Study:pregnant Los Altos students face discrimination Study:pregnant Los Altos students face discrimination (January 24, 2003)

Los Altos High School and five other county schools discriminate against pregnant teenagers, according to a study released today by a group of Bay Area organizations, including Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco-based women's legal advocacy center.

The analysis concludes found that 25 percent of tested Santa Clara County high schools discriminated against pregnant teens, causing the organizations to call on state and local education officials to change the system.

Of the 24 county high schools tested, the study found that six had either forced or pressured pregnant teens to attend alternative schools. Equal Rights Advocates had "testers'' pose as pregnant teens and call high schools to inquire about enrolling. There are 42 public high schools in Santa Clara County.

In addition to Los Altos, Westmont, Alta Vista, Lynbrook and Gilroy high schools and San Jose Academy were accused of discrimination.

"Such practices violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which provides that schools that receive federal funds cannot exclude any student from its education program or activity on the basis of her pregnancy,'' said Doris Ng, staff attorney for Equal Rights Advocates.

Title IX also forbids schools from forcing pregnant students into alternative programs and requires that those programs be comparable to mainstream programs, Ng said.

Compared to mainstream schools, alternative schools can be academically inferior, offering fewer or no college preparatory or advanced classes, limited extracurricular activities and lacking college counseling services, the organization claims, saying that class credits earned often count toward high school graduation requirements, but not entrance requirements for four-year colleges or universities.

"The childcare and parenting classes provided at some alternative schools may satisfy the immediate needs of pregnant and parenting teenagers, but losing the opportunity to attend college or the ability to become self sufficient has lifelong negative effects for such students and their children,'' said Kyra Kazantzis, directing attorney of the Public Interest Law Firm in San Jose.

As a result of the study's findings, several advocacy organizations issued recommendations to the California Board of Education and local school districts to conduct training of all school personnel on the rights of pregnant teens and a public education campaign to educate pregnant and parenting teens about their rights.

Equal Rights Advocates and three similar Bay Area organizations commissioned the study after receiving a number of complaints from social workers, parents, teens and service providers about alleged discriminatory treatment of pregnant and parenting teens at Santa Clara County high schools.

The Discrimination Research Center of The Impact Fund conducted the test, the methodologies of which have also been used in the housing and employment industries to root out discrimination.

-- Bay City News