On September 21, 2009, Teenwise Minnesota held the training Access to Education for Pregnant and Parenting Students: An Overview of Title IX and Best Practices for Student Success. Young moms and dads can succeed when they have support to stay in school, prepare for jobs and learn parenting skills. This training focused on the need to remove barriers and support access to quality education to improve school success for young parents in Minnesota.
Title IX protects access to education by requiring that:
- All students have equal access to school and extracurricular activities.
- Special programs or schools for pregnant and parenting students must be voluntary.
- Any program offered separately for pregnant and parenting students must be comparable to programs offered to non-pregnant and parenting students.
- A doctor’s note can be required for school only if the school requires a doctor’s note from all students with conditions requiring medical care.
- Absences due to pregnancy or childbirth must be excused for as long as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s doctor.
- Special services for temporarily disabled must be provided for pregnant students.
- Pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy and recovery from the aforementioned must be treated in the same manner and with the same policies as any other temporary disability.
For a one page overview on the rights of pregnant and parenting students guaranteed under Title IX, please click here. For more information, visit the Department of Justice or visit the National Women’s Law Center.
To view presentations and resource materials, please follow the links below.