Last week, news broke in TIME Magazine about the extreme rise in the number of pregnancies at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, MA. For a school of 1,200, the 17 pregnancies this year - more than four times the number from last year - definitely came as a shock. Who or what was to blame? Naturally, people blamed movies like Juno and Knocked Up, but others claimed these girls were in admiration of a school-mate who had a baby as a freshman.

However, the real shock came when the high school principal, Joseph Sullivan, commented to the TIME reporter that several of the girls had done this on purpose as part of a "pact." According to a related Associated Press article, Sullivan was quoted by TIME as saying, "That bump [in the number of pregnancies] was because of seven or eight sophomore girls. They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together."

What's more disturbing than the possibility of these girls actually making such a pact? The possibility that no such pact existed, and that Mr. Sullivan may have spoken incorrectly to a national media outlet.

The city's mayor, Carolyn Kirk, is now publicly denouncing the rumors, telling the Associated Press, "any planned blood-oath bond to become pregnant -- there is absolutely no evidence of." Apparently, when asked by the Superintendent about how he came to believe a pact existed, Sullivan was "foggy in his memory."

This story is tragic for the pregnant teens, the unborn children, the parents and Mr. Sullivan's career. There is also a great PR lesson to be learned. Whatever you say to the media is fair game, so if you don't want it published and you don't have all the facts, it's best to keep it to yourself.

We are constantly working to get our clients positive media exposure and this includes securing interviews with radio, television and print outlets all over the world. Before an interview, we're sure to let our clients know not to divulge any information they are not comfortable sharing with the world, or that is not completely fact-based... a lesson that has been clearly demonstrated in Gloucester.

We can assume that Mr. Sullivan clearly did not get any media coaching - or did he? One has to look at the district superintendent and school board in this situation - did they really not offer any advice or direction on what message he should convey, or was this a planned cop-out to take the focus off the school? What do you think?