One in Eight Girls Pregnant at Chicago High School

CBS2 News in Chicago reports that 115 of 800 female students at Paul Robeson High School in Chicago are expectant moms-to-be.

According to the news the Chicago Public School District doesn't track the overall number of teen mothers in the district, but Robeson High Principal Gerald Morrow knows the tally at his school: 115 female students who are expecting. When asked why the numbers are so high, Principal Morrow answered that there may be "a lot of things happening at home, or not happening if you will." Principal Robeson also believes that absentee fathers are a contributing factor. Robeson High student LaDonna Denson and two others, all pregnant, say that parents not talking to teens, and even the desire to go on public assistance, also factor into the pregnancies. According to the report, Robeson High does have an active teen pregnancy prevention program, yet this is not an issue Principal Morrow is totally unfamiliar with. His own mother was only 15 when he was born. This news of the rash of teen pregnancies at Paul Robeson High may focus even harsher public and media spotlights on an already troubled Chicago Public School System, which is already contending with escalating teen gang violence that has left 37 students dead in the past 2008-2009 school year alone. That news was brought to wide public attention recently with the beating death of honor student Derrion Albert. The cellphone video of that beating death was posted on YouTube and went viral.