Gloucester High School is a public four-year comprehensive secondary school, with just over 800 students and 150 faculty and staff, serving Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the Northeast Alliance of High Schools.

History

Established by 1839, Gloucester High School became a four-year institution by 1857. In 1889, the school moved into its then new building on Dale Avenue. The Dale Avenue building was converted to Central Grammar School in 1939. The current Gloucester High School, located along the Annisquam River, near the entrance to Gloucester Harbor, was completed in 1939, with an addition in the 1970s and a new Field House wing added in the 1990s.

Athletics

Gloucester High School is well known for its many athletic teams and competes in the Northeastern Conference (NEC) of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA).

Notable alumni

Teen pregnancy controversy

On June 18, 2008, the high school drew international attention as news broke that 18 students had become pregnant in the last year, over four times the previous year's reported pregnancies. Principal Joseph Sullivan claimed that some of the girls had made a pact to become pregnant together, one even seeking a homeless 24-year-old man in her pursuits to conceive. Gloucester mayor Carolyn Kirk quickly responded that they had no confirmation of any pregnancy pact. Finally, one pregnant student, interviewed on Good Morning America, said: "There was definitely no pact...There was a group of girls already pregnant that decided they were going to help each other to finish school and raise their kids together." Media reactions to the event ranged from general criticism of the episode as representing a misguided adolescent shortcut to adulthood and identity, to the matter of whether statutory rape occurred; some of the girls were under 16, which in Massachusetts made it illegal for their partners to have sex with them. Most early media reactions were not completely accurate because they had not received all of the necessary information until later. During the 2007–2008 school year, two staff members began to publicly advocate that the school clinic provide contraception without parental consent, largely in response to the surge in student pregnancies. This recommendation drew opposition from the board of Addison Gilbert Hospital, which sponsors the clinic. The clinic staff, a pediatrician and nurse practitioner, resigned in protest at the end of the school year. On October 8, 2008, the Gloucester School Committee granted the use of contraceptives through the Student Health Center, provided the students had parental approval.

In popular culture

The "pregnancy pact" controversy inspired some fictional treatments.