Day care services for teen parents will remain in Gloucester High School with new rules to prevent babies from mingling with the student population, the School Committee ruled this week.
The unanimous vote of confidence for the in-school day care center, which is run by Pathways For Children, will guarantee for students enrolled in day care services and staff working for the program that the center will not be shuttered during the school year as part of debate about a response to a rise in student pregnancies in the past year.
"We need to know the rug will not be pulled out from under us," Superintendent Christopher Farmer said in calling for a reaffirmation of support. "I cannot believe that any community would put an obstruction on what I believe is a first rate program. I hate to think what would happen to some of those young woman who don't have that support."
Farmer singled out review of the day care center as a time-sensitive priority in the larger school system response to a fourfold rise in the number of pregnant students last year and reports that the presence of cute infants in the hallways and cafeteria were popularizing motherhood in the school.
In collaboration with Sue Todd, president of Pathways For Children, Farmer issued a report reiterating the importance of the day care center while outlining new measures designed to ease concerns about a baby fad spreading through the student body.
The changes will add language to the contract signed by all enrollees that emphasizing a prohibition on allowing children at the day care from being taken into the main part of the school for reasons other than an emergency and stipulate that students will enter the day care facility through a back door of the high school.
A new contract will be written between Pathways and the school district defining the roles and expectations of each in maintaining the day care center, the report said.
Although the vote of confidence was approved unanimously, some members of the committee questioned whether it was necessary or appropriate before any public hearing has been held on any aspect of the district's response to teen pregnancy.
Val Gilman said she supported the day care center but did not think the committee needed to vote on it to keep it going for the year. Melissa Teixeira also questioned the necessity of the vote.
But Chairman Greg Verga said he thought a vote was necessary to settle the concerns of parents and students planning to take advantage of the day care who may be wary that resident opposition to it at a public hearing could put the program in jeopardy.
"I think this is a necessary program and I am not convinced this encourages pregnancies — for 11 years it didn't," Verga said. "I think this is a separate issue from the contraception issue and I am ready to take a vote of confidence."
Farmer said a lack of support from the School Committee could jeopardize renewal of the day care program's state grant.
There are 52 schools in Massachusetts that offer state subsidized day care services to students within the school building.
The goal of the Gloucester program, named the Young Families Initiative by Pathways, is to prevent young parents from dropping out of school because they need to take care of their children during the day.
In exchange for providing a place for students to keep their babies during the day and receiving pre-natal and post-natal counseling, the Young Families Initiative requires them to volunteer at the center, take a parenting class during "C-Block" and meet with a social worker.
The in-school day care program has space for seven babies — between six weeks and 15 months old — and at Pathways nearby Emerson Avenue facility, there is space for 18 toddlers, children between 15 months and 21âÑ2 years old.
As of June, there were eight babies in line for day care services, but Pathways said it was hopeful it could find a way to accommodate everyone who needed care.
"I tell people: can you show me the teenager that consciously says, 'I want to get pregnant because there is child care in the school," Todd said.
Although the day care issue will not be a part of the discussion, a public hearing on school policies toward teen pregnancy has now been scheduled for Oct. 1 at 6 p.m.
The location of the hearing will likely be the Kyrouz Auditorium in City Hall, Verga said.
A public hearing for students to express their views on teen pregnancy, tentatively planned for the first week in September, has been canceled.
The School Committee earlier in the year jettisoned a series of mediated meetings on teen pregnancy that would have been closed to the press out of concerns that such meetings may not be legal.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
