James A. Garfield Intermediate School

Wonderful teachers, great principal and staff. I wish the school was closer with the elementary, middle and high. Kids have to go to the elementary than to intermediate. The school is 3-stories so lots of stairs (good exercise) but, the top 5th grade floor is hot. My daughter had a wonderful 5 grade year and she had an awesome teacher who loves her job. The staff expects good behavior and control and the kids are very willing to step-up. It's a wonderful thing to experience! My son starts 5th grade this fall.
--Submitted by a parent

This school has a nice administrative staff, their teachers are all very good, I have had very few problems. They offer band which is a good program with good instructor, much better than previous instructor. The only downfall is the decrease in physical activity or recess, but unfortunately that happens in all of JAG School District once past elementary. Communication among administrators, teachers and parent is strongly encouraged and supported; they try to accommodate parents request and most of the teachers work hard to support tutoring when kids need. They have two really great Science Teachers that are very pro-active and hands on.. There are plenty of extracurricular activities (ie., baseball, basketball, etc.) I believe the parent involvement is fair, but this is also the time when parents start to back off in PTO and volunteering as a whole. Fifth grade has proved to be a struggle, but 6th goes smoothly.
--Submitted by Dianna, a parent