At one high school, 17 girls are pregnant after reportedly making a pact to raise their children together.
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Still, to some teens it must seem like everybody's doing it — and not just in Gloucester. After all, 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, star of Nickelodean's "Zoey 101," just had a baby girl, Maddie Briann. And the plot of last year's Oscar-nominated movie "Juno" revolved around the unplanned pregnancy of a high school girl.
At the high school, teen moms have access to a free on-site day care center run by Sue Todd, president and CEO of Pathways for Children.
"Last year out of four teen moms, four went on to college," said Todd.
That's why Todd vehemently takes issue with people who criticize her program as contributing to the problem of teen pregnancy.
"We are here to provide support and help the girls graduate from high school. Will the availability of free day care be an incentive for kids to get pregnant? Kids are just not wired that way," she said.
When the pregnancy numbers spiked this year, employees at the school health clinic advocated that contraceptives be dispensed without parental consent, as they are in many schools nationwide. But in this conservative, largely Catholic community of about 30,000, that idea was not well received. A doctor and a nurse eventually resigned over the issue.
The school committee is due to discuss school-based contraceptives at the end of the month, according to Verga, who was himself a teenage dad. "I became a parent at 18 so I understand … these are not people who are ready to go out in the world. They're too young."
School superintendent, Christopher Farmer insists that Gloucester High School should not be judged by a few Juno-wannabes. "It's a good school, good staff and the great majority of the kids behave responsibly," said Farmer.
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