Tuesday, February 1, 2011
TEEN PREGNANCY IN MEMPHIS CITY SCHOOLS
Amid local and national coverage, Memphis City School system has another on-going issue that a ray of light has been shown upon…Teenage Pregnancy. Teenage Pregnancy is nothing new in Memphis or probably in any city, but national media coverage has once again brought it to the fore front and made it a priority among the board and city wide leaders. The problem stemmed from a news story which showed Frayser High School as having 90 children pregnant at one time. Although statistical data has not been thoroughly trended, the numbers are unsettling and show a need for plan to be in place.
Superintendent Kriner Cash said in a recent news conference that the number is incorrect. He stated that in actuality the girls are in different stages of either being pregnant or have already delivered. He said that because of a program geared towards teens; a lot of students were transferred to Frayser High to receive the needed benefits of that program. Surrounded by City & Shelby County mayors, AC Wharton & Mark Luttrell, Cash said “In MCS, we have an adolescent parenting program that serves 85 to 100 young people; but it’s not big enough. We need a bigger boat.”
Superintendent Cash also talked about a few other MCS programs put in place to combat the teen pregnancy problem, including one such that ensures students who are out of school because of giving childbirth, return to school and not fall behind their studies after giving birth. MCS just launched an awareness campaign in conjunction with Girls Incorporated of Memphis called “No Baby”.
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell announced that the Shelby County Office of Children & Youth has joined with Memphis City Schools to help tackle the teenage pregnancy problem that has once again plagued the city of Memphis. Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital’s president and CEO, Meri Armour pledged a $4 million dollar federal grant that included boys ages 13 – 18 in a teen pregnancy prevention program. This pilot program will target certain areas in Memphis, beginning with North Memphis.
All three entities agree that the problem does not begin nor end in Frayser High School exclusively. They believe that this is a countywide problem.
The Urban Child Institute recently published its Data Book 2010 The State of Children in Memphis and Shelby County. In 2002 the birth rate per 1,000 females age 10 to 19 for black females in Shelby County was 38.3 per thousand, but increased dramatically to 62.6 per thousand in 2008, and increase of 63% and for white females in Shelby County, there was a 19% increase over the same period of time, 19.2 per thousand to 22.8 per thousand.
In 2010, more than 2,100 girls ages 10 to 19 gave birth in Shelby County. Researchers say Shelby County’s teen pregnancy rate is 25% higher than New Orleans and twice of Louisville, Kentucky.
Memphis City School Board Member Tomeka Hart says that the school board needs to reevaluate the sex education curriculum to find out if it is working. “Maybe what we are doing now is not the best way to teach students.”
“We have a curriculum in place that seems to be comprehensive but we don’t know if it’s being implemented district wide,” said Martavius Jones, a school board member.
The Memphis City School Board members are worried that they really don’t know what is being taught in the “Family Life” curriculum, which is abstinence, based, and has ordered Superintendent Kriner Cash to ensure all MCS teachers are indeed following the current school curriculum while statistical data is being founded and evaluated.
The teen pregnancy issue is nothing new in Memphis and Shelby County, however the trend seems to be escalating rather than decreasing or even remaining the same. I think while we are launching programs and educating students about sex and its affects, parental education and involvement is an absolute necessity. Foundational thoughts and truths should be taught at home. We need to make sure that parents are accountable to their kids. I am with the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child.
Tonya Davidson
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Good info!! Teenage pregnancy is not just a problem in Memphis, but all over the US. It's very good that the city has lunched different programs to shine light on this issue. The attention that came form the national level could be a good thing depending on how the city responds. Taking such an issues and doing something about it will bring the national attention back again, but next time for a good reason. The problem starts at home. So as we are working to fix this issue all contributing aspects should be evaluated.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought!
Your topic is especially relevant in today's society not just locally in Memphis but across the nation. Somehow teen pregnancy has become a trend that has spread through generations and it needs to be stopped in its tracks before children start to become preganant at a younger age. At this point I'm not sure if it's a lack of sexual education or a popular trend among teens.
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog! Abstinence is perhaps an outdated method of preventing teen pregnancy. Seeing as how this method has proven ineffective within the Memphis community. Sex is a taboo topic that many parents aren't sure how to approach. I can see how this would affect the public school systems as well. The fact remains that teens are informing themselves about sex whether we are or not.
ReplyDeleteBiologically it is natural for teenagers to be interested in sex, yet as a whole society seems to pretend that isn't so and turn a blind eye at all the sex driven media that is pumped into their minds on a daily basis. Teens need to hear about safe sex and STDs.
You chose a good topic.Teen pregnancy is not just in The Memphis City Schools but is everywhere. Teen pregnancy is so high now in this society. I believe that we as parents should help to educate our young girls and to teach them how to have morals,values and respect for themselves then maybe they will be able to make better decisions. There is a possibility that poverty is also an issue.
ReplyDeleteI think that often times it is hard for parents to address this topic with their children because they don't know how or maybe it was not something done when they were growing up. I don't want to make it seem like it is all the parents fault or even the youth's fault. I think that it is something that needs to be address from different angles. Title I funds are supposed to be for things that enhance the family aspect of the schools and if they hold seminars for the parents to come in and get educated about sex and how to present it to the youth I think that will be somewhat a simple cure. Or maybe not. I also feel like there should be some type of confidentiality in situations like the one where the media blasts out our schools and unrealistic numbers. People or neighborhood bashing does not help the problem, it only makes things worse.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the posts. I love them all :-)
EJWildcats...I agree. It's sad to say but a lot of girls become pregnant because of peer pressure and the attention they receive. I believe if they really knew the total responsibility in raising a child they would think again before having unprotected sex. Let's not even talk about (STDs or HIV) that comes with unprotected sex.
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog! Teen pregancy exists not only in Memphis but all over. I really hate that it seems the only recognition that the City of Memphis receives is due to negativity. However, if it takes Memphis to be the example to launch programs to provide help and guidance for teen parents as well as help other teens to avoid becoming teen parents, I commend the city and hope that others catch on and do the same! Teenagers are faced with peer pressure, obstacles and struggles and causes them to make bad decisions; especially, when there is very little support. Many times they are crying out for help. I'm glad to see the city reaching out to the teenagers to provide positive guidance and assitance!
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the barer of bad news...I think that with all of the commotion being stirred in the media, naturally people flock out to the situation in efforts to be seen and for free advertisement. Once the spot light is off, so is the help and resources and since there was never any funding in that arena then you still have the problem at hand still rising.
ReplyDeleteI have been an AmeriCorps member for a little more than a year and a half and I have yet to see programs come out of the woodworks like this with the advertisements. I have been going out into the High Schools (17 of them) since August and not only do the volunteers not want to work with them but many of the other organizations don't want to work with them either because it is hard to get funding for the programs and even harder to get volunteers to do the footwork. It is a numbers game when it comes to working with the population of youth. If you can produce a large number of teen parents and keep them all in compliance within your grand guidelines then you have funding available. Many of these teen parents are unable to keep stable or even dedicated to programs because of many different reasons. Even though it is a service that is well needed, the youth won't take advantage of it because they are not used to having help that won't pay off physically. And also, these parents know when people are coming to see them for money versus to genuinely come out to help and support them.
I love working with the youth because it gives me the opportunity to see what they think and how they feel about their situations and they trust me and talk to me about everything. We have hug sessions, they can have personal meetings with me and open up without being judge, and we even have sessions where they can bring their baby pictures out and share with the groups. These young people want to be treated with respect, love and dignity and they want us to do this without holding a dollar sign over their heads.
As long as I have the time I am going to continue to reach out to these young people and continue to love and talk with them without judging them and maybe they will take that same love and appreciation that I pass along to them and pass it along to their babies :-)
Your topic is very interesting. I agree that memphis schools have a lot of teen pregnancies. Its not only in High Schools but in the Middle Schools as well. Although you do have some very good valid points I don't agree that it takes a villiage to raise a child.It starts at the home. I think more parents should take responsibility and raise, teach and guide their OWN child. Its not "the village" or the teachers job to raise your children. These days parents get made when anyone other then them disciplines their child.
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