Lola Kovel

The playground of the brand new teen parent center is fenced in and faces the Mike Walsh field.

Many improvements have come with the second year on the new Lincoln High School campus. The teen parent center, located across the new field, is set to open in early October. Portland Public Schools Teen Parent Services will run the center in partnership with Albina Early Head Start, a program catering to prenatal moms, teen parents and children ages six weeks through three years. The new center is one of six childcare centers located throughout PPS. 

According to the PPS Teen Parent Services website, the program focuses on helping teen parents manage being both a parent and a student. They offer parenting education and also help teen parents with services like academic support, counseling, advocacy, credit recovery and post-high school planning. 

Teens can start home instruction two weeks after the baby’s due date. This six-week program allows teens not to miss classes, and effectively rejoin their school community after childbirth. 

PPS Teen Parent Services partners with Albina Early Head Start across the district to provide on-campus childcare, which according to the website, aids student parents with consistent attendance. 

The teen parent center offers childcare for children six weeks to three years of age and is open on all PPS school days between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m..

“One of the biggest barriers to graduation for teen parents is childcare. So that takes that barrier away so that they can get their childcare for their kid and continue their education,” said Jill Ross, Lincoln’s Business manager.

The proximity to Lincoln is beneficial because it allows parents who are students to visit their children during the school day and make use of available lactation rooms and office hours. 

“It’s easier to attend a school where your child is, so that you’re able to bond,” said Cheryl James, program director for the PPS Teen Parent Services. “They’re able to go in during different parts of the day, lots of times during their lunch period, and do nursing or talk to the staff.”

The teen parent center will offer its services to teen parents in Lincoln, but also teen parents in the Lincoln area. 

Ross thinks with the new teen parent center, students from other schools without teen parent centers might transfer to have access to Lincoln’s services. 

“When we’ve had teen parents in the past, they’ve chosen to go to school someplace else where they had a teen parent center. So if there’s a teen parent, maybe at Wells, they may use this [center] and then transfer here,” said Ross.

Lincoln’s new teen parent center was built as part of the bond that funded the rebuild. 

“The teen parents center is part of that bond just as the other facilities that you all were able to receive, like the baseball building, and the updated services and programs. The teen parent center was put into that just as just as everything else was, it was voted in,” said James.

For those who want to get in touch with any of the programs or services provided by the teen parent center, Jane Strugatsky is Lincoln’s Teen Parent Service Social Worker and has an office in the Lincoln building. You can contact her at [email protected]