Schools scramble with teen pregnancy

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Zane Ball is just a few weeks old, but already he's been kicked out of school -- barred from the campus of his mom's high school.

Mom is 16, a sophomore at Bloomingdale High School in Van Buren County.

The dispute in this tiny town is raising questions about how schools across West Michigan handle student moms -- as teen pregnancies start to rise after years of decline.

It was on a recent visit to school to pick up homework that Kera was told by her principal, Rick Reo, that she and her then-week-old son, Zane, had to leave, that they were glamorizing teen pregnancy.

"When I came here as principal three years ago, one of the first issues brought up to me from teachers at a staff meeting was students bringing their babies to school during the school day," Reo later wrote her in an e-mail. "The teachers felt that it was disruptive to have a student arrive at their door with a new baby while they were trying to conduct class.

"Furthermore, since babies are so darn cute, teachers felt like teen motherhood was being glamorized because what students saw was the new teen mother and her baby being showered with all kinds of attention, oohs & ahhs, etc. The staff felt pretty strongly that we should not be sending this type of message to the student body. We decided at that point that we would not allow students to bring in their babies to show off to other students during the school day."

She could come back, he told her, but not with Zane.

Her mom -- Zane's grandmother -- hopes their fight with school administrators leads to change -- maybe even programs for teen moms.

"I think they would kind of like the teen moms, especially, to maybe just go away," the grandmother, Teresa Pountain, said.

But, this issue goes beyond Bloomingdale:

With teen pregnancy on the rise again in Michigan and the U.S. -- after 14 straight years of declines -- some cash-strapped schools struggle to deal with babies giving birth.

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[impresioname33]

She how the mother talks

That just proves to wait

Have a baby when you're old enough to drink have an apartment and a job then they wonnt be judged

[ajaykeer23939]

The guy is 1.26 looks like a monster

[mamaniki1987]

damm .. .german schools are more tolerable toward teen pregnancy when i was graduating .. i had 2 females in my class pregnant and when i had my baby when i was 17 .. after i graduated... i took my baby to school .. to the gradution ceramony and we.,,, me and baby were more than welcome ! i dont get this kind of attitude !

[SincereTheLady]

@shinestudioshouston1 um...wow...

[scbell1]

I agree with the school. Why did she feel the need to take the child with her to pick up her homework? She knew it would be disruptive.

[tvfreak427]

@BrokenRealityx While maybe it is true that schools do not need to start day cares, the schools should be doing all they can to ensure that these students do not drop out. For the best interest of the school's drop-out rate, the mother and the future of our economy with increased unemployment concerns. She did have an option not to have the baby, but she also had the option to have the baby. They need to respect whichever she chooses and work with these mothers the best they can.

[ilovenbcnews]

thats medically incorrect, he wasn't in your stomach, he was in your Uterus , hemp!

[BrokenRealityx]

because you wanted to take on a 18years long responsibility early.

You can't expect schools to use their meagre funding to accomodate for people who had a option not to have the baby.

[BrokenRealityx]

This is frustrating, not having enough words to express myself.

> as equally as adults. That means paying for their own child's daycare like most adults do. You can't expect to have a free right to do whatever you want (getting pregnant) without having to face responsibilities as an adult.

I'm not discriminating pregnant teenagers, but having a baby means that you're a adult in my eyes, and being a adult means paying for yourself and caring for yourself, not expecting everyone to provide for>>>

[BrokenRealityx]

@Shorttelove03

Schools simply don't have enough funding to provide decent childcare for babies, and it was them that decided to keep the baby. Nature has strict laws on reproduction, you can't take care of the baby and provide for it's needs then breeding ceases all together ( a law that is not understood by some humans).

If the teenagers can't provide adequate care and food for THEIR baby, they do not deserve to have offspring. Period. Having a baby means YOUR grown up, and being treated CONT>