Residential Charter School for Teen Mothers to Close

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A Refuge for Pregnant Teens

Troubled charter school provides a haven for girls who struggle with the challenges that come with being both a high school student and a new mother.

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Muhammad-M'Backe said those scores are not surprising, given that most students entered the school reading on a third- to fifth-grade level.

To reform the academic program, the school hired Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, a national educational consulting firm that specializes in serving nontraditional student groups by emphasizing hands-on learning in out-of-school settings. But Gladys Graham, the firm's regional director, said constant teacher and administrative turnover made it difficult to put the program into effect.

"The school is not in a place where we could implement the design," she said.

Truancy was chronic, regulators said, running at 50 percent or more during the first quarter of this school year. During a recent unannounced visit, 17 of the school's 31 remaining students -- enrollment has dipped since the closing notice -- were absent.

The truancy has to be viewed in a different context from that of other schools, Muhammad-M'Backe said, because most of it was triggered not by the girls but by their infants, who had to be treated at home or in a hospital for ailments such as chronic asthma and stomach flu.

The school lacked a full-time nurse on site, which meant that adolescents were sometimes giving medicine to their infants without supervision.

Other circumstances at the school suggested poor judgment, such as its attempt to raise money by marketing itself as a bed-and-breakfast during inauguration week. Although an ad appeared online, the idea was considered but never pursued.

One of the most serious issues was MEI's special education program. An inspection of the individual education plans (IEPs) required by federal law for each student showed that they were identical, with only the names changed.

"There are certain failures that are nonnegotiable deal-breakers, such as failing to serve special education students," said board spokeswoman Audrey Williams.

Even students who lament the closing of the school said it went through a rocky first year in 2007-08, with textbook shortages and holes in the curriculum.

"A lot of things weren't in place when we came in," said Charlene Stackhouse, 18, whose 14-month-old daughter, Shaliyah, stays in the nursery while she is in class.

Several students lost their food stamps or other public assistance because they lived at the school, making it difficult for them to afford diapers, formula and other necessities. Muhammad-M'Backe said no one did without, even if it meant frequent 1 a.m. trips to the CVS. Others grew restless with the long hours of school and child care under one roof and became day students.

MEI's young mothers are still figuring out their next moves. The D.C. public schools offer programs at Roosevelt and Ballou high schools, where the students can attend evening classes to work toward a diploma. Anacostia and Cardozo high schools host the New Heights program, which supports teen parents.

Jasmine Ford, a 17-year-old with a 16-month-old son, Issac, will probably try another charter school, possibly Maya Angelou, but is reluctant to leave behind the supportive atmosphere at MEI. "I see a real improvement in my child," she said.

Muhammad-M'Backe said that MEI's students are too easily forgotten and that the idea of a residential school deserves another try.

"I think it has worked," she said. "I think it's just different. Our society has a history of taking different to mean not successful."