The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in Math. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on H B Emery Jr Memorial School
H B Emery Jr Memorial School sits on Cape Road in Limington, a small rural town in York County that falls within the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Limington describes itself as an agricultural community, and the built environment reflects that heritage. A historic district centered on the intersection of two state routes holds roughly two dozen principal structures, most dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, built in the Federal style. The town hall, an old schoolhouse, a Masonic Hall, and a church all line these crossroads. Brackett's Orchards, publicly reported as the oldest family-owned and operated orchard in Maine, has been working the land here since the town's earliest settlement days. Seven ponds and two rivers, the Little Ossipee and the Saco, drain the landscape, and Sawyer Mountain marks the high point. For a family considering the school, the setting is rural and spread out, with walkability concentrated in the village center and the broader town reaching across roughly forty-three square miles of countryside.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and sits within RSU 06, also known as MSAD 06, the Bonny Eagle district covering Buxton, Hollis, Limington, Standish, and Frye Island. Enrollment is modest for a school covering seven grade levels, and the student body is predominantly white. A substantial but not overwhelming share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status was not available, so those population details remain unstated rather than guessed.
On Maine's state assessments for the current school year, math and English language arts results sit in a solid middle range, with a slight edge to math. More than half of tested students reached proficiency in math, and roughly half did so in ELA. Participation was full across both subjects. Science tells a different story. Only a small group of students, likely the fifth-grade cohort, sat for the science assessment, and the proficient share was low. With so few test-takers, a single year's result can swing sharply, but the number is what it is, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how science instruction is sequenced across the early grades.
The district offers some encouraging context for elementary families. RSU 06 has been recognized for systemic improvements in special education and dyslexia screening, with evidence-based reading instruction implemented across all elementary schools. The district also gained acceptance into the Finance Authority of Maine Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, which may help attract and retain educators. On the capital side, a new Bonny Eagle Middle School is under construction with completion expected in 2026, replacing an aging facility. While that project sits upstream of Emery's grade band, it signals district-level investment that will shape the path students take after fifth grade. The district budget passed with an increase over the prior year, driven by special education costs, transportation, and negotiated salary increases, which affects property taxes across the five towns.
Housing in Limington's zip code runs close to the Maine state benchmark and above the national one, with values showing modest year-over-year appreciation. The price-to-income ratio sits above five, meaning a typical home costs more than five times the median household income, and current mortgage rates hover in the mid-six percent range. Rent data was not available. No major employer information surfaced for Limington, and growth or development trajectory details were sparse, so the town reads as a quiet agricultural community where housing costs are manageable relative to much of the region but not inexpensive in absolute terms.
For a family drawn to rural living with historic character, pond and river access, and an established orchard tradition, Emery offers a small elementary setting with middling literacy and numeracy results and a district actively working on reading instruction and special education. The science number stands out as the area most worth a direct conversation with school staff.
See more original research from School Decision →