Garfield Elementary School

I had my daughter enrolled in this school and within a month I had to pull her back out due to her 3rd grade teacher not being a good teacher. The teacher was not able to explain things to me about my daughters school work or the school work of his classroom. He was rude to both me and my husband and treated my daughter rudely also. I also witnessed him being mean to other students and not understanding of why the child was upset. My child loved going to school and always looked forward to going until I enrolled her in this school and got that horrible teacher. I had to build up her confidence level due to this bad rude teacher
--Submitted by a parent

We are in our second year at Garfield and my daughter loves her second grade class! She's had the benefit of looping with the same teacher and class, and has made great progress in her reading and writing. I value the diversity in the classroom and the strong teacher that she has. Garfield also has a great many energetic volunteers and interns through partnerships with the local colleges - they've done some great afterschool programs and provided extra help in the classroom.
--Submitted by a parent

Garfield elementary is a poorly run school. The teachers and staff are disrespectful to the students, volunteers, and other staff. Teachers seem to regard little value in the students as people. The academics are mediocre. The principal does not show strong leadership, and seems to be apathetic about what happens in the school. Though there are a few good teachers, overall, they seem to lack respect and often gossip about the students with other teachers.

I'm a proud parent of a new kindergartner and this school has been wonderful!
--Submitted by a parent

From what I have observed during my daughter's kindergarten and first grade year, Garfield is an excellent school. I do not know the principal very well yet but he appears friendly and my daughter likes him. He speaks calmly with students who are misbehaving. My daughter's teacher Mrs. Sheafe is amazing and thankfully my daughter has had her two years in a row due to the school looping teachers up through grades. I do not know if the parental involvement is higher than average as my daughter is my oldest, but from what I have seen, numerous parents are very involved and even teach optional after-school enrichment programs.
--Submitted by a parent

Garfield is a wonderful school with caring teachers and staff, it's a great community to be a part of!
--Submitted by a parent

This school has some big work to do with its neighborhood community. Its not a one size fits all neighborhood yet you wouldn't know it by they way its run.
--Submitted by a parent

Over the las three years the community feel to this school has diminished which is sad. I can no longer recommend it as better than the others nearby because of that. The message to parents:'You're family here (principal's slogan) and stay out of our way and let us do our jobs...' Lets just say, its an okay school, has some great teachers and its not really a 'community.' Sad truth.
--Submitted by a parent

I'm sad this school has lost vast community involvement over the past few years. The garden has no life or help, GRUB dropped plans to partner, the auction dwindled to nothing, GELO disappeared, no foreign language help, the comm'ty energy is gone & discouraged by the principal's inaction.
--Submitted by a parent

Great school-- love the after school fun offerings and the half-day art things that used to happen- Only drawback is the open reputation it used to have for a cohesive and welcome community has changed the past couple years-- very, very good teachers.
--Submitted by a parent