PEABODY — Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala provided the School Committee with updates regarding a mental-wellness initiative taking place in the district’s schools.
The district is working with the Peabody Education Foundation (PEF) Mental Wellness Initiative to secure several donations to have ‘hero artist’ Rob Surette visit the schools to do live painting shows of heroes.
Vadala said the events that the district has been hosting for this have been “amazing.”
“I met with the PEF Mental Wellness Initiative to talk about what they could do for the schools, and one of them was to bring (Rob Surette) into all the elementary schools,” Vadala said.
Surette is performing at elementary schools and Higgins Middle School, where he paints portraits of heroes while talking about being a good person and doing your best. Surette has already performed at the Higgins library and the Brown Elementary School.
“He told personal stories and, at the end, he brings up all these heroes and the people in the pictures that he paints and talks about what they’ve done and inspires kids to (do good) too,” Vadala said.
Surette painted a portrait of former Superintendent of Schools Cara Murtagh, who died unexpectedly in 2019.
“He wanted to end (the performance) with a painting of Cara, which was amazing, and will be a gift to the district,” Vadala said. “He spent more than 250 hours on this picture… We are going to find a space for this painting at Higgins.”
Vadala said that there is a girl at the Welch Elementary School who tragically lost her father, so Surette is going to paint a portrait of him to give to the girl.
“That’s the type of person he is,” Vadala said.
Surette is scheduled to do a few more shows for the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at Higgins. Vadala encouraged anyone from the community to go because his shows are amazing.
“This is the stuff that we talked about — bringing back the things that kids remember, the experiences,” Vadala said.
Surette’s performances are the first time the students were able to have an assembly and gather together in person again since COVID-19, so Vadala said it is an overall great experience.
Some of the donors for this wellness initiative include GoVoc Charitable Foundation, JB Thomas Lahey Foundation, North Shore Bank, and North Shore Community Action Program.
