When Mary Jane Garza became assistant superintendant for curriculum at her school district in West Oso, Texas, a small town south of San Antonio, she noticed that a number of female students would check out and leave the high school building during the day, “We began to see a pattern… as we began to look at every single student that left -- we discovered that many of the young ladies that were leaving were pregnant – and we had nothing available for them.
Garza instituted a follow up with every student who checked out and – without hiring more staff – managed to fill needs for her at-risk female students that kept them in school. Based on asking students what they needed, she got buses with child safety seats to transport children of students to nearby daycares. She provided transportation to doctors. She modified the school day (within Texas state guidelines) so that parenting students could attend school during special off-hours classes. In two years, economically disadvantaged West Oso Independent School District (with 2,100 students – 84 percent Latino, 12 percent African American and 2 percent Asian) went from a completion rate of 54 percent with close to 300 female students dropping out, to a completion rate of 92 percent and 5 total dropouts.
“Interesting to note that two years ago we had 15 young ladies that were pregnant. Last year was ten, and this year we began with three… We’ve had the same abstinence program because in Texas we do have an abstinence-only policy. But it’s not so much the abstinence program, it’s the fact that the girls are coming to school, and they intermingle with every student. And other students see the trials and tribulations that are challenging them.”
From National Women's Law Center
Promising Practices to Improve Latina's Graduation Rates (Teleconference 10/14/2009)
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