It’s 8:45 on a Friday morning and four mothers are learning how to give soothing infant massages to their babies. Each mom has a healthy pile of lotion to dip into, and as they caress wiggling limbs, the diaper-clad babies react almost immediately.
“Look into your baby’s eyes. It’s a chance for you to connect,” explains Jessica Wilson, who is leading the class. “Massage really stimulates your baby’s well-being; that touch is so important for their growth.” As a bell rings in the background, the mothers start to dress their babies and gather stray nuks while Wilson adds, “I’ll give you a pass to second hour.”
As the coordinator of Minneapolis Public Schools’ Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Program (TAPPP) at North High School in Minneapolis, Wilson often has to shift between addressing these teenagers as mothers and as students. During the first period of every school day, mothers and their babies take a parenting education class — which is mandatory for the first year a student puts her or his child in the school’s daycare — that covers life skills, child development, and healthy relationships. Once the bell rings, they hand their children over to the school’s daycare and head to a regular day of classes. “I’m trying to get these girls to a diploma because we know if they have a diploma their chances of providing for their children are much higher,” explains Wilson, whose program is co-funded by Minneapolis Public Schools and Hennepin County Childcare Assistance and boasts a 90-percent graduation rate. In the Minneapolis School District, two other schools, Southwest High School and South High School, have TAPPP programs and in-house daycares.
Students can begin attending TAPPP classes when they become pregnant, and each week a Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency nurse comes to the school and charts the pregnancy’s progress and helps expectant mothers connect with resources like WIC. TAPPP also ensures mothers stay on top of their academics by heavily monitoring attendance, providing at-home tutors following birth, and using individualized learning plans to chart academic progress.
Tim Brown is the dean of North High School’s TAPPP program, which has been around under various names since the 1970s, and says the 28 parents (27 mothers and one father) and 23 children participating this year are given the support they might not be getting at home. “At first when I came here I was like, ‘This is a school that has a daycare, and that’s a sad thing,’” says Brown. “But after I was here for a while, I realized we can’t control these other situations that happen outside the school, and that without this program young ladies would be out in the community struggling. Here you can have the baby, stay in school, and still be successful.”
When asked what she would do if TAPPP weren’t available, student Jenny Khamvongsa pauses. “I don’t know…I don’t think I’d be in school, I’d have to be at home with my baby,” says Khamvongsa of her 6-month-old Alayna. “They give me a lot of support here, and I can come in any time and check up on my baby.”
Monica Wright is assistant editor of Minnesota Parent.
