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Peabody parents, teachers advocate for school resources after student death
“Without the proper number of teachers, counselors, support staff, paraprofessionals ... we will drown,” teacher Jessica Blomerth said.
Dozens of parents, teachers, and other community members attended Peabody’s school committee meeting Tuesday to address school resources and student mental health concerns in the week after a 14-year-old student’s death.
The meeting discussed the large shortfall of next year’s budget, which estimates a reduction of about 24 full-time-equivalent positions, including nine teachers and 12 paraprofessionals. Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt said the school received $1.6 million less in state funding this year than last, calling it “a crippling blow.”
Those who gave public comment expressed the need for more staff to better support students.
Jason Bernard died May 17, one month before he was set to graduate his eighth grade class at Higgins Middle School, according to his obituary. Bernard loved being on his school’s track team, playing video games with friends, and spending time with his family.
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Bernard’s family shared he had been bullied and went to several teachers, coaches, and friends about it. His sister, Cely Rosario, told Boston 25 News that he was afraid to get on the bus and his parents brought him to school to avoid his bullies.
Eventually he took his own life due to the bullying, his family said. The Peabody Special Education Parent Advisory Council called Bernard’s death “a preventable loss” and shared a link to a GoFundMe.
Jessica Blomerth, an English teacher who taught Bernard, said counseling services were available to students on the Monday after his death, but not the following day when some students still needed to grieve.
“While I hope we are never dealing with such a horrific event again, this should clearly indicate that without the proper number of teachers, counselors, support staff, paraprofessionals, and those other safe adults who work with students, we will drown,” Blomerth said.
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Heidi Meikrantz said she is the only therapeutic learning teacher of a Higgins program after another teacher was cut last year. She said she teaches four subjects across three grades and another teacher could help the workload, meet the students’ therapeutic needs, and admit more students into the program.
“We’re doing a lot,” Meikrantz said. “We can make sure the students are getting what they need, but it is a huge detriment to the kids in what the daily flow of the classroom looks like for them … We are exhausted.”
The committee said the Peabody Personalized Remote Education Program, or PREP, will undergo changes that will replace live teacher interactions over the course of the day with daily check-ins.
A PREP student said the online school has given him the academic growth he did not experience at Higgins while also providing social opportunities. At another online school, he said his grades improved but he felt isolated. At PREP, he has found friends because the school is local.
“One of my biggest concerns is that the state online alternative being offered will go back to that same isolation,” he said of the plan to go to daily check-ins rather than all-day access. “It won’t give students the same support or social opportunities PREP does.”
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Dawn Sacco said her daughter, Madison, was being bullied at Higgins and turned to PREP when she was too afraid to attend school. Sacco said she now has the most credits out of any Peabody school student and has won a scholar award.
“She is thriving,” Sacco said. “To be a junior and be able to graduate because she already has enough credits, says how important these teachers are and how important this program is.”
Bettencourt said a mental health center will be instated in Higgins next school year.
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