Education Law

You’ve probably heard the news by now.  17 female students who attend Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Massachusetts became pregnant this year.  The principal says it was part of pact - the girls would all get pregnant and help each other with the babies.  The mayor says there was no pact.

The issue of whether there was or was not a pact is a separate issue, in my opinion, that should make us talk about peer pressure, influence and teen mentality.  Yet, regardless of whether there was a pact 17 girls are pregnant and school officials are seemingly under fire. 

So, here’s my question.  How much responsibility do school officials bear for these pregnancies?  They certainly have the responsibility to educate the pregnant students and new moms but is it a failure of the school system that led these girls to get pregnant?  Should the school have any legal or moral responsibility for this?

According to Time Magazine, the school nurse began advocating prescription birth control for Gloucester high school girls without parental consent.  She resigned in protest.  Did she have the right idea or was she overstepping her role?

In my opinion, the Gloucester situation raises a lot of questions that education officials must answer.  What are your thoughts? How should Gloucester, and other cities and towns, answer these questions?