The bell has rung for recess, and Micah Moniz and a handful of other teen parents make a beeline for a nondescript portable building on the far 'ewa side of the McKinley High School campus.

Inside are five babies and toddlers, the children of these students who are struggling to stay in school, forge families of their own and deal with a world in which the odds are stacked against them.

Senior Kahiau Wong, 17, scoops up her 15-month-old toddler, Kaupali, and kisses the baby's cheeks as Moniz, also a senior, flops on his back on the floor and settles baby Nance on his chest for a precious 10-minute visit between classes.

As the teens get ready to leave, the babies cling to their parents. Moniz gently tells his son:

"I gotta go read now ... I gotta be smart."

Twenty years ago, student parents were far more likely to drop out and disappear than stay in school. They also faced lingering social stigma along with a higher percentage of medical problems for their babies, including prematurity.

Against that backdrop, the state and social service agencies introduced an array of programs intended to reduce teen pregnancy and keep young people in school.

One of the most successful efforts has played out in the public high schools through the Pregnant Parenting Teens program, which last year saw graduation rates hit 88 percent — topping the state's overall average graduation rate of 79 to 80 percent.

In the 14 years since the program began by offering childcare in a few schools and elective GRADS class — Graduation, Reality And Dual-role Skills — in almost all high schools, the number of second pregnancies has diminished.

And it has launched thousands of teen parents and their children toward healthy, productive lives by teaching them everything from bathing and caring for a baby to dressing for a job interview, setting goals, managing a paycheck and understanding domestic stress.

"It's not that we condone getting pregnant," said Dee Helber, who heads the DOE program. "But if you should, we still feel education is paramount. Our Board of Education policy states we'll work with all of these students to help them graduate."

SIGNS OF SUCCESS

In Hawai'i and nationally, the teen birth rate has been falling since its peak in 1990, thanks to outreach programs, greater awareness among teens about avoiding sexual intercourse and better contraceptive practices.

Since 1991, Hawai'i has reduced its incidence of teen pregnancy substantially, from about 60 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19 to 38 per 1,000 in 2002, according to statistics from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Nationally, Hawai'i now ranks among the states with the lowest number of teen births, improving from 27th in the nation in 1991 to 11th in 2002.

However, many teenagers still face the consequences of risky choices, and schools are still playing an important role.

"It's still a significant issue," said Nancy Partika, executive director of the advocacy group Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies. "Every teen pregnancy is a pregnancy that has a lot of complicating factors. And childcare is an absolutely essential part of ensuring that a pregnant teen stays in school, completes school and graduates and hopefully does not become a repeat teen parent.

"Once they become a teen parent," continued Partika, "there's a one in three chance of them becoming pregnant again in their teens. If we don't provide childcare and they stay at home, it creates more incentive to think a second child wouldn't be a problem."

STILL A STRUGGLE

Seven of the largest high schools on three different islands — including McKinley High — offer limited childcare, thanks to federal dollars obtained through the state Department of Human Services. Last year, about 100 babies born to student parents were cared for in these centers.

But there's a condition — the teens must stay in school and get decent grades.

Rowena Rojo, mother of teen mom Kahiau Wong, said school support was crucial in helping her daughter care for and understand her baby, and in keeping her daughter in school.

Rojo's granddaughter has been at the school's daycare facility from the time she was a few weeks old. Now that she's 1 1/2, the girl is a fixture on campus — even sitting in the audience with Grandma while mommy performed at an assembly recently.

"She would have dropped out, yes, because she would have had to stay home and watch the baby," Rojo said. "It helped with her outlook to pursue a career and be more positive. ... The teachers are just unbelievable."

Last year, 780 teens who had become parents — or were about to — were in GRADS classes, down from a high of 1,100 in the early 1990s. Most pregnant teens in the high schools take the optional classes. The schools help identify students and encourage them to attend.

"We've worked very hard on teenage pregnancy prevention, and it's down considerably," said Helber. "And we really work hard on trying to prevent the second pregnancies, so we provide them with a lot of education about how 'This is one you're going to have, and you want to provide as much as you can for your child. ... But put off the second baby.'

"We do a pretty good job with that. There aren't a lot of second births."

The support in the schools is an outgrowth of the cancellation of the Booth Memorial School program in 1991. Through the 1980s, Booth Memorial had provided a shielded place in Kapahulu where, to avoid embarrassment, pregnant teens could get academic instruction and parenting classes in privacy.

But when the Kapahulu space was needed for students with hearing and visual impairments, DOE mainstreamed services to pregnant teens, with an on-campus option and a smaller, more private off-campus option.

The first on-campus childcare program started at Kaimuki High, with a Work Hawai'i grant, while an off-campus program was launched by McKinley High's Colleen Yamashiroya at the former Kapi'olani Community College site. Off-campus, parenting and academic classes were offered the first year, with childcare at a nearby church the following year. When space became available at McKinley, Yamashiroya moved the whole thing onto the school grounds.

Given Hawai'i's teen birth rate, the programs were welcomed.

"The main goal is to keep them in school," said Yamashiroya, who for 14 years headed the program at McKinley. "But to do so, we need to provide the childcare."

But the other point of view is out there: "that old thinking of how come you're making it so easy for them by having a childcare center," said Gerrie Nakamura, who runs the pregnant/ parenting teens program at Leilehua High in Wahiawa. "But we're helping them stay in school because we want them to go to class and feel comfortable their child is being taken care of."

A MUCH HARDER PATH

Nonetheless, struggles for a teen parent can be monumental. Although some couples stay together — and some marry — most don't.

Shawna Shimoda and Stanley Tibas are together and can attest to how hard it all can be.

Their daughter, Brooklyn, just had her first birthday and although Tibas, 18, graduated last year, he's already put his hopes for college on hold. Instead, he's working two full-time jobs to support his young family and help his own mom with the rent. They live with his family.

"I'm not sure if he's still going to go," said Shimoda of her boyfriend's college dreams. "He talks about it."

Tibas' day begins at 7 a.m. and ends close to midnight, with an hour break at home, between his two jobs, to play with his daughter. In the morning, he sells Puma sneakers at a new Ala Moana shop. In the afternoon and evening, he works for Longs Drugs.

They're saving for a car — though Tibas still has to get his license — and then they'll save for a place of their own.

Shimoda, 16, is a high school junior, and her grandmother, Sadako Miyamoto, made her a deal: If she stays in school and gets good grades, Miyamoto will watch the baby.

"Most of my brothers and sisters didn't finish high school," Shimoda said. "My older brother said I won't graduate. But I told him, 'Once I get my diploma, I'm going to flash it in your face.' ... If I go to college, I'll be the first one."

Nonetheless, Shimoda gives this advice to her friends: Don't get pregnant.

"Some of them tell me, 'I like (a baby)' ... " she said. "I say, 'Wait for after high school.' ... If I could do it again, I probably wouldn't."

A LONGER, HARDER PATH

Despite the success of the campus childcare programs, they have their own challenges.

Several have had to move off campus because academic space is at a premium, said Ethel Fleming, program specialist in the state Department of Human Services who administers the $413,000 in federal money that supports the centers.

The Waiakea/Hilo high schools on the Big Island and Wai'anae High have centers but not on campus.

"They just didn't have classroom space," said Fleming. "But when it's not on campus, you face the added barrier for the teen parents of finding their own transportation to and from. School buses do not allow babies."

At Farrington, the pressure for academic space forced principal Catherine Payne to shut down the center this year after many years of operation. That has meant a scramble for some of the young mothers, with some attending school only intermittently because they must stay home and care for their babies. Deidra Freitas, head of Farrington's GRADS program, is negot-iating with a nearby church for space.

The space squeeze occurs at other schools, too. At Leilehua in Wahiawa, GRADS program teacher Nakamura worries.

"As much as we need the space, our GRADS students are just as important," said Nakamura. "The principal supports me. But I don't know what's going to happen if he retires. It's all up to the principal."

So far, McKinley has been able to keep its campus center, with support from the school administration, but it, too, remains a question even though teacher Yamashiroya has seen 340 students pass through her program.

Twelve years ago Serena Lakalaka was a pregnant teen at Kaimuki High wondering about her future. Now 28, she visited Yamashiroya's class recently to tell today's young student parents that getting pregnant at 15 meant years of struggle and difficult choices, including overcoming her family's anger and delaying her own career. But it also forced her to be serious about herself, her life and her baby.

Some of the hardest times came when her husband was torn between hanging out with his friends or being a father to his son. In the end, she told him he had to choose.

"Your pathway is a lot harder," Lakalaka told the young parents. She's just now completing a teaching degree and student teaching this year as well as working full time at night as a United Airlines reservations clerk.

But there are rewards, too, she said. Her first son, born when she was 16, is now a 12-year-old seventh-grader.

His two younger brothers are 8 and 6, and the family sandwiches weekend sports and family activities between busy work days that often end at 11 p.m.

Two years ago, through the support of their families and church, they managed to buy their own home. And they finally got married.

"The hardest thing is balancing my life," she said. "You need a lot of support."

When she was a pregnant teen, some of the support came from Kaimuki High and its former childcare center. Lakalaka said she will always be grateful.

"At least you know there are other students ..." she said. "It's not just you alone."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.