Garfield Elementary School

Going good so far my two kids attend Garfield and I am a Parent volunteer. We moved from LA to here for a better school and environment for the kids. And I am trying to make a difference also. a little high on the fingerprint fees but worth it. my ratings for teacher quality is at 4stars since we are new, parent involvement is at 4 do to the fees so low turn out BUT we need more parents. and Principal leadership is at a 5 currently for her approachability.

I have to say the following: GREAT School, GREAT parents, GREAT Staff and GREAT Teachers!

I agree with what many of the parents are writing about in regards to Garfield school. My children do not feel safe at this school. In the two years that my children have attended Garfield, getting bullied was a daily part of their school day, fights between students have been a regular occurance, the teachers in the lower grades accused parents of not being active participants in our children's learning process when in fact both my husband and myself have never worked harder with our children, they also intimidated students in the classroom with their demeaning personalities, higher grade teachers focused too much in science and math, but reamed students in their performance in English. This school taught my children to hate school. It was an easy decision to enroll my children in private school toward the end of this school year. I would highly recommend families in the Alhambra area to exercise the districts open enrollment policy and find another Alhambra school if private school is not an option. They also do not support Gate students transferring from another district and two employees were in the news this year for arrests directly related to the school. Yikes!

The administration has changed and along with it the teachers have become divided. My two daughters' teachers are expecting me to be their educator. Both of my daughters get 2 hours worth of homework each night. In addition, my 3rd grader's teacher expect my daughter to complete her reading and online reading assessment at home. They have computer labs for this purpose but it never seems to get done there. My 1st grader's teacher never seems to know what is going on in her 1st/2nd grade combination class. Her class is a mess and the kids' desks are a mess. It is only the 3 month and I feel it has been a waste of the school year. This will definitely be our last year at this school.