When Superintendent C. Milton Burnett was invited to attend a meeting with the Simon Youth Foundation by General Manager Mark Whiting, he thought he would come out of it with a donated computer. Instead, he walked out with a proposal to have a classroom in the Northshore Mall.
"This is a great program for some of our students," Burnett said. "We had 71 dropouts at Peabody High School last year; we wanted to do something and this was one of our solutions at the moment."
The Simon Youth Foundation is a charitable extension of the Simon Malls and Property Group nationwide that helps at-risk youths earn a high school diploma with the hopes of continuing on to college. They currently have 25 schools in the country; Peabody is the 24th school, with 7,000 at-risk students enrolled and a 90 percent graduation rate.
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"These are good students who perhaps need a different setting to learn other than an 1,800 student high school," Burnett said.
The facility, which received a third of its funding the Simon Youth Foundation, a third by underwriting and one-third through scholarships, is also housed at the Northshore Mall rent free. Local businesses donated everything from the building materials to the manpower and money.
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The Peabody Learning Academy has 21 students, with the capacity for 40, and three teachers. The program is run with the same guidelines and hours as the high school, however the Learning Academy has more of an online approach with guided learning in a smaller more focused setting. Each student has his or her own self-paced workstation where they do their curriculum guided by the teachers.
"These are students not earning a GED, but earning a diploma from their local high school," Whiting emphasized. "There is a big distinction."
Director of the Peabody Learning Academy Seith Bedard is so dedicated to the program he has, on occasion, gone to a student's home to bring them to school when an absence could not be accounted for.
"My key role is to motivate these kids, try to teach them to make good decisions, not just in class but to be a good person out in the community." Bedard said.
Bedard, who formerly taught special education at the high school, said the students who attend the learning academy had a hard time fitting in at the high school and started falling behind. By using the NovaNET Courseware, an online high school curriculum and course system, the students are able to complete their subjects at their own pace.
He said the program allows the students to excel in subjects more apt to their skills, and slow down and really understand and comprehend those subjects that are too difficult for the individual students.
"I think it's doing what we anticipated," said high school Principal Edward Sapienza. "We have a group of students focused; we have staff who have dedicated themselves to this project. The fact that the students, the parents and the staff are all operating under the same guidelines and expectations is very important; we see the progress already in the grades and acquisition of credits."
Bedard, who is also a graduate of Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, used his old diploma to create mock diplomas for each of his students. The diplomas hang on a wall with their names to show the students what they are capable of.
Under each individual diploma are cards with the names of all the classes they need to graduate. When one class is completed the card is removed, moving the student one step closer to graduation. Every Friday after lunch, Bedard holds a ceremony to remove the cards.
"The kids really respond to the ceremony; they look forward to seeing their progress," he said.
Over time, possibly four or five years down the road, Sapienza said he envisions the program extending to afternoon and evening classes and possibly weekend or summer sessions.
"I think this could be a pretty good gem for the community, as far as education is concerned. I think we are certainly on right track; time will tell for sure," he added. "The kids are given an opportunity that they normally wouldn't have with this program."
