Peabody Superintendent Says Schools Have 'Plenty Of Paper'

PEABODY, MA -- After a Peabody first grade teacher sent a message to parents that she would not be sending out homework packets for the rest of the year because of a paper shortage in the district, the social media backlash from parents was quick. The message came less than a week after the school committee approved a 6.2% budget cut for next year, which included a $500,000 cut in the line item for supplies. Those parents were worried that if the school system was already out of supply money this year, what would happen next year?

"How much do we have to spend as parents? I spend hundreds every year getting them ready for school and then donating supplies to teachers rooms that should be provided by our city!" one parent wrote on the the closed, City of Peabody Community Group on Facebook. "I’m against the amount of homework they get anyway but no paper? Really??"

Actually, not really. The teacher has since apologized to school department officials for sending the message to parents through an app used by the school system, and the district says it has plenty of paper to get through the rest of the school year.

"It was a rogue posting and we have already talked to the teacher, who told us it was not meant to be malicious," interim Superintendent Herb Levine said. "The most important thing is we have plenty of paper to get through this year. The absolute truth is some years some schools run out of paper and some schools have more than they know what to do with, so principals get on the phone and try to send reams where they're needed."

In other words, sorry kids: you'll have to wait until June 25 -- the last scheduled school day for Peabody -- to swear off homework for the summer. But Levine's assurances are likely to do little to calm parents who are already on edge about next year's belt tightening, including a reduction in the line item for supplies to $800,000 from $1.3 million.

When the Peabody School Committee passed the budget last week, Levine said the $500,000 cut for supplies came "not because we don't value supplies, but because we value teaching positions more." Levine promised that no teacher would "go without what they need." The budget also includes the elimination of 10 classroom positions through retirements and non-renewal of contracts. Levine reiterated those assurances in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon.

"First of all, we have plenty of money, we think, for supplies next year. The other thing is a $74 million budget is fluid -- we may have a good winter and can move some of the money we set aside for plowing and heating to supplies, or we may have lower costs in special education that we can move into the supply line," Levine said. "We're hoping for the best-case scenario next year. Some of the supply lines may hit their maximum, but a budget like this is always fluid -- we're always moving money back and forth to address our needs. I can't say for sure we [won't run out next year] but we think we're going to have enough money for supplies."

On the City of Peabody Community Group on Facebook, a screenshot of the teacher's note was posted, along with reports that parents who volunteered to buy paper for the school with alleged paper shortages were rebuffed by the teacher. Other parents said they already pay substantial amounts to outfit their kids with supplies that have never been provided by the school.

As social media discussions tend to do, the conversation took a few tangents and raised more questions than it answered: Are schools doing enough to conserve paper? Are kids getting too much homework? Or not enough? Are Peabody taxes too high? Would taxes be lower and paper supplies unlimited if the city legalized recreational marijuana sales to open a new source of revenue? Perhaps most importantly, was the teacher's timing of the post -- just days after the budget was approved -- politically motivated?

The teacher "came to us. We knew who it was but before we could talk to her, she came to us to apologize. Somewhere her instinct told her -- or maybe someone else told her -- that the post probably wasn't a good idea," Levine said, adding his department would not publicly identify the teacher. "What we can say is she apologized and that we have plenty of paper to get through the rest of the year."

Subscribe to Peabody Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Photo by City of Peabody Community Group/Facebook.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).