Peabody Schools Receive School Safety Grant

Superintendent Josh Vadala is pleased to announce that the Peabody Public Schools have received a state school safety grant.

Peabody received a $60,000 federal grant through the Student, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Grant Program. The funding will support the development of a threat assessment and deploy a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, done in conjunction with the City of Peabody and the Peabody Police Department.

The grant is managed and administered by the Massachusetts Office of Grants and Research. Peabody is one of 14 grant recipients.

“The safety of students and staff is our top concern and we are grateful to receive this funding, which will have a significant impact on our work to prevent violence and support the needs of our entire school community,” Superintendent Vadala said. “This grant will enable us to expand our capacity to develop systems and protocols that we can implement to identify and mitigate potential threats.”

With the funding, Peabody will conduct a threat assessment meant to identify threats before they materialize, including those from individuals experiencing mental health crises, and will train students, school personnel and local first responders to become partners in preventing school violence.

The district will partner with a consultant to complete the comprehensive threat assessment for the high school, which will facilitate the development of school-based and districtwide threat assessment teams.

“Massachusetts remains deeply committed to working with our partners across state and local agencies to ensure our schools offer a safe and healthy learning environment for our children and educators. These grants will provide the resources that school officials need to enhance safety and mitigate potential threats,” said Governor Maura Healey.

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