Parenting Program’s Fund Raising Falls Short

The Antelope Valley needed a program to help teen-age mothers stay in school, and Mary Cronkhite was determined to make it happen.

She needed $50,000 to qualify for a matching federal grant and had only about a month to raise the funds, but still was hopeful that the money would be found.

In the end, Cronkhite found more moral than financial support.

“People say, ‘We realize the need, this sounds like a good idea, I’m so glad you’re doing this. But we just don’t have the money now,’ ” Cronkhite said. “There are hearts but no money.”

The Teen Parenting Program, which school officials had hoped to open at Highland High School next month, will be postponed indefinitely unless the Antelope Valley Union High School District beats a Wednesday deadline to raise the $50,000.

The fund-raising effort fell to Cronkhite in November when the school board of the financially troubled district announced that it would not be able to match the federal grant with district funds. Cronkhite, a 22-year Antelope Valley High School home economics teacher who has seen more and more pregnant girls in her classes, volunteered to make a last-minute attempt to raise the cash.

“We’ve been looking for donations from community groups, corporate sponsors, anybody and everybody we can think of,” Cronkhite said.

The program, which would have been the first of its kind in the Antelope Valley, was designed to support teen-age mothers throughout the 12,835-student district, providing day care so that they could stay in school. The program was also to offer special parenting classes.

The program was designed by the Teen Parenting Task Force, a committee consisting of teachers, health professionals, civic leaders and a teen-age mother.

Cronkhite got involved with the task force three years ago, the same year that she had 19 students in her five classes who were either pregnant or already mothers. In previous years, she might have had one pregnant student a year.

The district does not keep records on how many students drop out because of pregnancy. However, in 1990, the last year statistics were available, the district reported that there were 433 teen-age mothers in school. Two years earlier, there were 360.

The task force, trying to raise the $50,000, in late November sent letters to community groups and corporations, did a mass mailing to valley residents and aired a public service announcement on the local cable television station.

In a little over a month, Cronkhite said, the task force’s fund-raising efforts netted about $5,000.

If the task force is unable to raise an additional $45,000 by Wednesday, the district will be forced to return the federal funds, and the group will be ineligible to apply for next year’s funding. Cronkhite said that she didn’t know when the task force would be allowed to seek federal funding again, and that it would probably have to go elsewhere to seek financial assistance.

The school district received a $54,000 federal grant for the program in April. The amount is less than half of what is needed to run the program.

The district’s financial woes, including a $12-million budget cut last year and the firing of 140 employees, meant that the district was unable to provide the additional start-up money for the program.

“We wanted to have the program at Highland High and another at Littlerock High,” said Barbara Penn, a program specialist with the school district.

The two schools are at opposite ends of the Antelope Valley, whose boundaries include the San Bernardino County line to the east and Kern County to the north.

Penn said a common problem the young mothers share is transportation, so providing the service at the two schools would have allowed more young women to take advantage of the services.

There are no rules prohibiting teen-age mothers from attending classes, but many can’t because there often is no one else who can care for their babies.

Cristina Huerta dropped out of Palmdale High School when she had her baby last year. The 16-year-old sophomore, who lives with her boyfriend and eight other people in a three-bedroom house, was looking forward to the start of the Teen Parenting Program to finish high school.

“I wanted to have the baby and stay home a couple of months, and go back to school and get my diploma,” she said. Huerta knew that budget problems threatened her hopes. “I’m kind of disappointed. The program was my only chance.”

Waive Head, 18, said she has been trying to get back to school since her daughter was born five months ago. The on-campus day-care program would have allowed her to finish school sooner.

“I never planned on dropping out of high school when I got pregnant,” she said. “It would have been nice to have day care on campus. I really wanted to graduate with my class.” Now she’s planning to attend night school three times a week.

Until Wednesday comes, Cronkhite is hopeful that more money will come in.

“I’m getting so frustrated about this,” she said. “People have been supportive. There just isn’t any money.”