GRANITE FALLS — Jessiana King wakes up around 2 a.m. to feed her 3-month-old son, Brayden.
By 4:30, she’s up again. Brayden usually sleeps while she gets ready, then she wakes and dresses him.
On weekdays, they take the “baby bus” to school. It’s outfitted with carseats.
Brayden, a blue-eyed boy with tufts of soft blonde hair, goes to day care at the end of a hallway lined with blue lockers. King heads to class.
The 17-year-old is on track to graduate next year from Crossroads High School in Granite Falls. Brayden should be a few months shy of 2 years old on graduation day. King aims to be in college during his toddler years.
Nationwide, about half of teens who become mothers before their 19th birthday don’t finish high school by age 22, according to a study released this summer. Nearly a third of girls who drop out say they did so because they are expecting or caring for a baby.
King isn’t sure she could finish high school if she wasn’t part of the GRADS program.
GRADS stands for Graduation, Reality and Dual-Role Skills. The state program is designed to teach parenting and job skills to teen moms and dads. Child care and other resources are provided so they can complete school.
Two high schools in Snohomish County offer GRADS: Crossroads in Granite Falls and Sequoia in Everett.
Enrollment fluctuates throughout the year. Last year, Sequoia had about 30 students participating. At Crossroads, King said there have been about 10 students in class lately.
“A lot of people drop out of high school when they have a kid because they think it’s too hard,” King said. “And it is. It is hard. But it’s possible.”
A little push
The rate of births to teen mothers in Washington has been declining for several decades. In 2014, it was about eight births per 1,000 girls between 15 and 17 years old. In the early 1990s, the rate peaked at about 33 births per thousand.
Studies confirm the link between teen pregnancy and a reduced likelihood of going to college or getting a job, with an increased likelihood of receiving public assistance.
GRADS started in the 1980s. There are 23 schools in Washington that offer the program to more than 400 students total.
Two years ago, state officials ordered a study to weigh the costs and benefits of GRADS. The research was finished this year and published in July.
Researchers found that GRADS moms were slightly less likely to complete high school within a typical four-year window than other teen moms. However, when moms were given more time, the program saw positive results. By age 22, about 47 percent of the moms had graduated, compared to 37 percent of teen moms not in GRADS. By age 24, just over 55 percent of GRADS moms had enrolled in college compared to 49 percent of other teen moms.
“They’re not graduating on time, but they are graduating,” said Leslie Sutin, who has helped run the day care at Sequoia for 10 years. “That’s the goal.”
The day care started long before GRADS, she said. The need to help teen parents finish school isn’t new.
“GRADS, to me, is more of a philosophy than it is a learning program,” Sequoia principal Kelly Shepherd said. It’s built on relationships, trust and honest feedback.
Difficult conversations can’t be avoided, Sutin said. They talk to students about failing grades, problems at home or gaps in their post-high school plans.
“They just need that little push,” Sequoia teacher Melissa Ferdinandus said. “It’s so easy to fall back and take a back seat to their education.”
Improving graduation rates can have public benefits through higher employment, greater tax revenue, reduced crime and less reliance on public assistance, according to the state study. For every $1 in costs for GRADS, researchers estimate about $3 in savings.
The state now has evidence the program works, superintendent of public instruction Randy Dorn said in a statement.
“We’re able to keep students in school and provide them with the skills they need to succeed in life,” he said. “I strongly urge every district that doesn’t have one to start a GRADS program.”
Bigger, better things
Brayden was born on the last day of July. He measured 19 inches and weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.
Now he’s mastering the art of screaming. He’ll squawk loudly, then pause.
“He’s listening to himself,” King said after one hearty howl. “He does it because now he knows he can.”
While Brayden still is learning what he’s capable of, he’s already taught his mother what she can accomplish.
King battled heroin addiction. Brayden saved her life, she said. When she learned she was pregnant, she knew she was done with the drug.
On Oct. 15, she celebrated one year clean.
“It’s a daily motivation,” she said. “I will never use again. I want to set an example for him.”
She met her boyfriend, Brayden’s father, in treatment. They pledged to stay clean together. Now she wants to steer others away from drugs and eventually lead support groups.
“My son inspires me to do bigger, better things,” King said. “I need to come back strong. My whole school saw me battle addiction. First I lost some weight, then I was missing half days, then whole days. I don’t feel like I would be alive if I didn’t get pregnant.”
King’s first class of the day is GRADS. Second period is leadership, where she writes the morning announcements. Her third stop of the day is checking in with a teacher about grades and goals. Fourth is geometry, fifth civics, sixth mythology and last is yoga.
On Thursdays, parents do art with their kids. On Mondays, there’s baby yoga.
King wants to get her driver’s license, a car and a part-time job. She plans to go to college. Her dream job would be a veterinarian who works with zoo animals and exotic species. The career she’s been talking about lately, though, is counseling for recovering addicts. They don’t all have Brayden’s big blue eyes to remind them why they fight. She thinks she could help them.
Peaches and pits
In Ferdinandus’ class at Sequoia — a requirement for GRADS and an elective for other students — she goes over infant and toddler development. In one assignment, students are given a budget and must decide what kind of birthday gift they could afford that would be appropriate for their child’s age and maturity.
After taking the class, students can get state certifications and assist in the day care. Many have gone on to work in child care, Sutin said.
As part of GRADS, they talk about issues such as screen time, or how long a child should be allowed to watch television and play on a tablet or computer. Teachers stress the importance of reading to children, letting them turn the pages and comment on shapes, colors and words.
Once a week during lunch, teen parents gather with adult volunteers to talk about the highs and lows of the week.
“They call it their peaches and pits,” Sutin said.
Lately, students have been asking how to handle tantrums. Several have 2-year-olds. They also ask about when to introduce foods, which diaper creams to use or which symptoms indicate their baby should stay home sick.
“We don’t get a lot of long-range questions,” Sutin said. “They are living day-to-day.”
Defying labels
She had so much going for her, too.
Allyson Nelson heard that a lot after she got pregnant, “as though now I wasn’t going to do anything,” she said. She was less than a month from her 17th birthday and a few weeks from her first day of Running Start at Everett Community College.
“I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from pursuing my goal of going to college,” she said. “A lot of people doubted that.”
Now 21 years old, Nelson has a bachelor’s degree in community psychology from the University of Washington-Bothell. She works as a success coordinator at Crossroads High School, helping students set and conquer goals. She speaks from experience.
For two years, she attended GRADS class in the morning, then college. After school, she worked at a local coffee stand. On slow days, she’d wedge homework between orders.
After her daughter, LaylaMae, was born, Nelson continued classes and LaylaMae went to day care at Crossroads.
LaylaMae had sleep apnea and woke up every two hours or so. Nelson settled into a routine. She put her daughter to bed and worked on homework until the first time she woke up each night. After she got her daughter back to sleep, Nelson would snooze, waking frequently to care for her baby.
Nelson’s mom and sister supported her, as did LaylaMae’s father’s family. Nelson always had a babysitter during finals.
She and LaylaMae’s father ended their romantic relationship but remain a team in caring for their daughter. The communication skills Nelson learned in GRADS have helped, she said. They also helped her become a better mother. She remembers one day when the teacher had her sit on the floor, then raised her voice to show Nelson what it would feel like for a small child to be yelled at. That stuck with her and she monitors her voice when she talks to her children.
Nelson was 19 and a student at UW when her son, Elijah, was born. She and his father had been friends in high school and they’ve stayed together.
Within a month of getting her degree, she started substituting at Crossroads, then stepped into the success coordinator position. She works mostly with students who have special needs or are homeless. She also helps a few of the teen moms.
“There are so many people who want to see them succeed,” Nelson said. “They are teen parents. Everyone gets labeled, and that’s part of their identity, but it’s not all of them.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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