Peabody Superintendent Says Parents Were Notified About Search

PEABODY, MA — Students in an eighth grade classroom at Higgins Middle School had their backpacks and other personal items searched by a school administrator earlier this month after a cellphone and an unspecified amount of cash went missing. Peabody Superintendent Marc Kerble confirmed that the search took place and that parents of the students in the class were notified.

"I can't get into specifics about this, but the parents of students in a particular class were notified by administration," Kerble said in an email. "There was no lockdown and police were not on the scene. I have no further comment about this."

A post on Moving Peabody Forward, a closed Facebook group for Peabody residents, said the incident happened "a couple of weeks ago" and that the cellphone was eventually located in another classroom. The post suggested that the classroom was put into a lockdown and that Peabody police were called to oversee the search. Kerble disputed those claims, as well as a claim that parents had not received responses to phone calls and emails sent to school administrators.