Education Week - August 17, 2022 - 13

Schools Must Protect Pregnant Students.
Proposed Federal Rules Would Spell Out How
The U.S. Department of Education's
proposed Title IX rules clarify the
rights of pregnant and parenting
students and employees
By Libby Stanford
For the first time in nearly 50 years,
the U.S. Department of Education
plans to explicitly spell out protections
for pregnant and parenting students
and school employees-an evolution
advocates say may be more important
than ever in a post-Roe v. Wade world.
The Education Department's proposed
Title IX rules made headlines
for their historic protections of LGBTQ
students when they were released in
June. But they also include clarifications
on school officials' obligations to
not discriminate against pregnant and
parenting students and employees,
adding detail to rules which haven't
been updated since 1975.
The proposed regulations say
schools are obligated to ensure that no
students who are experiencing those
conditions are left out of educational
programs and activities. They also
provide clearer definitions of pregnancy-related
conditions and emphasize
that schools must provide modifications
for students and employees
experiencing those conditions.
They would also explicitly prevent
schools from discriminating against
students and staff who have sought,
received, or are recovering from an
abortion, and provide clear rules on
how schools can address discrimination
against those individuals.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's
decision to overturn the right to an
abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's
Health Organization, the proposed
rules have taken on new significance.
A group of 60 Democrat congressional
lawmakers sent a letter to U.S.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona,
urging the Education Department to
use its authority under Title IX to protect
students who are pregnant, have
an abortion, or are parenting.
" By striking down nearly 50 years
of precedent and paving the way for
state laws that criminalize the termination
of a pregnancy and have already
stripped reproductive freedom
from millions of women, the Supreme
Court has taken a step toward denying
the educational and privacy rights of
students nationwide, " the members
of Congress, led by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici,
D-Ore., said in the July 21 letter.
Pregnant and parenting students
often face discrimination
Pregnancy and parenting aren't
easy for anyone. For students trying
to complete their education, the experiences
can be demoralizing, said Joya
Cleveland, director of Strong Tomorrows,
a program dedicated to providing
guidance, support, and services
to pregnant and parenting students
at Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma.
While 90 percent of women who
do not give birth during adolescence
graduate from high school, only 50
percent of teen mothers are expected
to receive a high school diploma by
the time they're 22 years old, according
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Teen parents are
even less likely to graduate college,
with only about 10 percent of teen
moms completing a two- or four-year
college degree program, according
to Youth.gov, a government website
that collects information about
youth-related issues and programs
from federal agencies.
A variety of factors, such as childcare
access, stigma, medical complications,
and financial insecurity stand
in the way of pregnant and parenting
students when trying to finish high
school, even though they often find
themselves motivated to complete
their degree, Cleveland said.
" After becoming parents something
clicks for them as far as the need to
succeed and the desire to want to
model for their child, and they become
better students, " she said.
" They become a better person. "
But without support, like the connections
to social workers, parenting
classes, access to doctors and
college- and career-readiness workshops
offered through Strong Tomorrows,
Cleveland said students are left
facing an uphill battle and are sometimes
encouraged to enroll in alternative
public schools or to get their
GED credential.
The proposed Title IX rules would
require school employees to connect
pregnant and parenting students
with a Title IX coordinator, empowering
students with the resources to
know their rights. That clarification
is huge because one of the main barriers
students face is a lack of knowledge
about their own protections,
said Shiwali Patel, director of justice
for student survivors and senior
counsel at the National Women's
Law Center.
" Many students don't even know
that they are protected under Title IX to
begin with, " Patel said. " They wouldn't
even know that they can advocate for
themselves and advocate for accommodations
and protections in school. "
The law also requires parents of students
experiencing pregnancy-related
conditions to be notified about their
students' rights, which allows for parents
to advocate for students experiencing
discrimination, she said.
New definitions for pregnancy and
pregnancy-related conditions
Since 1975, Title IX has applied to
students experiencing pregnancy and
pregnancy-related conditions, but the
current law leaves gaps in its definitions
of those conditions.
The Education Department's proposed
definition of " pregnancy-related
conditions " includes pregnancy, childbirth,
termination of pregnancy, and
lactation. Medical conditions related to
pregnancy and the recovery from pregnancy,
childbirth, termination of pregnancy,
and lactation would be considered
in the definition as well. That
means the rules would prevent schools
from discriminating against students
who experience common conditions
like extreme nausea, high blood pressure,
and swelling of breast tissue. The
new rules would also explicitly prevent
schools from discriminating against
students who experienced any of the
conditions in the past.
The Education Department's decision
to include the termination of
pregnancy and lactation in the definition,
and provide clear processes so
schools can meet their responsibilities
to students experiencing those conditions,
is especially notable in the context
of a post-Roe world, Patel said.
" While Title IX doesn't guarantee or
prohibit abortion access to students, it
does grant students the right to learn in
an environment free from discrimination
based on their decision to obtain
an abortion, " she said. " That means
schools can't remove someone from
an educational program or activity just
because they sought, obtained, or are
recovering from an abortion. "
The rules also clarify that it's not
enough for schools to allow pregnant or
parenting students to participate in education
programs or activities; they must
also provide modifications so students
have access to an equal education.
For example, the rules state that
schools must provide breastfeeding
employees and students with break
times and sanitary spaces for lactation.
That clarification is especially important
as teenagers often struggle
with stigma surrounding breastfeeding,
Cleveland said. The Tulsa district
has private lactation spaces in every
high school that participates in the
Strong Tomorrows program.
" That's a medical problem and that's
also a social problem. It's embarrassing
if [the student] wasn't released and
now the milk lets down and she's in
class, " Cleveland said. " For some areas
who aren't maybe as progressive or
willing to accommodate the students,
now that's something that the students
and families and community can stand
by and say, 'This [lack of accommodation]
is not an option anymore.' "
Comprehensive programs and sex
education are key to supporting
students
Title IX isn't the limit of what schools
can do to support pregnant and parenting
students. Many districts, like the
Tulsa district, go far beyond what Title
IX requires by providing comprehensive
services for students experiencing
pregnancy and parenting.
Through Strong Tomorrows, the
students in Tulsa have connections to
social workers to help them navigate
government benefits, insurance, and
medical care for their children. They
also attend regular workshop classes
that teach them about parenting. Some
districts, like Tulsa, provide remote
learning and tutoring programs for
students who miss weeks of in-person
class time due to pregnancy-related
conditions. Tulsa includes its pregnant
and parenting students in a program
called Homebound, which allows students
who aren't able to attend classes
in person for extended periods of time
because of sickness or other medical
reasons to take online classes and work
with school case managers at home.
The programs and services can
often be the keys to academic and,
later, professional success for parenting
students, said JeNeen Anderson,
senior director of health equity at
Power to Decide, a national campaign
to prevent unplanned pregnancy.
" These programs can actually provide
these students with the peer support
and encouragement to help them
from feeling isolation, " Anderson
said. " They can also help to reduce
the dropout rate, provide comprehensive
care, and improve the health of
the actual student parent along with
their child. "
Even more than providing support
for pregnant and parenting students,
Anderson said schools should provide
comprehensive sex education
that teaches students about healthy
relationships, consent, sexuality, and
sexual health. As states enact laws to
limit abortion access, those preventive
measures are even more important,
Anderson said.
" There are things that we wanted
schools to be doing and we've been
trying, working towards schools doing
even before Roe v. Wade, " she said.
" Now we're at an even more crucial
point because of the implications
[Roe's reversal] has on other reproductive
health [issues] like birth control
and access to birth control. "
The proposed Title IX rules have
been posted on the Federal Register
for public comment and have received
nearly 37,000 comments as of
Aug. 10. People who are interested in
sharing public comments on the rules
can do so by visiting regulations.gov
on or before Sept. 12.
EDUCATION WEEK | August 17, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 13
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Education Week - August 17, 2022

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