Hollywood Elementary

Hollywood Elementary is a public school in Monroe, MI, serving 462 students in grades PK through 5 as part of the Monroe Public Schools district. The school has faced significant challenges in recent years, with academic performance ranking in the bottom 6th percentile of Michigan elementary schools and a student population where nearly 80% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Academic proficiency rates at Hollywood are dramatically lower than at nearby schools in the same district. In the 2024-2025 school year, only 12.7% of 3rd graders were proficient in ELA, compared to 28.6% at Custer Elementary and 32.9% at Raisinville School. The math gap is even starker, with just 7.27% of Hollywood 3rd graders proficient versus 28.8% at Raisinville. Chronic absenteeism is also a major concern, affecting 35.9% of students—nearly double the rate at Raisinville (18.0%) and well above the state average of 27.9%. This pattern of low performance is consistent across all tested subjects and grade levels, as well as across all student subgroups.

Perhaps most striking is that Hollywood spends more per student than its peers—$20,655 annually—yet achieves the lowest results. For comparison, Triumph Academy, a public charter school just 2 miles away with a similar demographic profile (61% free/reduced lunch), achieves 50% ELA proficiency and 43.3% math proficiency with significantly less funding ($12,635 per student). This contrast suggests the challenges at Hollywood, while real, are not insurmountable. There was also a bright spot during the 2020-2021 school year when chronic absenteeism dropped to 14.8%—lower than both district and state averages—indicating the school can engage families when conditions are right. For parents considering this school, it's important to understand both the current struggles and the potential for improvement that these comparisons reveal.