By Sarah Therrien, Advertising Manager
The infant lab program began around 30 years ago, and the program has indubitably helped teen parents attending Kenosha Unified School District schools.
But at the end of this school year, the program will come to an end.
First started at Reuther High School, the program relocated to Indian Trail High School & Academy in 2013. It was created to help teen parents by offering them a better education on parenting and provide care for the infants while the parents attended their daily high school classes to work towards obtaining high school diplomas.
With a steady national decline in teen pregnancies and the implementation of different ways to obtain a diploma, such as e-school, use of the Infant Lab has dropped significantly since it first was founded.
Once serving as many as 51 infants, the lab now serves just six infants and 11 teen parents. With a price of just over $329,000 for the lab to run just this year, the program’s cost began to outweigh the benefits to the decreasing population using it, prompting district officials to decide to shut down the program.
Maria Kotz, Indian Trail High School principal, weighed in on the difficult decision to close the lab for the 2019-20 school year.
“The declining birth rate is mainly a decline in teen parents, and so we have fewer students using the program, so the cost of the program became more of an issue these past couple of years because the nursery is not being used to the capacity it is designed for,” Kotz said. “As the district had looked at the budget shortfalls and tried to figure out what they should do, unfortunately because the cost per pupil in the program is pretty high, the decision was to eliminate it.”
Kotz concluded that the district is determined to help students find other options.
“Our goal as a building, and other high schools around Kenosha, is that everyone is able to pursue an efficient high school career. So if there are school-aged parents, we will have to find different ways to provide support,” said Kotz.
School officials haven’t decided yet how they will use the empty space.
Because many of the students using the lab are originally from different school zones, most of the students will be sent back to their original home schools.
“I might get sent back to Tremper. I will lose quality time with my daughter because we will not be in the same building,” sophomore Dylan Gross said.
Gross and his 10-month-old daughter have been using the lab since the start of the school year and have both found benefits in doing so.
The infant lab and Parent and Child Education program offered at Indian Trail helped Gross learn how to take care of his child and provided staff support.
“I now know I am not alone and there is always someone to ask for help from. The PACE teachers have helped me stay focused and provide a better life for my daughter,” Gross said.
“It is very devastating to know I won’t have this program next year for my family. They have taught me so much about being a parent,” he said. “The program and the lab supports us like we are their own.”
Gross wishes the district hadn’t eliminated the program.
“I will miss everybody here dearly and I will always be grateful for them,” he said.