The School Committee met Monday to review the school budget after a meeting with the City Council last week, where they heard comments from the council and the public.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt said there are a few options they’d have that night as a committee.
“One, we could keep the same budget that we voted on previously and just move that forward and bring that back to the city council, that is one option. The second option would be to make some adjustments on our school budget, however, keep the same budget number… The third option would be that we would add to the budget, and that would be a cost to the taxpayer to go forward and add to the budget,” Bettencourt said.
He continued that if they chose to add to the budget, he felt a public hearing would have to be held, scheduled seven days in advance with public notice.
Superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala said that he was a bit disappointed in how things went with the City Council meeting, as he felt it wasn’t as collaborative as it usually is. He also addressed some misinformation and misperceptions.
The first thing he addressed was the idea that Peabody Public Schools was top-heavy. He presented a comparison of Peabody and the state level, which showed that Peabody had fewer school leaders, district instructional leaders and district administrators than the state level. He also showed that Peabody had fewer or the same total central office admin and number of assistant superintendents than other gateway cities, only falling under Attleboro in one of the categories.
“There’s 489 teachers (in FY19) and now we have 542. We’re adding teachers, and we still have to supervise those teachers… but we’re doing it with 10 less staff,” he said. Vadala also stated that they had consolidated multiple Unit B positions, specifically 19, since FY19.
Vadala also said that, in terms of this year’s budget, the committee voted unanimously on a $99 million budget and that the committee has always worked with the line items to make adjustments during the school year.
“There was some discussion at the council meeting about our ELL (English Language Learner) staff,” he said.
He continued that Councilor Stephanie Peach had shared a chart on the ELL ratios in all the different schools, showing schools that need more support.
“I would be supportive of just reallocating some of those ELL teachers to provide more support to the Carroll and the Welch,” Vadala said.
Vadala also saw value in bringing a Higgins Middle School cluster back for grade eight, saying that it could be done while keeping the budget neutral.
School Committee member Joseph Amico was the first to speak after Vadala’s presentation.
“It seems like every district, every city, for the most part, has the same challenges and more so over the last eight years,” Amico said.
He highlighted that students’ needs were greater, and mental health, vaping and drug use had become more of an issue.
“Just looking at these numbers here, I just want to say the perception is that we are top-heavy in administration, but every district in the state is in the same situation, and certainly every district that is related to the gateway cities,” Amico said.
Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunn thanked Vadala for his presentation, stating it would be eye-opening for people to see the comparisons over the years and the changes.
“One of the things I spoke about last week at the City Council meeting… It really made me think a lot of people have come into this conversation in the past few months. We, as a School Committee and as a school district, have been having this conversation for many years,” she said.
She said that over the years, they were told consistently that they needed additional administrative support for the district and that they were struggling.
“And honestly, last year was the first time I felt comfortable and said, ‘We finally reached the point we were supposed to be at 20 years ago, and now everyone wants to tear that apart. And I understand because people are fighting for resources in the classroom,” Griffin Dunn said.
Committee member Jarrod Hochman stated that he was upset with how Vadala was treated during the council meeting, stating, “I didn’t think it was fair… to be undressed the way you were in a public session.”
He also stated that they were in a precarious position right now, and the council either votes it up or down. “If they don’t like our budget, let them vote it down, and then we come back to the drawing board, and we decide what priorities we want to take as a School Committee because that’s our job… They didn’t elect the City Council to determine what the school department budget was going to be allocated,” he said.
The only change made to the budget, which would keep the budget neutral and not affect the number, was to move a position to allow for another cluster at the middle school. It was a 5-1 vote yes.
