In his state of the city address earlier this year, Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. pledged to seek state assistance for construction of a new high school.
Despite recent improvements, the mayor said the school will require millions of dollars to maintain. The 49-year-old high school should be replaced, he said.
“Our school leadership, our School Committee and I all agree that Peabody needs to invest in a modern facility which inspires our students and their teachers to be the very best they can be,” he said at the time. “I will soon ask the School Committee to begin the process of submitting a formal statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority this spring.”
Such a project will take years to complete, he said, and there are no guarantees of state funding.
While a new facility will improve the school experience for faculty and students, the high school faces other issues.
Until last year, Massachusetts schools were classified into one of five accountability levels. Those meeting goals were ranked Level 1, while the lowest performing schools were rated Level 5, a ranking that allows the education commissioner to appoint a receiver to operate the school.
From 2012 to 2013, Peabody High was a Level 1. But from 2014 through last year, the school dropped to Level 3, which puts the high school among the lowest performing 20 percent of schools in the state.
School Superintendent Cara Murtagh, who was promoted last year to the top post, said the school is on the rise.
“I do know we have been improving and I hope we keep going up,” she said.
The most recent MCAS scores have not demonstrated improvement, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE).
Last year, the percentage of 10th-graders who scored advanced or proficient fell in English, math and science, while the number of students who need improvement or failed the English and science exams increased.
In addition, the 69-page Comprehensive District Review Report on Peabody schools issued last summer by DESE listed many troubling signs in the district.
Among them, they wrote, is Peabody has had seven superintendents since 2000.
In 2015, the School Committee and Superintendent Joseph Mastrocola were embroiled in a protracted conflict. The top educator agreed to resign after serving for three years with one year left on his contract.
In a joint statement at the time, Mastrocola and the School Committee said that his decision “comes after careful consideration of the needs of the school system” as well as his own professional objectives.
The state said Murtaug, a longtime teacher and administrator in the district and the School Committee, will face challenges to improve student achievement.
The other findings included:
- The district lacks a strategic improvement plan. As a result, plans and goals are not aligned. The new superintendent must develop a plan, which should include the district’s mission, measurable goals and priorities.
- Peabody lacks curriculum review and revision. Teachers used a limited number of instructional strategies, including few for differentiating instruction, and students were not consistently challenged to use higher-order thinking skills.
- Teachers need professional development and evaluations that provide recommendations that are instructive and promote professional growth.
- With the exception of Title I schools, a coherent system of data collection and analysis has not been implemented at all schools.
- The district should develop a more complete, transparent and usable budget document.
- Many schools are in need of renovation or replacement. Collaboration and strategic planning will be needed between the city and the district to develop a plan that includes money for schools.
