Teen pregnancy often plays a role in students dropping out, Richmond County school officials say. So next school year, the school system will focus on the issue with a pilot program at Sego Middle and Butler High schools.
"It's a more comprehensive curriculum," student services director Dr. Carol Rountree told school board members recently.
The character-building program encourages students to talk about their concerns and interests, "and that makes a big difference if they have an audience that is involved," Rountree said.
She'd like to see the pilot curriculum expanded to all middle and high schools. Initially, though, she said it will take funding to train teachers on the new material, so the pilot is being started at just two schools this coming school year.
Richmond County school board members said they are happy to hear about the pilot program, saying it's long overdue.
"I'm so glad we are taking this seriously, because it is a serious problem," said board member Barbara Pulliam.
After viewing a slideshow Rountree presented with statistics about teen pregnancy, board member Jack Padgett said he was startled to see that one in five sexually active girls say they would like to get pregnant. The statistics are based on a national quiz students are asked to take on the subject of teen pregnancy.
"Hopefully that would be addressed in some fashion," Padgett said of the number of teens wanting to get pregnant.
Rountree said the pilot program will focus on such issues, adding that it would be aligned with the schools' science and health curricula.
Rountree said a greater focus is needed in Richmond County. It has a teen birth rate of 84.8 per 1,000, according to the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.
Rountree noted that children of teen mothers are more likely to become teen parents themselves.
She said the school system has some pending grant requests to help fund the prevention initiative.
- Thirty percent of girls in the U.S. become pregnant at least once before age 20, representing more than 750,000 teen pregnancies a year.
- Georgia's teen birth rate is the eighth highest in the nation.
- The teen birth rate for Richmond County is 84.8 per 1,000.
- More than 22,500 teen pregnancies occur each year in Georgia.
- Two teen pregnancies occur each hour in Georgia.
- One in five sexually active girls nationwide say they would want to become pregnant.
Sources: Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Richmond County Student Services Director Carol Rountree
I disagree with changing the core curriculum but would rather see this approached from a "Magnet" standpoint. Within the Magnet program, both the mother and father would receive unique elective materials forcused on co-parenting, financial management, life skills etc. This is done in at least district I know of, sucessfully. Let's teach these young folks how to work together as parents. Let's help at least those who want the help to do better for themselves and their children. My initial reaction when I heard of it was that there was NO way they would get the fathers to enroll. Wrong! Many want to learn and try, at least initially, but are driven away by the "baby daddy" syndrome where the woman decides he has no value or place in the child's life.
me, my kids and my babies daddies 101...give me a break...how about "he sorry parents get off your lazy arse and be just that...parents" 101
lifelongresident I agree with you!! or take them to the local abortion clinic!!
I may be wrong but I don't think that this is for pregnant girls, I think it is to try to prevent that from happening.
I wish you the best Richmond County. Someone tell me, why would a teenager, any teenager, want to become pregnant? Only a parent's influence can help this or continue to cause it.
And this would be program # what?....Just haw many ways can you explain how not to get pregnant..or how it's going to change your life..or how your child will be at a disadvantage????....this has been done already.
Jane18, some girls want to become pregnant because they are foolish, immature, needy girls who think that a baby will provide them with the love that they perceive they aren't getting.
They also, in their immaturity, see all the celebrities as single parents, think it's easy and it'll be happily ever after and don't have a clue as to what they are really getting involved in.
Parental influence doesn't work. Try telling a teenager anything. If parental influence worked, there wouldn't be any teen pregnancies.
Why would a teenager want to become pregnant? Young women who are sexually active have realized that "having sex" does not represent a commitment for their boyfriends and they may through an uncon-sciousness need to have someone (her child) who will always love them and whom they can love become pregnant. Let's remember, teen's brains are not fully developed and they appear to react and feel things more intensely. Then there is the whole thought process that "although I am not actively making the right choices per se, I won't get caught." For both males and females the consequences can be devastating: STDs, HIV, dropping out of school, cervical cancer, and teen pregnancy. The outcomes for the children can be even worse. Because of a higher incidence of high risk pregnancies, there may be more chances of birth defects and infant mortality. Over the long term there are higher incidences of child abuse, child neglect, learning problems, and poverty. All of this results in escalated costs to the tax payers and a lower quality of life in our communities. But to have the schools implement some programming to stem this tide, I think that it would be a good approach if the parents of the teens were able to opt out of the program if it were for students who were not already teen parents.
There is nothing wrong with a program about preventing teen pregnancy for all students. Parents should welcome the reinforcing message of abstinence and the devasting effects of a teen pregnancy.
Sadly, parents- who think their child is not and would not be sexually active- all too often find out the truth when they hear the words "Your daughter is pregnant."
Parental influence doesn't work if a parent doesn't start trying to influence their children until they are teenagers. It works very well indeed if they start when their children are born. Accidents happen but even that is rare if the parents have the first clue about what pressures and temptations their kids are having to deal with.
I have no interest in having someone else, especially someone I'm not personally close to, talking with my child about this matter. In fact, I wouldn't allow it to happen in a public school, ever. It's a matter of not being on the same page about a lot of important issues, and about trust. I don't trust them.
Fiat Lux, 95% of 20 year olds have been sexually active. They didn't start at age 18. The average age of first sexual intercourse for whites is 15, for blacks, 13, and it's steadily lowering for both races.
It is not nearly as rare as you think- it is epidemic. The numbers are staggering.
hmmmm, guess the bush abstinance only program is not working that well..... actually teen pregnancy has increased since the program started. way you go!!!!!
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