As someone who grew up about an hour from Gloucester and whose college roommate/friend attended Gloucester High with nothing but positive things to say about Joseph Sullivan, I find his resignation very sad. He is the only one who has been honest and forthcoming about this situation in an effort to address the problem at hand, and now because the mayor and town would rather view these girls as victims to be babied than make them buck up, he has to lose his job.
If nothing else comes out of this situation, I hope it makes the public realize the realities of teen pregnancy, including the fact that many become pregnant on purpose. While it is absolutely first and foremost the parents’ job to raise and act as role models for their children, anyone who tries to say that young people, especially girls, will not seek and find role models elsewhere is being completely disingenuous. Glorifying teen pregnancy and writing it off as a personal choice/no big deal only causes far more harm than good. And who’s going to suffer for it? The innocent babies born to inept parents.