namelesstavern.net

by **Martrae** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:23 am

Aug 25, 12:13 PM (ET)

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD

NEW YORK (AP) - At West Side High School, kids sprawled on the floor as an African music CD played. A few jokesters had their peers in stitches.

The fun in one corner ended, however, when a stranger's greeting set off a fountain of tears from one diaper-clad youngster.

West Side is one of 40 New York high schools that house a day care center. It serves the babies and toddlers of students - teenage parents who are trying to stay on track and raise little ones.

Danielle Ford said the center allows her to stick with her studies while she brings up Nazaiah, a brown-eyed toddler with a killer smile.

"I have nobody else to watch him for me," she said as she watched her son dance in circles. "He has fun here. If he was home with me, he wouldn't get to play with kids his age."

Many urban school districts have day care centers attached to some schools. In Washington, D.C., five schools have day care facilities, including Bell Multicultural, a bustling high school that serves about 800 students.

Doris Briones credits Bell's day care center with allowing her to graduate last spring. She is now enrolled in a college-prep program.

"When I got pregnant, I was really depressed. I thought that everything was gone already for me," she said. "This day care center helped me through four years of school. By taking care of my child and letting me have the opportunity to study, here I am."

Bell's principal, Maria Tukeva, decided to add the center to the school a few years ago. First, she had to overcome her fear that providing free day care - just off the main corridor, for everybody to see - might make parenting look desirable or easy. To counter that message, she asks the teenage moms to participate in a pregnancy prevention program.

"We have the teen mothers speak to other young ladies to let them know it may look really cute and fun, but it's really not that easy. That's part of the way they give back to the school," Tukeva said.

About 80 day care centers attached to public schools have gone through the rigorous process of earning accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young People. Two are in Vista, Calif., outside San Diego.

Susie Bristow, director of the district's teen-parent program, says the day care workers spend a lot of time teaching mothers the basics of child care. "They're good mammas, but they are babies having babies," Bristow said.

She says pregnant girls often have to be prodded to stay in school, even with the availability of day care. "We do a really good job of going to their houses and getting them off their sofa," Bristow said.

One in four girls who drop out of school does so because she is pregnant or a parent, according to a survey by the nonprofit Gates Foundation. Very few boys who drop out cite that reason.

Studies indicate that when teenage parents go on to earn high-school degrees, the odds increase that their children will finish school.

Research shows children of teenage mothers lag behind other children when it comes to school readiness, language development and communication and interpersonal skills. But studies also show that providing disadvantaged children with high-quality preschool can narrow those differences.

It is 3- and 4-year-olds who attend child care centers attached to public schools in Philadelphia.

Felecia Ward, a spokeswoman for the school district, said there used to be more than a dozen centers for infants at Philadelphia schools. They were underused, she said, and all closed two years ago.

The day care centers attached to New York City's schools also are underused, says Cami Anderson, superintendent of the city's alternative high school and programs.

Teenage pregnancy rates have declined since the early 1990s. Yet an estimated 400,000 teenagers still give birth each year.

In New York City, about 7,000 girls in the school system are either pregnant or are parents. About 500 use the day care centers attached to schools.

The district is conducting a review of the centers to see if improvements are needed and to determine whether the centers are in the right locations and publicized enough.

The review follows a recent decision by the district to close its four schools for pregnant girls or new mothers. Girls often were encouraged to go to the 1960s-era schools, whether they wanted to or not, Anderson said.

She said the schools, which had day care centers, failed to provide the girls with a rigorous education. She said the coursework was too easy and that the girls did not accumulate the credits they needed to graduate.

West Side High, formally known as Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School, is for students who are behind in credits for any number of reasons - not just a pregnancy.

Its day care center is bright and airy and full of colorful blocks, classic picture books and soft tumbling mats.

Sonia Deane is the center's veteran head teacher. She is firm about making sure the mothers do not hang around the center and that they stick to their class schedules. But, as firm as she is about that, she is careful not to come across as strict or bossy when offering advice about child rearing.

"No parent - the parent being 17 or 49 like myself - wants to hear, 'This is how you should do it,'" Deane says.

Last year, a young mother invited Deane to her graduation. "It was very, very special," Deane said.

Another West Side High mother, Jenny Gomez, is close to graduating. She hopes to study art at the City University of New York, assuming she can find child care for her toddler, Brandon.

She grows a bit wistful when talking about "their" high school experience. "During the day, I would just take a peek through the window, and see, 'Oh he's sleeping, or he just ate,'" she said. "It's good to know he's right here - right next to me."

by **Tikker** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:29 am

there's a highschool here that's been doing this for years

by **kinghooter00** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:59 am

Thats awesome that they are doing that. Being a single mom is tough by what i've seen...(talking about observing...not myself...just in case someone had something smartass to say).