PEABODY — What began with one parent’s concern about drivers illegally passing stopped school buses has grown into a statewide safety effort — and earned the Peabody School Safety Task Force recognition at the State House.
The task force received the Community Collaboration Award from Safe Routes to School on Monday, honoring a partnership of parents, educators, transportation officials, public safety personnel, and community advocates working to make travel to and from school safer.
The task force members are: Co-chair and Mayor Ted Bettencourt, Co-chair Maria Scheri, Superintendent Josh Vadala, Assistant Superintendent Mark Higgins, Director of Transportation Lisa Connors, Health Director Sharon Cameron, Boston Children’s Hospital Injury Prevention Specialist Barbara DiGirolamo, School Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne, former School Committee member Jon Swanson, School Resource Officer Eric Ricci, School Adjustment Counselor Maria Champigny, Chief Financial Officer Sam Rippin, teacher Nancy Manning, teacher Todd Halsted, student Nicholas Scheri, student Avery Marcus, and student Jonathan Bettencourt.
“This award is a testament to how improvements can be made when caring people come together to make things a little better,” Ted Bettencourt said.
Connors added, “The award means so much to all of us. It’s such a team effort. … Our main goal is to keep our kids safe in any possible way that we can.”
Many task force members thanked Maria Scheri for spearheading these efforts.
“Her relentless persistence is an inspiration to our entire community,” Vadala said.
Maria Scheri thought back to 2022, the beginning of her advocacy.
“I literally went from hiding behind trees, taking pictures on my phone of people blowing past buses, to helping pass a law that allows police to cite drivers,” she said.
Through a partnership with BusPatrol, cameras installed on 10 Peabody school buses documented thousands of stop-arm violations, providing lawmakers with data that supporters said helped advance H.4940, “An Act Concerning the Safety of School Children Embarking and Disembarking School Buses.”
Signed into law in 2025, the legislation allows municipalities to use school bus camera systems and issue citations to drivers who illegally pass stopped buses.
“I hope that from what we were able to do, we’ll be able to save a lot of lives within Massachusetts,” DiGirolamo said.
While the legislation marked a major milestone, task force members said some of their proudest work is happening inside Peabody schools.
This school year, the group partnered with Peabody Veterans Memorial High School’s CTE program to launch a student ambassador initiative, sending criminal justice students into elementary schools to teach younger students about bus safety, pedestrian awareness, and responsible travel habits.
For Maria Scheri, the work has always been about more than legislation or recognition; it’s about empowering others to notice problems and take action in their own communities.
“I would encourage people that if they see something that doesn’t seem right, or something that’s put someone’s life in danger… to do something about it. … Advocacy is something anybody can do,” she said.
Task force members said the award reflects how far the effort has come, but not where it ends. The real goal, they said, is making sure safer habits around school buses and crosswalks become routine long after the recognition fades.
“We’re not in it for the award,” Connors said. “We’re in it to make a difference.”
