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Gloucester High School (Massachusetts)

in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ5572059 ↗
Source-derived summary

Gloucester High School ( GLOST-ər) 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

Roger Cressey, former member of the United States National Security Council, terrorism analyst for NBC News, president of Good Harbor Consulting, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University

Billy MacLeod, Boston Red Sox pitcher

Stuffy McInnis, former MLB player (Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates)

Laila McQueen, drag queen and makeup artist (RuPaul's Drag Race)

Mark Parisi, award-winning cartoonist Off the Mark (comic strip), and author

Benjamin A. Smith II, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

Vermin Supreme, political satirist and perennial candidate for public office

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.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Gloucester High School (Massachusetts)” is in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Gloucester, High and School, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1839, 1857, 1889, 1939—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1839. For this dossier, Gloucester, High and School is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5572059. VIAF identifies the subject as 138892458. The Library of Congress control number is no2017070368. Authority coordinates are 42.613, -70.676. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1839, 1857, 1889 and 1939.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gloucester High School (Massachusetts)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gloucester High School (Massachusetts) primary sources, Gloucester High School (Massachusetts) archive and Gloucester research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gloucester High School (Massachusetts)”?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gloucester High School (Massachusetts)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.