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The principal of Lincoln Junior High School in Portland, Maine said that girls are asked to leave school when they begin to show. 55 The principal of Portland High School told us that when pregnant girls reach the seventh month "... I insist that they go home."56 In most schools, however, there are no overt policies excluding pregnant girls. But principal, teacher, and sometimes school official attitudes are enough to convince most of them that they are not wanted. They are either counseled to leave or "voluntarily" withdraw. -Pregnant girls can go to the YWCA, get home tutoring, or go to an unwed mothers' home. Last year, five or six girls left Holyoke High to have babies; none lost a year of school however. They could stay, but are counseled, "Hey, look it, you're beginning to show now; why don't you stay home."57 -"Some teachers are pretty negative and make it difficult for the girls to stay." The gossip system can be murderous. At a recent teachers meeting the principal of Holyoke High School harangued the group and said the YWCA program encouraged girls to get pregnant. 58 -"I try to deal with it [pregnancy] with compassion. They should stay home, we find them a home teacher. After she has tlte baby, well if she wants, then she can come back. I advise them for their own sake, the baby's sake, the sake of their classmates, stay home."59 -They are not required to leave; but "if they show a great deal, we don't force them out but we kind of advise them" that it might be difficult for them. "... It is hard for them to ride the school bus or to sit in the classroom."60 55 Interview with Dan Murphy, Principal, Lincoln Junior High School, Portland, Maine, 10/24/73. 56 Interview with Walter Hansen, Principal, Portland High School, Portland, Maine, 10/25/73. 57 Interview with Edward Moriarity, Principal, Holyoke High School, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 12113/73. 58 Interview with Charlotte Hartzell, YWCA, Acting Coordinator of Alternative Program for Pregnant Girls, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 12112/73. 50 Interview with Edward O'Malley, Principal, Lawrence Elementary School, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 12112/73. 60 Interview with Forest Curry, Principal, Stumbo Elementary School, Floi'd County, Kentucky, 1/23/74. 61 Jnterview with Eula Hall, Mud Creek Health Project, Grethel, Kentucky, 1/23/74. 70 -There is "no way they [pregnant girls] can stay in school pregnant. . . . They make you feel so bad you don't want to stay in_"61 Alternative programs or home tutors may be provided for pregnant girls in some districts, but few are equivalent in academic quality to regular school classes. -The Director of Pupil Personnel in the Floyd County public schools said that juniors and seniors in high school can get home instruction for one hour twice a week if pregnant. But he knew of only one pregnant girl who has ever received home instruction. 62 Married students and young parents face a similar dilemma: few overt exclusionary policies, but attitudes that are rarely supportive of staying in school. -Last summer, the Autauga County school system was sued by a married student who was prohibited from playing football. He won and they now allow married students to participate in any extracurricular activity. "There's no policy on married students, except the girls have to maintain their maiden names until they graduate, for our record keeping. "68 -"We prefer that married students don't attend. This is a district-wide policy. I don't know why."64 -"Married pupils are required to apply to the principal of the school in which they wish to enroll. For continuance after marriage or to enroll, they must be accompanied by one or both parents or guardians of pupils involved. Students who are enrolled and marry during the school year must notify the principal in writing within seven days of the date of the marriage."65 -In Prestonsburg, Kentucky there is a local rule which prohibits married students from participating in the Neighborhood Youth Corps In-School Program. 66 62 Interview with Richmond Slone, Director of Pupil Personnel, Floyd County, Kentucky, 1/22/74. 68 Interview with Edwin C. Riddle, Superintendent of Schools, Autauga County, Alabama, 2/74. 64 Interview with Tom Allen, Principal, Horace Mann Junior High School, Denver, Colorado, 11/6/73. 65 "Pupil Responsibilities: A Stalement of Policy, Montgomery Public Scbools" Adopted by Montgomery Board of Education, August 24, 1972. 66 Interview with Estill Hall, Director, Neighborhood Youth Corps In-School Program, Prestonsburg, Kentt:cky, 1/24/74. 67 Interview with Hillard Newman, Principal, Harold Elementary School, Harold, Kentucky, 1/23/74.
-Marriage does not exclude a child, but usually the girls drop out. "Married students are exempt from compulsory attendance laws."eT These students need to complete their education as much as other students. If they are forced out, the consequences to themselves and their children -two generations of children ill-equipped for full participation in society-are a tremendous cost to bear. School officials, teachers and counselors should re-evaluate their attitudes and practices in rational, educational terms and develop the options necessary to enable these children to remain in regular school if they choose and, in any case, to finish their education. Married students, pregnant girls, and school-age parents may have some special needs. But rather than using those needs as an excuse for exclusion, schools should instead see them as guides for responsive and sensitive supplemental services. Where possible, and within the regular classroom framework, flexible scheduling should be offered to enable these children to adjust to their new roles while continuing their education. Schools should also prpvide counseling, prenatal medical care and courses in child development for pregnant girls. But these supportive services should supplement, not replace, other academic instruction. Academically sound alternative programs should be provided for pregnant girls who do not choose to remain in regular classes. Young mothers should also be encouraged by every means possible to return to school after their children are born. For parents and children who are facing exclusion from school because of pregnancy or marriage, at least three sources of help may be available: The Consortium on Early Childbearing and Child Rearing, 1145 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.; The National Alliance Concerned with School-Age Parrents; and the Interagency Task Force Concerned with Comprehensive Programs for School-Age Parents, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. They can make available additional information on state and local support programs. Children Excluded by Language -18-year-old Gilbert is Portuguese. He dropped out of a New Bedford, Massachusetts school in fifth grade when he was 16. He had come to America at age 9 but did not start school until he was 14. 0 one from school ever came to get him enrolled. -Fernando is now 19. He came to Springfield, Massachusetts from Puerto Rico when he was IS. He could not read or write in Spanish as he had never been to school in Puerto Rico. He was put in the fifth grade. He got no bilingual instruction, so he stayed home because he could not understand what was going on. A truant officer came to get him and told him that if he did not go to school and did not want to be put away, he would have to go back to Puerto Rico and stay with his father there. He did. He returned to America when he was 18. Fernando said that he did not like school because he "did not know how to read or write or understand what was happening and they wanted me to read and write." His mother used to send him, but he did not want to go-he used to stay at home. -A Springfield, Massachusetts school official explaining why their dropout rate is higher than ever said: "the clientele is changing.... The population of Puerto Ricans in our town has been going 71
Page 1:
CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL IN AMERICA A
Page 4 and 5:
Copyright If.> October 1974 by the
Page 7 and 8:
People Who Worked Oft This Report .
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Portland, Maine CDF staff Cambridge
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Foreword Introduction Chapter 1 Cha
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CHAPTER 1 Table I CHAPTER 2 Table I
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community leaders concerned with ed
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dren were suspended. The next highe
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described in this report, they can
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needed to improve and unify state c
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Bureaucratic Excuses for Inaction Y
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problems. Are teachers encouraged o
Page 35 and 36:
Who Are the Children Out of School?
Page 37: vary. But while many of them descri
Page 40 and 41: Maxine, 14 Maxine Dolan is 14 and h
Page 42 and 43: until the new school year. Meanwhil
Page 45 and 46: awake until morning when the sounds
Page 47 and 48: He's had his chances, foreign or no
Page 49: Theresa, 12 Theresa Engler, a 12-ye
Page 52 and 53: 34 Table I Children Not Enrolled! B
Page 54 and 55: Proportion of Minority Children 2 T
Page 56: Social and Economic Factors Poor ch
Page 59: Limitations of Census Data Our anal
Page 62 and 63: We found children out of school in
Page 64: .". 0\ Table VIII Chlldren Out of S
Page 68 and 69: VI o Table X All Children Out uf Sc
Page 70 and 71: Total % of Areas Surveyed Children
Page 73 and 74: Chapter 3 Barriers to School Attend
Page 75 and 76: TABLE I STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONA
Page 78 and 79: ter the four months because the cou
Page 80: Truancy Laws penalizing children an
Page 83 and 84: A Denver school official stated: "Y
Page 86 and 87: officers who spoke Spanish, and onl
Page 91 and 92: For example, as of October, 1972, i
Page 93: think there is enough counseling, e
Page 97: fees required to take, for example,
Page 100 and 101: did not have books were not much of
Page 102 and 103: Consider what this would mean if yo
Page 104: no money to feed and care for all o
Page 107: Apparently a judgment has been made
Page 112 and 113: ecome self-sufficient adults are th
Page 114 and 115: In Cambridee, Massachusetts, an att
Page 116 and 117: Inadequacy of Special Education Pro
Page 118 and 119: over again for four or five years.
Page 120: Janice has not been suspended this
Page 123 and 124: ased. 56 They are modeled and norme
Page 125: chusetts counselor pointed out that
Page 128 and 129: that the city does not experiment w
Page 130 and 131: 1. The use of many kinds of people
Page 132 and 133: abuse laws of the state. However, t
Page 134 and 135: 116
Page 137: Many districts still have the power
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In contrast to the majority of publ
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The same pattern of secondary suspe
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Racial Discrimination in the Use of
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One southern school official admitt
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tion of the limitation on numbers o
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hold hearings, the reaction was sho
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or programs that operate as alterna
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complaints to the federal Office fo
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APPENDICES
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• most children who are instituti
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as opposed to every second, third,
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. Census Tract 123 Census Tract 123
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newal. Every third household was mo
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-secondary school children by sex a
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10. Are his special problems/needs
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Sheet E-l SCHOOL EXPULSIONS, SUSPEN
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Maine Portland Census Tract 11 I 1:
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ALABAMA State Officials Mr. William
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Mr. Milton Ogle, Associate Director
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Sumter County #2 School Officials D
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AppendixD STATE SCHOOL OFFlCIALS' R
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Los Angeles Unified School District
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AppendlxE u.s. CENSUS DATA Table I
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State Wisconsin Wyoming GRANO TOTAL
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AppendixE U.s. CENSUS DATA Table II
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.... \C 00 AppelldixE U.S. CENSUS D
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AppendixE u.s. CENSUS DATA Table II
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Appendix 6 RANK ORDERS OF AREAS IN
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AppendbH PERCENT OF HEADS OF HOUSEH
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State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkans
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State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkans
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AppendixM STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDUC
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Lee I 4,925 2,663 2,260 2 83 18 65
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Walker I 9,671 8,924 745 2 230 164
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Collins I 35 29 6 (82.4) (17.1 ) Co
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Junction City 1,003 584 419 (58.2)
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SI. Charles I 245 149 96 (60.8) (39
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AppendlxM STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDUC
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Appendix M STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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App@ndblfl STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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Appendix M STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EDU
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South Pike Cons. I 2,575 893 1,677
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Clarendon #2 I 3,246 784 2,462 54 8
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Orangeburg #7 1,112 158 954 9 9 (14
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A. ppendi.'\: N SPECIAL EDUCATION I
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Learning Deaf!Hard Blind! Speech Ph
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Rhode Island Society for Autistic C
Page 308 and 309:
Federal Court Consent Agreements; P
Page 310 and 311:
Mr. Peter E. Holmes Director, Offic
Page 312 and 313:
census figures and often did not ch
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pils who dropped out of this school
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SUGGESTED REFINEMENTS IN THE INDIVI
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I. Name of School System _ II. Name
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2 1 1 16 2 14 Cotton Plant 586 72 5
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1 1 5 4 1 Tuckerman 820 711 109 (1)
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Appelldlx R OCR DATA ON STUDENT SUS
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APPENDIXR FOOTNOTES I Unless noted
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36There were 1,763 students, suspen
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Total Students Suspended At Least O
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APPENDIX T TABLES I-II FOOTNOTES IS
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Kentucky Floyd County Total I 2 0.5
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AppendixT SUSPENSIONS IN CD" SURVEY
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Kentucky Floyd County Total Mud Cre
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Appendix T SUSPENSIONS IN CDF SURVE
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Appenllb V STATUTORY PROVISIONS FOR
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Massachusetts I Official None -Misc
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itppe",db V STATUTORY PROVISIONS FO
Page 390 and 391:
Bureau is interested primarily in d
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could be collected centrally at the
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