Bullying, Budget Pleas Pack Emotional Peabody School Committee Meeting

PEABODY, MA — Dozens of parents, teachers and students shared stories of the potential impact of proposed Peabody Public Schools budget cuts on Tuesday night amid the backdrop of a 14-year-old student's death last week and personal stories about rampant bullying in the schools.

Those who advocated against the cuts sought to restore the proposed position reductions in the guidance staff, an eighth-grade student cluster, paraprofessionals, staff in the Peabody Therapeutic Learning Community program, a deaf and hard of hearing educator position and the Peabody P.R.E.P. virtual school that parents and students say provides a refuge for students who have been bullying victims as well as those with medical conditions that make classroom attendance a challenge.

The proposed cuts came as the Peabody Department of Health and Social Services will launch a mental health center at Higgins Middle School, following the death of an eighth-grade student, whom the family identified as Jason Bernard. Family members have publicly said Bernard took his own life after being bullied at the school.

• Peabody To Launch School Mental Health Center After Student's Death
• 'Devastating Loss': Peabody Mayor Plans Community Response After Student's Death

Mayor Ted Bettencourt, who is also the Chair of the School Committee, said plans are underway for a community-wide meeting focused on mental health, as well as workshops to provide additional tools to "help recognize a crisis and to respond to it quickly."

The mayor said the school center will be staffed by local mental health providers and counselors.

"Our goal is to have the center, as well as additional support services, operating by the beginning of the new school year," Bettencourt said.

The budget reductions had been in discussion and gone through revisions during a months-long process to close a deficit that Bettencourt said on Tuesday was the result of the end of federal COVID-era funding as well as a sharp increase in health insurance premiums and a limited increase in state aid ($400,000 compared to $2 million last year).

"That is a crippling blow," Bettencourt said. "I don't know how the state can justify that."

Peabody Superintendent Josh Vadala said the proposed 2026 budget included the reduction of the equivalent of 24.3 positions.

In the School Committee discussion that followed the grueling and emotional public comment, several positions were restored — including those associated with the Peabody P.R.E.P. program, the deaf and hard of hearing teacher position, two paraprofessionals at the West School, two paraprofessionals at the Higgins Schools and the TLC teacher at Higgins.

"I feel good about that," Bettencourt. "I appreciate everybody and I appreciate everybody's advocacy.

"We're all trying to do the right thing and hearing from you is very helpful to us."

The School Committee found the money in line items that included utility costs, moving costs and workman's compensation.

Bettencourt said health insurance payments alone increased 14.19 percent — or $5.2 million district-wide — devastating this year's budget process.

"That is not sustainable," Bettencourt said. "Never mind for the long term, that is not sustainable for the short term. And from what I am hearing now, we need to expect that type of increase next year, which will be very difficult for any city or town to take on."

He also said the Essex Tech payment of $938,000 was a "very painful increase that we are not allowed to challenge, to negotiate. It's just a set number and it's taken out of our funds before it even comes to the city of Peabody."

"So these set costs are a very untenable situation for us and one where we really needed to look at where we are, where we are going, look at the sustainability of our programs and the things that we've been able to do over the last several years," Bettencourt said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)