William M. McGarrah Elementary School

My step-son moved in with us in April of Last year and he had some issues at his other school. This school seems to care what his best interests are. They compliment him and give him praise where his other school just shot him down all the time which lowered his self-esteem. This school has been really corporating with us to get his motivation and self-esteem back up. I am very impressed.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughters goes to this school. They made honor roll A and B and one of top readers in the whole kindegarden class.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a teacher at McGarrah and this is a pretty good school. We have great administrators and an excellent staff. The problems that we have come from the curriculum that we are forced to teach. Teachers are not allowed to be as creative as we were in the past and we have to follow scripts to get the kids to 'learn.' They are just learning to spit back answers on cue. We have a good overall school environment and good people, just give us a chance to prove it to you.
--Submitted by a teacher

My daughter, and I think Mcgarrah is a great school! By far the best in Clayton County.The leadership, and staff have been great. Mrs. Burroughs, Mrs.Griffin,Mr.Iddins,Ms.Yarbrough,Ms.Penczek,and Mrs.Lamb have all been wonderful to myself, and my child. Mcgarrah is a great school!
--Submitted by Rayna, a parent

I have three children attending and I believe the teachers are hard working and care very much. There is very little parent involvement it is the same ones every year putting in time and money. Sadly many students do not measure up on standardized tests and this takes a lot of time to bring them to speed. Parents do not take responsibility for their children's behavior problems. McGarrah is by far the best in the county, the county as a whole is a problem. There are too many fund raisers for other causes besides the kids. Mrs. Burroughs is fair, many teachers go above and beyond.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a very proud parent of 2 students at McGarrah Elementary. I have great confidence in the staff. As far as these comments are concerned....You can't please everyone. It's usally the parents who are not involved that think everything the school does is wrong! Stay involved!
--Submitted by a parent

This school is the worst. Nice principle, but she defends the teachers when you try to show her there is a big problem.
--Submitted by a parent

I feel that the parents aren't as involved as they should be. The P.T.A. nights an open conferences are a joke because hardly any parents show up. I am a teacher there and I'm offended by these comments. I would follow the principal to any school. The school is trying to turn around some previous bad situations and's aiming for higher academic standards. However, this is hard when the students and parents don't care and don't want to listen to what the teachers and administration have to suggest for their children. I truly feel sorry for the small percentage of students who's parents care. These good students get over shadowed by those who consistently get in trouble in school.
--Submitted by a teacher

It is hard to communicate with the front office staff, they give the impression that they don't care about the kids, they're there for a paycheck. (including the principal)
--Submitted by a parent

My child has had the same experiences previously described by the other parent. I am sorry that I have exposed my child to this for the last 5 years and I am truly happy that we will be leaving this school behind as my child transitions into middle school.
--Submitted by a parent