education programs of inferior quality, others volu. [...] As a parenting student in Colorado recalled, “I was so discouraged, I dropped out but when I heard about [the school for pregnant and parenting students], I was so happy to find out that there were other girls in my situation and understanding teachers that would be accepting of me and my baby and actually be supportive.” Therefore, ● We support the proposed rule allowing students who are pregnant. [...] I missed out on a lot [of] my high school years and that breaks my heart knowing now (12 years later) it didn’t have to be like that.” Therefore, ● We support the Department’s proposal to explicitly require recipients to train employees, including Title IX Coordinators, of their obligations to pregnant and parenting students;9 and ● We urge the Department to require recipients to specifically stat. [...] I had just gotten out of the hospital and could barely think straight but here I was having to choose between my degree and my health.” Because we are often denied an opportunity to make up for missed work or exams, we feel pressured to return to school before we are physically capable or to have our academic schedule dictate our health decisions. [...] 6 ● We support the Department’s proposal to require schools to provide pregnant students reasonable modifications to help us remain in our education program or activity; ● We ask the Department to clarify that parenting and caregiving students (not just students who are pregnant or have a related condition) have an affirmative right to reasonable modifications; ● We ask the Department to add more.
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- Published in
- United States of America
