Bedard Turning Dreams Into Reality With PLA

Peabody educator Seith Bedard honored with the Simon Youth Foundation's Administrator of the Year Award for his leadership of an alternative high school program at the Northshore Mall.

Three years later, those responsible for bringing a unique alternative high school program to Peabody credit one man with the passion, talent and determination for turning that dream into a reality. Peabody Learning Academy Director Seith Bedard recently received the Simon Youth Foundation's Administrator of the Year Award and was feted again at last week's School Committee meeting by Simon representatives and school officials. "He wants everyone to realize their potential and works tirelessly to do so," says SYF. The most effusive praise of Bedard, who taught at Peabody High for several years before being tapped to direct the PLA program at the Northshore Mall, came from mall general manager Mark Whiting. Whiting has worked regularly with…

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Peabody Students Read for the Record

High school students at the alternative school went around to the city's elementary schools on Oct. 4 to read some children's books to first- and second-graders.

[The following was submitted by Peabody Learning Academy Director Seith Bedard.] Students at the Peabody Learning Academy shared the importance of literacy and learning when we participated in Read for the Record, a nationwide event held today, October 4. It is considered to be the country's largest single-day shared reading experience. One of Read for the Record's sponsors, the Pearson Foundation, provided 30 copies of the book "Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad" by David Soman and Jacky Davis, the book selected for this year's program, to the students of the Peabody Learning Academy. The Academy students took their book copies into each of the first and second grade classrooms in the city of Peabody and read for the children in those …

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Burtons Awards Scholarships to PLA Grads

Burtons Grill has given $2,000 scholarships to five recent grads of the Peabody Learning Academy.

Burtons Grill, which has supported the Peabody Learning Academy since it first moved in at the Northshore Mall two years ago, recently awarded five scholarship checks to grads of the alternative high school program. The $2,000 scholarships were first announced at a graduation ceremony at the mall in May. The scholars are Michael Almeida, Ronald Alponte, Jessica D'Amica, Xhonatan Jaho and Jamie Piskorowski. The scholarships were awarded in conjunction with the Simon Youth Foundation, which established the school in partnership with the Peabody Public Schools.

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Peabody Learning Academy Graduates 22 [PHOTOS]

The alternative high school at the Northshore Mall graduated a class of 22 students on Friday inside the mall near Macy's.

Life is all about choices. And the 22 students that graduated from the Peabody Learning Academy on Friday were applauded for making a series of good ones, along with the courage, perseverance and hard work to turn their lives around and give them all second chances. The PLA is an alternative high school program housed up at the Northshore Mall and utilizes computer lab-based coursework to get 20-30 students each year back on track to graduate with their peers. In some cases, PLA students are returning to school after having already dropped out. The flexibility of the curriculum and really all aspects of the program allow students to learn at their own pace. "You all faced some sort of adversity in school and somehow found yourself here at …

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Bedard Honored as Hero in Education

Seith Bedard was given the Education Hero award at the Red Cross Community Heroes Breakfast on March 15 for his work as the director of the Peabody Learning Academy.

This year's hero in education is none other than Peabody High's Seith Bedard for his work leading the district's alternative high school at the Northshore Mall. The Education Hero Award was bestowed on the Peabody Learning Academy Director by the local chapter of the American Red Cross at its annual Community Heroes Breakfast on March 15. "It was a very humbling experience, first for receiving such an honor, and secondly for sharing the day with people like Firefighter Rice and Erin Pratt really was special," Bedard told Peabody Patch. Peabody's James Rice died in the line of duty on Dec. 23 and was honored with the Fallen Hero Award while Pratt, a 17-year-old lifeguard at Gloucester's Good Harbor Beach, saved three people from drowning in…

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Grads Say Peabody Learning Academy Helped Turn Their Lives Around

The alternative school program for at-risk students adds eight new grads to the ranks this May at Peabody High, and is turning out graduates who have a unique work/school experience to offer potential employers.

There is not a day that goes by when Lyndsay Konovalchik does not thank her lucky stars she had a second chance to make something positive happen in her life. Konovalchik is a recent graduate of the Peabody Learning Academy located in the Northshore Mall and is now working at Lahey Clinic in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (P.A.C.U.) as a nursing assistant and loving every minute of it. Konovalchik sits in her fresh, crisp green scrubs and pair of patent leather clogs, looking like any other young responsible adult, but her real journey is a story of twists and turns on the road to graduation. Konovalchik dropped out of Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (PVMHS) during her junior year after extended absences due to an abusive relationship…

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Peabody Academy Kids Give Back at Haven

A group of 30 students from the Peabody Learning Academy spent two days serving meals, handing out turkeys and helping organize food shelves at Haven from Hunger.