Peabody board eyes suit over field trip

PEABODY – The Disney field trip debacle that has plagued the Peabody School Committee since 2005 might not be over any time soon.Committee members voted Tuesday night to look into a possible civil suit against the former band director Stephen Baberadt Jr., who allegedly overcharged 35 high school band students for their trip and used fundraising money to bring his family along at no personal cost.Just this past October, the committee reached a long-awaited settlement in the amount of $16,828 to be repaid to eligible students who sought repayment. The amount included the $10,600 settlement reached by police in July after much investigation, as well as other remaining funds.”The criminal end is completed,” said Superintendent Milton Burnett. “But (the Committee) would like to see the process through to completion.””I made motion for the committee to discuss it with our attorney (City Solicitor John Christopher) and then decide what avenue we’d like to pursue,” said Beverly Ann Griffin Dunne.Dunne also mentioned that there was approximately $1,600 missing from the band’s Student Activity Account. According to Dunne, that money was promised to be frozen until all matters were sorted out. However, through the recent process of repayment, Dunne and other Committee members realized that was not the case and have been unable to find the funds.”It may have been spent on band items or what not, but it needs to be located,” said Dunne, noting how the parents did their part by successfully freezing the $6,228 left over in the Peabody Instrumental Music Association’s account. “We have to find out where it went.”Dunne said that there will be answers and decisions made by the next School Committee Meeting scheduled for Nov. 27.