Louisiana charter school can force girls to take a pregnancy test

These folks must really want to get sued by the ACLU (which already has them in their cross-hairs). A charter school in Louisiana has a policy stating that they can require female students to take a pregnancy test if they believe they might be pregnant and the student will not be allowed to attend the school if they refuse or fail the test.

Get Tested Or Get Out: School Forces Pregnancy Tests on Girls, Kicks out Students Who Refuse or are Pregnant

In a Louisiana public school, female students who are suspected of being pregnant are told that they must take a pregnancy test. Under school policy, those who are pregnant or refuse to take the test are kicked out and forced to undergo home schooling.

Welcome to Delhi Charter School, in Delhi, Louisiana, a school of 600 students that does not believe its female students have a right to education free from discrimination. According to its Student Pregnancy Policy, the school has a right to not only force testing upon girls, but to send them to a physician of the school administration’s choice. A positive test result, or failure to take the test at all, means administrators can forbid a girl from taking classes and force her to pursue a course of home study if she wishes to continue her education with the school.

ACLU

The policy does sound hinky to me but, it is a charter school which isn't supposed to have to abide by the same regulations as other public schools in order to provide its students with a higher level of education than the regular public schools.

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter. Charter schools are opened and attended by choice. While charter schools provide an alternative to other public schools, they are part of the public education system and are not allowed to charge tuition. Where enrollment in a charter school is oversubscribed, admission is frequently allocated by lottery-based admissions systems. However, the lottery is open to all students.

Wiki

So, it seems to me that the school is trying to maintain an environment free of distractions for the students in order to meet the conditions of its charter. This is a special school that the students must choose to go to and they should have the right to turn away disruptive or unruly students, one would think.

Its not like they are throwing the girls out on the street if they refuse or fail the test; they allow girls who fail the test to continue learning through a curriculum provided by the charter school in a home schooling environment or, the girls could always go back to the regular public school for their learning if they refuse the test or don't like the homeschooling option.

Still, the whole idea of forcing girls to take a school mandated pregnancy test seems awful sleazy in my opinion. What happens to the girl they force to take the test and passes it? Could you even imagine how embarrassing that would be for a girl who just happened to pack on a little weight in the belly? Can she then turn around and make a complaint of weight discrimination?

I think this school opened a whole can of worms for itself with this policy and it may prove to be more of a problem for the school than the one it sought to solve.

I'd have a bit less of a problem with it if the father is kicked out too...only a little less of a problem.

But then, we don't need policies like this one, that encourage more abortions.

I would say that invasion of privacy could be argued.

More substantially, I would say that telling young girls to take a pregnancy test or be kicked out of the school could be classified as sexual harassment.

reply to post by CynicalDrivel


and if the father isnt going to the school,and how do u find out who the father is if the girl does not want to tell you?? this is insanity and a horrible violation of privacy.this kind of stuff needs to be stopped before it can be come mainstream. another note what if the girl is pregnant but planning to abort?dont think the school can legaly ask you if you have had or are planing on having an abortion(Hippa and whatnot)i cant even belive that this got past the "planning stage" of what ever board implemented it

reply to post by KilrathiLG


Did you not get "Slightly less of a problem"? I didn't go into detail, but I did state that I still had a problem with it.

Oh, a buddy just posted that this goes agaisnt the:
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
And then linked this.


this one might be knocked down quickly.

From the standpoint of collective human rights, i don't believe the school has a right to do this. I dont believe kicking the father out of school will help the situation either.

Maybe this is just being used as a scare tactic to discourage sexual behaviour of girls?

Either way, i find this offensive, sexist and a case of potential harassment.

I sentence this school to 7 years hard labour. NEXT!