Gloucester principal defends pregnancy comments
Educator says some births were planned
Gloucester High School's principal yesterday defended his assertion in a Time magazine story earlier this month that several students intentionally became pregnant this year, but he could not recall specifically if he used the word pact.
Principal Joseph Sullivan said he told the Time reporter that a number of the 17 pregnancies at the school appeared to be intentional and that girls within the group were friendly with each other, according to his statement, which was posted yesterday on the Gloucester Daily Times website.
The June 18 Time story created an international firestorm when it indicated that Sullivan believed the pregnancies were the result of a pact.
Sullivan said he mentioned the planned pregnancies in response to a Time magazine reporter's question about whether he thought distributing birth control pills and other devices at the health center would have prevented the spike in pregnancies.
"I told her no because my sources had informed me that a significant number of the pregnancies, especially among the younger students, were the result of deliberate and intentional behavior," Sullivan wrote.
Sullivan had been silent since the story came out. He was not invited to a press conference earlier this week at which Mayor Carolyn A. Kirk and school officials attempted to calm the media frenzy by denying the existence of a pregnancy pact.
At the press conference, Kirk expressed frustration with Sullivan, saying that the principal was "foggy in his memory of how he heard about the information" and that "his memory failed" when he was pressed for specifics.
Her comments appeared to prompt Sullivan to speak out yesterday. He wrote in the opening of the statement on the Daily Times website that he wanted "to put to rest the notion that I am 'foggy in my memory' or that when pressed, 'my memory failed.' "
Sullivan explained that he learned of the intentional pregnancies from a former nurse practitioner at the health center and "verbal staff reports and student/staff chatter, all of which I have found to be very reliable in my experience as a principal and all of which I filter myself for accuracy and keep confidential."
The principal said he was reluctant to name the other sources because he did not want them "harassed and harangued by reporters and the press." He added that he did not give any student names to the Time reporter.
Sullivan said he had not spoken with the mayor about the Time interview since June 11, when Sullivan notified his superiors of the interview.
Sullivan could not be reached for comment last night. The Associated Press reported yesterday that it confirmed the accuracy of the statement through Sullivan's lawyer, who did not return phone calls last night to the Globe.
In the June 18 Time story, Sullivan was not directly quoted as using the word pact. The word first appeared in the story toward the end of a lengthy paragraph, in a sentence with no attribution that gives the reason for the spike.
However, on its website earlier this week, Time published additional comments by Sullivan from the June 11 interview, quoting him as saying, "They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together."
In his statement yesterday, Sullivan said he did not remember specifically using the word pact in the Time interview. But he said, "I believe everything I told [Time reporter] Kathleen Kingsbury was and is accurate."
It was unclear whether the principal sought permission to release the statement. Kirk said in e-mail last night that School Superintendent Christopher Farmer alerted her that Sullivan was issuing a statement, but did not know its content until it appeared on the Gloucester Daily Times website.
If Sullivan did not receive prior approval, Kirk said, then it would be up to the superintendent to seek any disciplinary measure. Farmer could not be reached for comment last night.
Kirk said she was anxious for the controversy to end, and she would only comment further on steps to curb teenage pregnacies.
"Teenagers in Gloucester are being hunted down by the national and even international media," she wrote. "Despite heavy criticism for my press conference on Monday, if I had to do it over, I would again stand up to protect the privacy of Gloucester children and their families and defend the city against sensational and unsubstantiated reports about a problem that is common to many communities."
The Globe reported in March that nearly a dozen working-class communities in Massachusetts are experiencing an increase n teenage pregnancy, mirroring a national trend. On June 6, the Globe followed up with a story from Gloucester, which reported concern that some pregnancies there appeared intentional.
Sullivan said in his statement that he will have nothing more to say about the controversy.
James Vaznis can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com. 