Committee to debate banning media from talks on pregnancies

Mayor seeks frank forum

DISCUSSIONS IN GLOUCESTER Mayor Carolyn Kirk said she believes that the meetings would not violate the state's Open Meeting Law.

GLOUCESTER - The Gloucester School Committee will debate tonight whether to bar the media from attending three meetings scheduled next month to allow residents to discuss the recent surge in teenage pregnancies that made international news and rocked this seaside community.

Mayor Carolyn Kirk said the city is consulting with its law department but she believes that the meetings would not violate the state's Open Meeting Law, which requires that public meetings be open to the media. Kirk said the meetings are planned to jump-start the community's conversation about teenage pregnancy and would provide an outlet for people to discuss contraception, which is not provided at Gloucester High School's health clinic.

Kirk said the meetings would be overseen by a nonprofit organization, Public Conversations Project.

Kirk said she believes the media's presence at the meetings could inhibit conversation. "These will be not be public meetings, and no public funds will be expended," said Kirk. She added that no policies would be created at the meetings.

Others disagree with the plan to keep the press out. "I'm questioning the legality of it and the wisdom of it," said Greg Verga, Gloucester School Committee chairman.

The recent discussion of the meetings, which are planned for late September, and the proposal by Kirk to exclude the media have renewed attention to what many in the community consider a sore subject. In June, Time magazine reported that many of the 17 teenage pregnancies in the city stemmed from a pact made by several high school girls. Kirk denied that assertion, stating her own inquiry revealed no such pact.

Kirk said she originally wanted to hold large public meetings but changed her mind after being approached by Public Conversations Project of Watertown. "It's raising awareness in the community. This isn't just a school issue; it's not just a city issue. It's also about families taking responsibility and providing them with awareness," she said.

Mary Jacksteit, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit, which is funded by the California-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, said the group offered to oversee the meetings at no charge using their facilitators.

She said two meetings for adults are planned, along with a meeting with high school students. The meetings would last three hours, with a maximum of 40 allowed to attend. The groups would be then divided into five sets of eight people, where the discussions would take place with a facilitator.

"Really the heart of our work is to help people have difficult conversations," Jacksteit said. The conversations would not be recorded and her organization would make public a summary of the main topics covered, she added.

The School Committee held a public forum in July in which a panel of specialists on adolescent health, including the medical director of the State Department of Public Health, discussed possible solutions, including contraceptives and mentoring for Gloucester teens.