School Officials Hope to Revive After-School Program for Middle School

Interim Superintendent Herb Levine says final decision will be announced soon whether local Boys & Girls Club chapter will reopen or district will pursue another option.

Peabody school officials are searching for funding in an effort to help resurrect an after school program at Higgins Middle School, a local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem. Earlier in November, school officials learned from the club that the local chapter was being shut down due to lack of funds. The Salem News reported on Nov. 17 that the Peabody chapter had refunded the $10 membership fee to middle school students and alerted parents that the program would not be returning for a fifth year. The popular program was brought to Peabody in 2007 by Higgins teacher Greg Passeri, who used to work at the Boys & Girls Club. School officials are now seeking to find the necessary funds to either revive the Boys & Girls Club …

• Photos (1)

Weekend Highlight

It's All About Crafts This Weekend

Peabody Patch will highlight one fun or important event each weekend that you don't want to miss.

The Higgins Middle School PTO will host its 10th Annual Craft Fair this weekend. The fair runs Saturday, Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. inside the school gym. According to PTO Chair and Fundraising Coordinator Kendra DeYoung, there will be 70-75 tables (one crafter per table) featuring: jewelry, manufactured and homemade crafts, hair and skincare products (such as feathers and hair bands), holiday decor, stained glass, quilts and independent home business consultants from Avon, Tupperware and Tastefully Simple. She said many vendors own small businesses in Peabody. "Higgins is the largest middle school in New England with 1,400 students," said DeYoung, who has an eighth-grader herself at the school. "This event is important to us, because it …

• Photos (1)

Students Quiz Mayoral Contenders at Library [PHOTOS]

High school and middle school students posed their own questions for mayoral candidates Ted Bettencourt and Sean Fitzgerald at the Peabody Institute Library on Tuesday.

Although many of them aren't even old enough to vote, that didn't stop a group of Peabody students from quizzing the city's two candidates for mayor on Tuesday. About 40 people -- parents and city officials -- filled the Sutton Room at the Main Branch Library Tuesday evening for a Teen Mayoral Election Forum with Sean Fitzgerald and Ted Bettencourt. Twenty students were in the audience and eight of them stood up to ask questions of the candidates, ranging from flooding in the downtown programs to fixing potholes. Forum moderator Lejla Huskic, a 2011 Peabody grad and freshman at Boston University who is studying international relations, gave each candidate two minutes to answer a question. Christina Zoldak asked: "What will you do to keep …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (8)

Tara Vocino

4:52 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011

Lejla did a great job moderating the event!   more ›

Higgins Students Raising Money for International Race for Research

Seven students hoping to raise $700 for the cause.

Seven seventh-grade Higgins Middle School students are walking and running in the 10th Annual International Race for Research, which benefits the Progeria Research Foundation.  The seven students, Amanda Andrews, Lindsey Carocca, Mikayla Kaufman, Gianna Capo, Alyssa Shashaty, Marcello Rocha and Scott Rochon, are hoping to raise $700. To donate, go to their fundraising page. 

• Photos (1)

VIDEO: Peer Mentor Program Participants Trained

Higgins 8th grade students were trained Monday, to mentor the 6th grade students.

On Monday, Higgins Middle School hosted the 3rd Peer Mentor Training program. As part of the program, 8th grade students applied to be chosen to be mentors to the 6th grades students. 

• Videos (1)

Students Play in Fairytale Musical About Cinderella, Snow White [VIDEO]

Peabody students will perform in “The Ever After — A Musical,” which is about fairytale characters meeting on a talk show 20 years after their stories end to reconcile their differences.

Members of the Higgins Middle School Summer Musical Theater Program will perform in “The Ever After — A Musical,” on Wednesday, July 27. The free show is 7-8 p.m. at the Higgins Middle School's auditorium. First-year director Casey Roland, an aspiring teacher and graduate student at Salem State University, noted cast and crew come from a variety of Peabody public schools, including the Higgins, Thomas Carroll and Peabody Veterans Memorial High School. There are 15 actors, ranging from incoming fifth-graders to ninth-graders, and seven happy helpers (or high school volunteers). “There’s not a kid alive who doesn't know Cinderella or Snow White,” Roland said. “The plot imagines these fairy tales characters meeting twenty years later to …

• Photos (7)
• Videos (1)

Video: All City Chorus Delivers Dazzling Performance

Peabody fourth and fifth grade students sang a concert medley Tuesday night at Higgins Middle School.

Students from the All City Chorus performed a medley of tunes for parents and families Tuesday night at the Higgins Middle School. Kids from the different elementary schools sing in the chorus, under the direction of music teacher Cynthia Whitlinger, holding practices once a week to train their voices and learn new songs. Kaitlin Gorman, a fourth grader from the McCarthy School, said she is sad about plans to close her school. But for her, singing is great. "It's really fun to sing and to practice, because you get to exercise your voice and have fun," she said. Neil Sherman, a fourth grader at the South School, was one of two boys in the chorus. His older brother Dan Sherman, a junior at Peabody High School, played piano for the chorus. "I…

• Photos (5)
• Videos (1)

Higgins Middle School Renovation Project Could Influence McCarthy School's Future

DiNisco Design Partnership to give presentation at School Committee meeting on May 10.

As the Higgins Middle School project feasibility study gets underway, the McCarthy School's future existence has yet to be decided. School Committee member Beverly Dunne, who is also on the Higgins Middle School Building Committee, said although one does not dictate the fate of the other, before making any decision she would like to have all the variables. As the Higgins feasibility study moves forward, Dunne informed the School Committee that DiNisco Design Partnership would like to have all possible scenarios in front of them so they can do a complete cost analysis on all options. Although the feasibility study will not be completed this fall, the design firm needs to understand the space needs and budgetary needs to move forward. All …

• Photos (1)

Peabody School Committee Looks at Future of Community High School

Program serves special ed students at Higgins Middle School and may have to be relocated depending on the scope of middle school's $42 million renovation project.

As plans proceed for the $42 million renovation of Higgins Middle School, the question of where to locate a special education program that serves students with developmental disabilities still looms. The Community High School is currently housed in the Higgins Middle School and School Committee members will have to decide if the program will still be located there as part of the middle school's redesign or if it will be moved elsewhere. Administrator of Special Education Steven Stone addressed the committee on the current construction of the Community High School, a special education program for students with developmental disabilities. In a recent letter, Stone informed  Superintendent Dr. C. Milton Burnett after the fiscal year 2010 …

• Photos (1)

McCarthy School Closing Plans at a Standstill

Planning Committee awaits answers and clarifications to proposed plan.

As eager parents wait for more information regarding the proposal to close the McCarthy School, the Planning Committee is now at a standstill. Ed Charest, the committee's chairman, said they were waiting on a number of things before they could more forward with their research. One of which is more information on where the students from Higgins Middle School will go during the building renovations. On Tuesday, DiNisco Design Partnership, Limited, of Boston was chosen as the design firm for the project, but the committee will have to wait until after the contract is signed before they can meet with them regarding the issue.   In questions from the community, submitted to Business Manager David Keniston, the use of the McCarthy School as a …

• Photos (1)