Driving through Hopkinton, I see neighbors pitted against each other as our town narrative becomes “Support Everyone” vs. “Support the Schools.” These are the same things. Schools where students are fully supported and thrive support happy, healthy communities.
Small class sizes allow teachers to know and serve the needs of every student. Psychologists, reading specialists, and math specialists make sure struggling students don’t fall through the cracks and gifted students are given extra challenges. Arts and music develop fine motor control, spatial reasoning, and math skills; they foster creative thinking, problem solving, and teamwork. Sports keep our children’s bodies healthy and provide a physical outlet for emotions.
In turn, all of these skills, academic and social-emotional, shape students into productive, happy members of our town and society at large.
Right now, the Hopkinton schools provide these opportunities to every child, whether their family is well-off or struggling, and whatever the abilities of the student. Wealthier families will be able to pay for enrichment activities, tutors, mental health services, and sports teams for their children and teens; what happens to everyone else? What burden is placed on our community at large when these outlets and safety nets are no longer available to every student who needs them?
This flat or reduced budget hurts everyone. A community with struggling students whose safety nets are removed is a struggling community. We need to see our incremental tax increases not as burdens, but an investment in the future of a thriving, healthy community.
ARIEL SLATER
Hopkinton