By DEANNA WULFF
Fremont Union High School District's Teens with Tots program recently received $52,000 from the El Camino Hospital District Board.
The funds will be used to renovate an empty wing of Cupertino High School, increasing the capacity of the on-site child-care facility and expanding the medical, mental health and health education services for teenage mothers.
The center serves all students in the Fremont Union High School District, which includes five high schools. "This gives them an opportunity to graduate and to receive support," said Nancy Forsberg, Teens with Tots resource teacher.
The center currently houses 12 babies and is inadequate for the growing number of requests for childcare. The unused auto shop classroom will be remodeled to house 30-35 babies, from newborns to 3-year-olds. The auto shop room measures 4,224 square feet, equivalent to four regular classrooms.
Construction will begin when the school has amassed a total of $100,000.
The district program is funded by grants from local foundations and various donors.
"We have another grant pending," said Barbara Lacerenza, coordinator of Fremont High School District Alternative Education Programs. "If it's granted, we will have all the money needed to remodel and in three months will have it done."
The child-care program is expanding to meet the needs of a growing number of pregnant teens in Santa Clara County. "The need in the community is so much greater. There are six girls on a waiting list for childcare and we are at capacity," Lacerenza said. "And, other girls are pregnant now and will need the services."
Lacerenza believes the increase in students with children is due to the new stipulations in the Cal Learn Program. In January 1995, state Senate Bill 35 mandated that girls, 19 years old or younger, must attend school to receive financial benefits.
The Teens with Tots Center opened in October 1994 to provide on-site childcare for high-school students with babies between 1 month and 2 years old. The babies are cared for while the mothers attend high school classes to earn a diploma.
"With this program, we are trying to avoid the inevitable increase of teen moms on welfare," Lacerenza said.
The program brings students together daily for a two-hour course on parenting instruction, child development and language arts. Students may select one of three academic settings to complete their degree: they can enroll in regular high-school classes, enroll in Phoenix alternative high-school classes or participate in a New Start independent studies program. Phoenix alternative high school is a continuation school at Cupertino High School for students throughout the district who are behind in credits.
In addition to providing an education for the teen mothers, the center saves them money.
Childcare in Santa Clara County costs an average of $156.56 per week for infants and $105.62 per week for children 2 to 5 years old, said a representative from the Community Coordinated Child Development Council of Santa Clara County.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, Wed., December 6, 1995.
©1995 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.