When truants are parents
School absenteeism: Support for pregnant students needing leave is assured in little known legislation
mong the various groups of students who experience chronic absenteeism, one group in particular has been affected by recent policy change to reduce unexcused absences: pregnant and parenting students. As Jesse Schneiderman of Frederick Douglass High School mentioned in The Sun’s recent article (“Nearly 1 in 5 Maryland students is chronically absent. At some schools, the rate is more than 75 percent,” June 6), some students whoexperience higher rates of absenteeism have children of their own, and we need to support these youth who are pregnant and parenting.
In 2017, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland’s policy research led to the passage of House Bill 616, the Education-Pregnant and Parenting Students-Attendance Policy. This policy requires that a student’s absence due to pregnancy or parenting needs a lawful absence. Under this legislation, each local board of education must develop a written attendance policy that excuses all absences due to pregnancy or parenting-related conditions, provides a minimum of 10 days of excused absences for a parenting student after the birth of their child, excuses parenting-related absences due to an illness or medical appointment of the student’s child, and excuses any absence due to a legal appointment related to the pregnant or parenting student regarding family law proceedings.
Despite the passage of this bill last year, the public awareness of this policy is still relatively low. Increasing the public knowledge of this legislation will heighten the visibility of policies put in place to empower parenting and pregnant students in reaching their educational and family planning goals.
As mentioned in The Sun’s article, Baltimore has the highest rate of chronic absenteeism at 37 percent. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Baltimore also had the highest teenage birth rate in the state in 2016, accounting for 20.12 percent of all teenage births in Maryland. Only Prince George’s County followed Baltimore at 20.02 percent of all teenage births in the state. Similar to the report of decreasing chronic absenteeism in Anne Arundel County, Harford County and Carroll County, the rates of teenage births in 2016 were 7 percent, 3 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
AHigh school students who are pregnant or parents shouldn’t be penalized for missing school over family issues. Although further, in-depth analysis is needed to prove the definite relation between chronic school absenteeism and the teenage birth rate in each county, this data could suggest a possible relationship between these two variables.
The Education-Pregnant and Parenting Students-Attendance Policy is the first step in ensuring that pregnant and parenting students are able to meet their educational goals. Although much more needs to be done to accommodate pregnant and parenting students, including providing resources for child care and accommodations for students to express milk (pump), this policy paves the way for school faculty, staff and administrators to have a better understanding of the rights of pregnant and parenting students. Increasing the visibility of this policy will also empower pregnant and parenting students to know their rights within Maryland’s public school system.