Hearing is set on birth control for Gloucester students

Should contraception be available to students at Gloucester High School?

That's the question residents and school officials will debate during a two-day School Committee public hearing scheduled Oct. 1 and 2 at City Hall. The public input will be used to help formulate school policy and curriculum changes in the aftermath of this summer's high school pregnancy controversy that brought international attention to Gloucester.

"People will come to this hearing and they'll say what's on their minds. We're going to listen and we'll adjust as required," said Greg Verga, Gloucester's School Committee president.

The committee has been reviewing the school's health policies since last academic year, when it learned of a spike of pregnancies at the school. The issue made international headlines in June after Time magazine reported that 17 teenage high school girls had made a pregnancy "pact." Later in June, Mayor Carolyn Kirk said her own investigation revealed no pact.

The teen pregnancy story has been a touchstone for debate in this city, and the fallout continued this month when Gloucester High School Principal Joseph Sullivan - the main source for the Time article - resigned just a few weeks before school reopens.

Within the last two weeks the high school's leadership has taken on a new look. William Goodwin, the school's vice principal nine years, was appointed interim principal, and Mark Bedrosian, who was the O'Maley Middle School assistant principal, was named the high school's interim assistant principal.

In addition, Northeast Health System, which runs the school's health clinic, named Dr. Peter Short as the clinic's new medical director. Short replaces Dr. Brian Orr, who resigned last spring in opposition to the district's policy of not allowing contraception to be distributed at the clinic. Currently, the School Committee does not allow contraception to be given out at the school.

Following Sullivan's resignation, a group of Gloucester residents led by Annette Dion began a petition drive to recall Kirk from office. To hold a recall election, the group needs the signatures of 20 percent of the city's voters - or about 4,175 of the city's 20,700 registered voters. To date, Dion said she had collected about 300 signatures.

"That issue [Sullivan's resignation], just pushed us over the top. We have a lot of people upset with city government," said Dion.

Kirk, the first woman to win a citywide mayoral election in Gloucester, took office in January after voters endorsed her economic reform platform. Since taking office, Kirk has instituted an austerity program for the financially troubled city, which faces infrastructure improvements that could cost hundreds of millions.

Kirk said the recall effort has changed the way the city is perceived.

"It's been a distraction because I'm trying to recruit a chief financial officer from outside of Gloucester, and they don't understand the political climate, so I have to explain what's going on," she said.

"Also, I deal with state agencies almost every day and they want to know what the stability of the city of Gloucester is. I have to answer those questions, and reassure people that I'm not going anywhere and that I'm focused on the challenges facing the city."

The Oct. 1 and 2 public hearing grew out of a need for a community-wide discussion, say school officials. Kirk had originally proposed barring the media from the discussion, but those proposed meetings were rejected by the School Committee because its members wanted to solicit policy suggestions from the public.

Kirk said she is inclined to support making contraception available to high school students, if their parents are informed.

Verga, the School Committee chairman, said he supports the same type of contraception distribution at the clinic, where 94 percent of the school's 1,150 students were enrolled last year.

"Some people argue it's not the school's role, but dealing with pregnant teenagers is not something we want to deal with either. If we can prevent any, that's the key," said Verga.

Currently, freshmen and sophomores are required to take health classes daily for half the school year, said district health coordinator Ann-Marie Jordan.

She said sexual education is included in those classes, with discussions focusing on relationships, dating, abstinence, birth control, and sexually transmitted diseases.