Garfield Elementary School

Garfield Elementary School has an amazing diverse and caring community, of which I am proud to be a part. My children are receiving an excellent education and I am thankful to have this dual immersion school in our community!

Garfield provides the opportunity for my children to learn the standard k-5 curriculum, PLUS they get to learn Spanish at the same time. The teachers at Garfield make the entire program work - we are so grateful for their devotion to a challenging but ever so important process.

Hi! Hola!Our daughter is in her second year at Garfield, as a 2nd grader (2017). She LOVES Garfield - and so do we! The balance between respect, learning, challenge and socio-emotional development are all that I had hoped for when I made the decision to transfer her away from a higher-scoring school to Garfield. The communication with teachers and staff has always worked for us (although being proactive in our daughter's education comes naturally to me - I reach out regularly). The benefits of dual-immersion education is something I believe should be offered to ALL KIDS - ours just happens to be one of the lucky ones, who gets to actually have all of her learning take place seamlessly between Spanish and English. There is no need for translation, the learning just keeps happening. When I hear her jabbering away at home in Spanish (we are an English speaking family) - I know it is working for her. My concern of her being bored due to a lower 'rank' (test score wise) has been completely unfounded, due primarily to the dual-language. All of the kids seems to enjoy being at school - I don't get the sense that there is much school-prompted anxiety. The teachers are caring and attentive to each kids individual needs and the class-sizes are ideal for our current grade. I am so happy to see there is art and music every week this year! There is always room for improvement of course, which is why I ranked it 4 instead of 5 - like we need an updated building and COVERED outdoor play area. I WISH the kids could play outside all year long!!! ~Kudos and Gracias!

This School of the World should be a model for other schools and districts. Instead of marginalizing non-English speakers, it puts everyone in the same boat with learning a language at an early age.

My son went through Garfield (now a sophomore in high school and still in the Dual Language Program) and my daughter is now finishing her last year there. After 11 consecutive years as a family at this school I can tell you I would send my children no place else! In addition to being well-prepared for academic challenges (i.e. honors classes beyond elementary school), being supported regarding their special needs, and becoming bilingual, they have both received other very valuable gifts such as learning to value and celebrate diversity, understanding their own privilege, and gaining an awareness that they should promote social justice in the world throughout their lives.

Garfield is a warm, kind, inclusive, culturally diverse community of families, teachers, and staff. We are proud to be schooling our kids in a dual immersion environment (Spanish) that prioritizes wellness, sustainability, cultural awareness, and biliteracy. It also has an award-winning bilingual parent teacher organization.

My son is currently in first grade at Garfield and also attended kindergarten here. Thus far the experience for us has been positive. The teachers have been very supportive of his needs and level of learning. When he was struggling they came up with ways to help him and foster a positive school experience and love of learning. He is also learning Spanish well and enjoys it.

have been impressed by the level of attention and instruction by each teacher and staff at Garfield. I grew up being bilingual and bicultural in English and Spanish in the United States. However, it was because of my household that I grew up this way. I did not grow up in a place that made me feel welcome. At Garfield, my child thrives not only because of the dual language instruction, she thrives because she is able to be herself and be proud of her heritage. Garfield is a place where my daughter's background is celebrated, honored and respected!

Today, 10/13/2016, is the first day of 2016 that I picked up my 3rd grade granddaughter from school. I introduced myself & stated the student I was there for, after I checked in at the office. The female teacher gave eye to eye contact but absolutely no hello or polite recognition. I stood at the door waiting for my granddaughter. During the short time a male student walked by my granddaughter & intentionally shoved a hard book box into her back as he looked at me. I told him to knock it off & that he did that on purpose. He smiled & walked out. The teacher watched the entire incident without a word or any intervention. She & I saw this boy's behavior. To say the least I am NOT impressed with this teacher. Apparently this behavior is condoned. Here is a teacher who observes this and does nothing, leaving me to wonder if the administration has guidelines and polices to hold both teachers and students accountable. Which further leaves me to wonder about the quality of Garfield school in general.

The quality of academics was very poor. The question shouldn't be level of parent involvement it should be school involvement. All they did when he did something wrong, instead of teaching him the right way of doing things, they sent him HOME! All that taught him was what he needed to do to go home. That's it... even if what happened was an accident he went home. I could go on for pages about whats wrong with this school. But all i'll say is that they are not supportive in anyway. DON'T PUT YOUR KID IN THIS SCHOOL.