PEABODY — The School Committee met Tuesday night, and Superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala led a discussion on the policies and procedures for bullying prevention.
Vadala first mentioned the tragic death of an eighth grade student who committed suicide on May 17 due to bullying.
“This has been something that our community is really dealing with now. It’s a very difficult situation, and I can’t talk about this without recognizing the tragic loss of Jason Bernard and what his family is going through,” Vadala said.
He continued that there is much work to be done to heal as a community and to come together to make relevant change.
“I would really encourage everyone to be part of that change, to be part of the positive change that we need, that our community really needs as we come together,” he said.
Vadala said he is reachable via email or by calling his office, and he has met with multiple parents and will continue to meet with more.
He then wanted to speak about the policies and procedures in place and the materials the schools have as of right now.
“Every community is required to have a bullying policy and a bullying prevention and intervention plan and procedures outlined in that plan. On our school website, the School Committee has adopted a policy that was adopted and approved on Aug. 29, 2023,” he said.
On the website, you can find the plan in English, Portuguese and Spanish. He continued that within those plans are links to bullying reporting forms that anyone can send in to report bullying.
“You may recall about a year ago we worked with our Stage One Drama students with Kartoon EDU to create a bullying presentation and video that was sent to our families at the beginning of the school year,” he said.
Staff watch the video every year, and it talks about what bullying is and how to respond to it.
“I want people to know that we will investigate all forms of bullying,” he said.
Vadala then reviewed some of the prevention and intervention plans.
“It talks about the role of the leadership of our schools in the district. It has our procedures for reporting bullying through the form or verbally, talks about the procedures that we’ll use to respond to bullying, investigation procedures… We have our responses to bullying, our professional development, the district-wide anti-bullying curriculum, the idea for collaboration with family… We have a special section for students with disabilities, and then we have our policy for the publications of those policies, procedures, and information, as well as the implementation of the plan and the relation to other laws,” Vadala said.
He then highlighted the professional development section. All administrators are trained in bullying prevention and intervention, guidance counselors and PE/health staff are trained, there is mandatory annual training for all staff on bullying, all administrators must go through Behavioral Threat Assessment Training, and there is also Restorative Practices Training.
“In the fall, we have a relationship with Boston vs. Bullies. Their program is a free program. They’re coming out and presenting on Sept. 7 to our staff, and they’ll be engaged with our schools as well,” he said.
Boston vs. Bullies includes professional athletes who come out to the schools and work on programming. The schools also have DESE’s Sense of Belonging Workshops.
“There are a lot of good things that are written out in the plan, but it’s only as good as the implementation, and that is only as good as our relationship with families,” Vadala said.
He said they would be open to change as they talk to families, community members, and staff.
“I think as we have heard from many people the implementation is where some of the focus needs to be,” he said.
Vadala then went over some of the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support programs in the elementary schools which include Bulldog PRIDE at Brown Elementary, ROARS at Burke Elementary ROARS at Carroll Elementary, STAR Students at Center Elementary, Mustang’s Care at McCarthy Elementary, 3 R’s – Respect, Responsibility, Rigor at South Elementary, and High 5 at West Elementary.
The Higgins Middle School also has HAWKS SOAR and Peabody Veterans Memorial High School has an advisory program.
“In addition, we partnered with MindWise to provide the Signs of Suicide Prevention Program. That was with our seventh grade. This has been a program that has historically been with our ninth graders,” he said.
Over 50 counselors and psychologists were trained, and there is a goal to add grade 11 to have the program as well.
Programs also include the PPS Bullying Prevention Video with Kartoon EDU, a partnership with Sandy Hook Promise for grades 6-12, the Student Leadership Summit and the Dirty Hands Club. There is also a partnership with Embrace Pathways, Family Continuity in all schools, Peabody Education Foundation Mental Health Initiative and Project 351.
Vadala also answered questions about data. In 2023, there were 42 bullying allegations against students, two allegations against staff and zero for substantiated bullying incidents involving staff. In 2024, there were 51 allegations against students, two against staff and zero substantiated bullying incidents involving staff. In 2025, as of June 1, there were 57 allegations against students, zero against staff and zero substantiated bullying incidents involving staff.
“We need to do a really good job with our families, and we need to really work together. We have the following commitments, and I know this is going to be a long-term discussion… we do want to reexamine or polices and procedures and our implementation of our policies and procedures,” he said.
