Marathon Elementary School

Elmwood School is hit or miss. The teacher can make a big difference in both the material that the child learns/is exposed to and their adaptation to school( grades 2-3). If the child gets the right teacher, they can be ahead of others in content and mastery of subjects, and vice versa. Unfortunately, where this school fails is with those that learn differently. It is almost impossible to obtain an IEP, or even a 504 plan if your child has a learning disability. We were actively discouraged by both administrators and teachers regarding pursuing testing for one child, though this child was very obviously falling behind. It seemed as if the teachers were aware of the problem, but the culture seemed to discourage getting help. I know IEP’s can be costly, but frankly, it seems particularly difficult in Hopkinton to obtain any type of services, even with a doctor’s diagnosis and testing. This is a well- off community, where providing this type of need-based service should not have to be a battle. Due to this pervasive issue at Elmwood, I feel the leadership is in dire need of a new, more open/ honest approach to this issue. Another issue is that in the past few years the school has changed to a no homework policy. Though some may like this, I saw a huge difference between learning outcomes with my children who did and did not have homework. Overall, I would rate this school the lowest of all the schools in Hopkinton.

Bullying is a huge problem that is not dealt with in this community especially in the middle and elementary schools. My brother came home crying and saying kids were making fun of his race and occasionally physically attacking him and using soccor tackles as an excuse, he told a teacher but they brushed him off. Busses are chaotic, he came home late saying the driver stopped in middle of the drive to tell a kid to behave. Kids here are extremely misbehaved. So far, academics are okay its just the bullying that gets in the way.