Superintendent presents MetroWest adolescent health survey results showing mental‑health and digital‑media patterns among students

Superintendent Nancy Kavanaugh presented highlights from the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey administered in fall 2023, which the district uses every other year. The report showed mental‑health, substance‑use and digital‑media patterns for Hopkinton students and described how the high school planned to incorporate the results in its school improvement work.

The superintendent said the fall 2023 sample included about 900 middle‑school respondents and 1,028 high‑school respondents. The district presentation summarized key findings: 12 percent of middle school students and 16 percent of high school students reported depressive symptoms (the presentation noted a difference in question wording between middle and high school reporting windows); 9 percent of both middle‑ and high‑school students reported serious suicidal thoughts (question timeframes differed by level in the MetroWest instrument). Staff noted higher risk groups:…