District Delivers Budget Blow to Pregnant Teens’ Class : Education: A program for expectant students that allows them to finish school in a supportive setting is being integrated into independent study classes.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Teacher Mary Ellen Kile interrupted studies in her class for pregnant teen-agers with urgent news: A member of the class had contracted measles. Even worse, the student was due to deliver her baby in just five days.

Alarmed, the young women lobbed a barrage of questions at Kile: “How is she?” “Can that affect the baby?” “Can the doctor do anything about it?”

Kile explained that while the expectant mother’s situation is not good, it is not impossible, either. She answered the questions she could, then told the class that she would contact a nurse to find out more.

The scene illustrates the support that is typical in the Huntington Beach Union High School District’s School-Age Mothers program.

But Kile, her students and program supporters say that when the 20-year-old program is integrated this fall into the district’s independent study curricula, the tightknit support and special learning opportunities will be lost.

The class, one of seven self-contained pregnant-teen programs offered by county school districts, was among the casualties of a $2.6-million budget cut approved recently by district trustees.

Up to now, pregnant students who chose to leave or were expelled from their home school because of pregnancy could continue their studies by enrolling in the program--isolated from the peer heckling common at high schools.

The classes, held in a leased room on the site of the old Arthur D. Nieblas School in Fountain Valley, are taught by Kile with the help of a full-time aide, Mimi Juarez, and regular guest speakers.

There are 48 students in the program, ages 14 to 19. They are encouraged to attend class daily, but each works at her own pace on a study program suited to her medical schedule and academic ability. The students also receive extensive instruction in prenatal and postpartum care, child development and birth control.

As of next year, students in the School-Age Mothers program will enroll in the independent study program offered at the district’s Learning Center. The expectant or new mothers will attend classes at the Learning Center with up to 30 male and female students.

The School-Age Mothers students will get together at least once weekly, said Doris Longmead, the district’s director of alternative education, in a bid to “maintain that closeness and rapport.”

Longmead said the new system--which officials estimate will save the district $100,000 next year--will offer pregnant students the level of comprehensive education and support that is now offered.

But Kile, who along with Juarez will be transferred into a regular classroom next year, believes otherwise.

“I’m not sure Doris Longmead really realizes what goes on over here,” Kile said during a break from classes recently. “We deal with more than the academic needs of the girls here. We’re dealing with all of the problems they’ve got.”

For example, Kile said, a nutritionist visits the class once a week, and daily lunches offered to the students are strictly structured to meet prenatal needs. A regular exercise program is tailored for expectant mothers. Kile and various guests also give the students pertinent legal advice and tips on agencies where they may obtain varied aid and services.

And when morning sickness strikes, neither Kile nor other students question someone who suddenly dashes for the restroom.

The classroom atmosphere, students say, is the program’s most important asset. The class is a natural support group, in which participants exchange advice, lend moral support and discuss the fears and anticipation of their shared experience.

Stacy Buehring, 18, a student in the program and mother of a 3-month-old boy, said: “Everybody’s a family here. Everybody can relate to what everyone else is going through.”

Many of the students said the program has saved them from dropping out of school. Some students, including Buehring, enrolled in the Learning Center’s independent study program when they became pregnant, but they complained that the center was not designed for their needs.

The center, the students said, was not a conducive learning environment for them, mainly because it includes dozens of other students, both male and female.

In addition, the center lacks such amenities as private and easily accessible restrooms, nutritious food and teachers who are knowledgeable and sympathetic about their needs, they said.

“I came this close to dropping out,” said Buehring, who plans to graduate in June. “Then I found this program. Now, if I’m sick or have a doctor’s appointment, I feel guilty about not coming to school.”

Melissa Herrera, 18, was a senior at Banning High School in Wilmington when she learned that she was pregnant.

When word of her pregnancy spread, she was inundated with crank phone calls, insults at school and other forms of harassment, she said.

Intimidated and frustrated, Herrera, at her parents’ suggestion, moved in with a guardian in Huntington Beach and enrolled in the School-Age Mothers program. She had her baby in February and is scheduled to graduate from Marina High School in June.

“I really doubt I would have stayed in school without this program,” she said.

Board members acknowledge that the new arrangement falls short of what the existing program offers. But, partly because the School-Age Mothers program now has a reported average daily attendance of just 14 students, trustees unanimously agreed that continuing the program would be too costly.

“There’s no question it’s a compromise,” board President Charmayne Bohman said. “But it serves a very small number of students, and it’s a compromise that’s workable.

“We’re going to try hard to make this program beyond a typical independent study program. We plan to dump the resources of the district into supporting these young women.”