BOSTON -- Gloucester town officials are now questioning whether there ever was a pact among high school teens in the North Shore fishing community to get pregnant and have their babies together.

The mayor and school officials held a meeting Monday to try to separate fact from rumor, Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk said.

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"We don't have independent verification. The only person that we've heard it from is the high school principal. So, we're trying to understand if that was based in rumor or based in fact," Kirk said.

Kirk met with the chairman of the school committee, the superintendent of schools, the city's public health director and other local officials to discuss teen pregnancy in the community.

The high school principal, Joseph Sullivan, did not attend the meeting.

Sullivan told Time magazine in an article published last week that nearly half of the 17 high school girls now expecting children pledged to get pregnant together, but now has told officials he can't remember what his source of information was. The number of pregnancies at the school is four times the usual amount.

Many town residents are talking about the story, but are divided about what they believe.

"I see the girls walking around pushing the baby carriages. I feel sorry for them. They have a long road ahead of them. I don't know if the pact is true or not but I think it's quite a coincidence that there's that many girls pregnant," resident Amy Clements said.

"It doesn't even sound right. Why would a bunch of girls get together and say, 'Let's all get pregnant. What a great time we'll have?" said Gloucester city Councilman Gus Foot.

Last month, two employees of the high school's health center resigned in protest after their proposal to hand out birth control was rejected after the spike in teen pregnancies was noted.

Kirk wouldn't say whether Sullivan's job is now in jeopardy.

"It's too early to tell. We're just trying to get our arms around the storm," Kirk said.