Maternity Leave For Students?

“I really feel, especially for young parents, that we need to take a closer look at how much and how long they should be gone with a child without having any drawback from their schooling,” said Rep. Rick Miera, D-Albuquerque, who chairs the committee. “They definitely have to make it up, but should be given chance to do so.”

Elisiana Montoya, 19, is an advocate for teen maternity leave after she had her baby, Evelytte, early and missed school for her medical care. Montoya, now a student at Central New Mexico Community College, had to drop some classes, which set her back in graduating. (courtesy of Elisiana Montoya)

New Mexico had the second highest teen birth rate in the country in 2010, with 53 births per 1,000 teenagers aged 15-19, compared with the national average of 34.2 births per 1,000 teens, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In New Mexico, state law defines students as “habitually truant” if they have 10 or more unexcused absences in a school year. Students who are habitually truant must meet with school officials and may be referred to a school police officer.

Students are considered “in need of early intervention” under the law after five unexcused absences, which triggers a school liaison to begin working with the student’s family to identify causes of truancy and find solutions.

Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Texico, said he wants to make sure that students who get a high school diploma can fulfill the expectations of future employers.

“I would have to make sure it strikes that balance,” he said of the proposal. “That we’re not watering down expectations, simply because someone has put themselves in a position where they may be unable to complete the requirements.”

Elisiana Montoya, 19, got pregnant her sophomore year at West Mesa High School. When her daughter, Evelytte, was born three months early, she had to miss school for her medical care.

“Having a premature baby, you have to miss a lot of days of school to be able to take care of your baby,” she said. “To take her to all her appointments, to make sure she’s on the right track for her developmental care.”

Montoya said she had to drop a few classes her junior year while her daughter had frequent appointments for a variety of conditions associated with the premature birth. She found herself short of credits after her senior year and had to take classes from an online school over the summer to graduate. She’s now a student at Central New Mexico Community College.

Albuquerque Public Schools offers students the option of attending New Futures, a school for pregnant and parenting teens, which has more generous attendance policies. New Futures students are given two weeks of maternity leave after a baby is born, and are given two weeks after that to make up their coursework. After that, students are allowed up to nine absences per nine-week quarter for appointments and other parenting obligations.

Other Albuquerque public high schools do not offer maternity leave.

Micaela Cadena, campaign coordinator for Young Women United, one of the groups involved in the effort, said schools around the state have adopted diverse absence and leave policies for pregnant and parenting teens, which are arbitrarily enforced.

“It’s especially important that pregnant and parenting students are able to finish education, so their families will have access to better paying jobs and financial stability,” she said.

The only state that currently has an absence and leave policy for pregnant and parenting students is Massachusetts, according to Cadena.

Journal staff writer Hailey Heinz contributed to this report.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal