PEABODY — Peabody High is a building of contrasts, according to a 67-page accreditation report released at last night's School Committee meeting.
"Upon arrival at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, one discovers that the drab, ugly, austere and warehouse-like building presents a massive deception regarding the warm, humanistic, even familial, environment for teachers and learning housed within," the report said in its opening lines.
It's the kind of start that initially took Peabody High Principal Edward Sapienza and committee members aback.
"When I first read this, my heart jumped into my mouth," said the principal, who gave an overview of the report last night.
The report was from the 16-member visiting accreditation team with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The team, which visited Peabody High April 13-16, offered its 10-year evaluation of the high school of 1,900 students and nearly 150 teachers.
Sapienza said last night that NEASC would also be issuing a final evaluation in coming days. He hoped the delay meant a positive review for the school.
In its 1998 accreditation, Peabody High was placed on warning status for its ongoing air-quality problems.
NEASC, the nonprofit accrediting agency, threatened to lower that status to probation two years later when work on the problems had not advanced. Peabody High eventually had its warning status lifted.
The latest evaluation offered few kind words for the facility.
It did, however, lavish praise on teachers for their dedication and positive civic and social culture.
The report also took aim at the school's high turnover, the lack of financial resources from the city, the forbidding and cramped facility and the lowered academic rigor for the lowest-achieving students.
But the principal said he was prepared for some of the team's critiques, especially those directed at teaching style and ways educators apply content standards.
"These are things that we're going to work on," he said.
Sapienza also pledged to address the visiting team's criticisms. In fact, he had already asked his department heads to pore over the report. He planned to later broaden the group to include teachers.
The principal also said administrators had also begun making improvements for teachers.
And while as many as 100 of his teachers had only been at the school five years or less, Sapienza said he didn't see that as a minus.
He would be working to train the teachers, and many of them could relate well with the students.
The principal said he took the report as a challenge.
"I want to solve the problem," he said. "I want an A on my report card."
Committee members defended the school against what they deemed as unfair criticism.
"When I first read that report, the steam came out of my ears," said Mayor Michael Bonfanti, the School Committee chairman.
The mayor took issue with evaluators' description of the building and of the city's response to the problems within it.
He said the city had increased the school budget without cutting jobs, a claim few neighboring communities could make.
"This School Committee is not only hardworking, this School Committee gives a damn," he said.
Bonfanti said his anger was tempered after Sapienza explained some of the critiques. "We see what the issues are; we see what the report says," the mayor said. "We intend to address them."
Committee member David McGeney said he and other members bristled at the idea of outsiders criticizing their schools.
"We're pretty well aware of the needs of our school system," he said.
Committee member Brandi Carpenter said it's the criticism that makes the news versus the wonderful things happening out there.
"When I read this, it was a really hard pill to swallow," she said.
Committee member Edward Charest also defended the school. He was proud to have one daughter graduate this year and another attend the school.
"It is a good school system," he said.
