This is reported in tomorrow's paper:
GHS pregnancies: The next step Many questions remain as meeting shifts focus to school, health policies
Staff writer
The School Committee this week begins discussing a new policy for limiting teen pregnancy - more than four months after officials reported that some girls at Gloucester High School were intentionally becoming pregnant, and a month after the story put Gloucester under the national and global media microscope.
But any overriding explanation or root cause of the pregnancy surge is, and will likely remain, elusive.
On Wednesday, a group of public health experts is scheduled to discuss the causes and impacts of and potential preventive measures for teen pregnancy, along with an analysis of how the pregnancy rate in Gloucester compares with similar communities in the state.
The meeting has been described as the first step in educating the School Committee before it votes on a new districtwide policy toward teen pregnancy - including whether contraceptives should be available at Gloucester High School.
But since school officials said in March they were worried about "intentional" pregnancies at the school, no one in Gloucester has offered a solid reason why more than four times the usual number of students became pregnant this past school year.
That time frame has included the unexpected resignation of the medical director and nurse practitioner at the school clinic over the contraceptive policy in May, and a Time magazine article in June that indicated Principal Joseph Sullivan had said a group of students had formed a "pact" to become pregnant.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk and Superintendent Christopher Farmer have questioned the existence of a communal agreement among students to become pregnant. In his only statement on the issue since the story, Sullivan has stood by his information that indicated some of the pregnancies were intentional, though he does not recall using the term "pact" during his interview with the Time reporter.
The Gloucester Daily Times has reached out to several high school students who have either recently had or are expecting children and all have denied being in or knowing anyone involved in an agreement to become pregnant.
Some have said they think some girls, after they had become pregnant, agreed to stay in school and raise their children together. As of the end of the school year in June, no girls who had become pregnant had dropped out of school.
All students that have been willing to discuss the issue have said their pregnancies were accidental and that they do not know of anyone who had discussed wanting to become pregnant. But fewer than half of the reported 18 students who were pregnant this past school year have responded to any media inquiries, and a number of the students have been unreachable. Neither school nor health officials have released any of the students' names.
Kirk and Farmer have said that the circumstances surrounding individual pregnancies are less important in shaping a new policy for the district than analyzing the best public health data and principles.
But the reason why students became pregnant mattered to officials at the high school when the number of positive pregnancy tests rose throughout the spring.
In response to the growing numbers of pregnancy tests (150) and positive results, the former medical director of the health clinic, Dr. Brian Orr, recommended to the hospital's advisory board that students have confidential access to contraceptives.
But in an interview on the last day of school in June, Sullivan said the spike in pregnancies was not a result of a lack of birth control, but because a "clique" of girls "wanted" to get pregnant.
Sullivan said providing birth control to students confidentially would "break the trust between parents and the school."
Discussions with some of the new mothers at the school have brought conflicting accounts of whether better access to contraceptives would have reduced the number of girls who became pregnant.
Incoming junior Brianne Mackey, who had her baby in June, said she didn't think there was much school or health clinic officials could have done differently to reduce the number of pregnancies.
Mackey said she had been on birth control before she became pregnant.
However, Kyla Brown - an incoming senior who is due to have a son in September - said in a recent interview that she thought that easier access to birth control would "definitely reduce the number of girls getting pregnant."
She cited the distance of the nearest location for free birth control, HealthQuarters in Beverly, as a reason many sexually active girls may not go on the pill.
For the coming school year, Brown says she hopes to use the services of the high school's day care center, run by Pathways for Children, which is free for students as long as they help out and participate in parenting classes held there.
But the day care center itself has been a subject of debate, as some commentators have suggested that the presence of child care creates an incentive for girls to become pregnant in high school.
Most public health experts have cited research suggesting that school-based child care has not had an impact on pregnancy rates.
Farmer, who has expressed that point to the School Committee, said the day care center would be discussed in the School Committee's hearing process. The day care program can only accommodate seven students and, as of the end of the school year, eight students had applied for next year.
In addition to the School Committee's "Blue Ribbon Panel" discussion Wednesday, the city is planning a series of "listening post" meetings to gather community opinion on the issue.
The roster of speakers at Wednesday's "Blue Ribbon Panel" scheduled for 7 p.m. at City Hall includes state Department of Public Health Director Dr. Lauren Smith, Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the Cambridge-based Institute for Community Health and Patricia Quinn, director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy.
City Health Director Jack Vondras will talk about how the spike in teen pregnancies at Gloucester High School compares with other communities in the region.
When it settles on a set of recommendations for new policies on teen pregnancy, including access to confidential contraceptives at the high school, the School Committee will hold a public hearing before it votes on the issue.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com
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"BLUE RIBBON" MEETING
r What: Gloucester School Committee special meeting for a "Blue Ribbon Panel" discussion of the increase in pregnancies this past year at Gloucester High School.
r When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
r Where: Gloucester City Hall, council auditorium.
r Who: Speakers to include Dr. Lauren Smith, director, Massachusetts Department of Health; Dr. Karen Hacker, director, Institute for Community Health, Cambridge; Patricia Quinn, director, Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy; Jack Vondras, director of health, city of Gloucester.
