James A. Garfield Senior High

Topaz Elementary in Hesperia, CA. admin. think that by changing their name to Topaz Preparatory Academy will change their reputation of being corrupt!! WRONG! This school needs to be restructured by replacing the school's principal & asst. principal's, proctors and some of the older teachers that are verbally & mentally abusive to their students!! They don"t report dangerous incidents like other school do, usually hear it from other concern parents! Some teachers are hypocrites, they are there for a paycheck not because they love teaching!! Parents that stand up for their kids rights are treated rudely and retailation is taken on their kids for speaking up!! Complaining to school board is useless!! My children will not be returning to this school next term & don't be surprise if enrollment continues to drop and to think that that my family & I loved this school when they my kids first started their education, but since the new principal & asst. principal took over, it's been down hill all the way! I feel for the children that are staying & have to deal with this school!!

Garfield may not have the most impressive scores but we're on our way!
Some say it's not enough. I say
it's a start; a start that's going to go long. One thing that no graph can show is the inspiring impact (to do better in life and pursue a good future through college) teachers have on many students at this school. I know Garfield can and will do better. Things take time...

-Student/Senior

Garfield has seen its test scores rise higher than most other schools in LA. 55 points in three years, pretty impressive. Let's not forget, the school is one of the largest in the country. Last year the school had one of it's largest graduating classes (in the 800's). The school's api score is over 600. Way to Bulldogs!

WE DON'T DESERVE TO GO PRIVATE!THIS IS A FIRME SCHOOL,AND I BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE LIKE THE REST OF THE SCHOOL AND NOT BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY;JUST LEAVE OUR SCHOOL ALONE,WE DON'T EVEN HAVE TO WEAR UNIFORMS;JAMES A GARFIELD HIGH SENIOR IS AN INTELLIGENT SCHOOL AND SO ARE THE STUDENTS THATS ATTEND IT:](P.s:WERE THE BEST..)

Garfield is a good school.Sure we may not have good scores and yeah we are getting there by ourselves. We do not need anybody to do better we could do it by ourselves and only ourselves. Garfield does not want to be taken over by organizations we are not their puppets that they could treat us like we don't matter.We do!! And were going to fight until the end and stay public. SI SE PUEDE!!

-Student:Senior.

I would like to say that If We had more parental involvement, things would be different. Stop putting the blame on people, and start being accountable for our children. Garfield is not a daycare for students. Some parents never come to school to check on their children, but yet those are the ones that are quick to blame the school and staff.

I’m currently a teacher at James A. Garfield Senior High there are many forces at work here that contribute to our API score. I’m not going to blame parents, blame students, blame teachers, blame administrators or blame the district. There is enough blame to go around, but when news came today September 25, 2009 that Garfield will be one of twelve schools up for bid many of my students who noticed their teachers as well as myself very sad today apologized for not taking the CST test seriously. I responded don’t worry theres always next year. I just hope there is enough time left that we could come together as a school to once again Stand and Deliver.

Garfield's API score went up tremendously for two straight years. It happened under the leadership of Mr. Omar del Cueto. He was getting it done! UTLA fought him, BUT he still managed to overcome the challenges because he knows what he is doing. Imagine if UTLA cooperated with him instead?!

The school's API went down this year. Sure, teachers were happier. They felt very supported by the new principal. Morale was better. But, our scores went down. What does that tell us?

I know what it tells me. Let's remember what our former principal was saying about teacher collaboration, making decisions based on student needs instead of what teachers want, using research-based strategies. Let's remember, teachers, that GHS is not there to serve our personal needs; GHS is there for US to serve the students of the community. It's not about what we want to teach; it's about what the students need to learn to succeed outside of East Los Angeles. Our job is to make sure that our students, who we all claim to care for, are ready to compete with students from South Pasadena and San Diego. Remember what WASC said to us last year, people! What have we done to make sure that we are doing what they recommended for us to do? These WASC people and that SAIT lady were all telling us the same thing. Have we done something to listen to them? People are trying to help us. They were advising us, and many ignored them. If we listened, we may not have been on this list.

Are we taking responsibility for our actions? We are quick to point fingers are parents who are not active and at students who do not want to do the work. But have we taken a hard look at ourselves?!

WASC is coming next year. Are we going to wait to loose accreditation before we admit that we are wrong and maybe,we don;'t know what is best, so we should maybe listen to WASC and our admin who I can see are really trying right now. Maybe, not all of them know what they are doing either, but there's a couple who do. Listen to those.

Focus on what we have to do now so we do not loose accreditation on top of all this. Quit crying and whining.

Only two people from the administration have been here for a long time. Everyone else is new. Look at the new leadership. See what they are offering. And if it's possible, ask for Mr. Del Cueto to come back and do the magic that he did for us two years in a row. That's what we need. Magic, miracle, innovative and courageous leadership! Let's look for those leaders in our administrators. Status quo MUST stop, and we all have to TEACH ALL KIDS. No more excuses.

The district and state need to start acknowledging the bigger problem: parent involvement and student motivation. The administration, faculty, and staff at Garfield have stressed enough the importance of education. However, as soon as the student leaves campus, all those values are pushed out the door. Parents need to make sure that their son or daughter is doing his/her part. As for student motivation, there is a lot more that can be done. Students are rarely exposed to all the great opportunities this world has to offer. Enough of these excuses for not attending a 4 year college. Students NEED to receive more opportunities to experience what's really out there. Without a purpose, students don't find a reason to succeed in their studies. I speak as a recent alumni of Garfield High School's Class of 2009. Yes, there are hardships in our school and community that affect our education, but never would I blame Garfield for not preparing me well enough to succeed. It is the student's responsibility to make the best out of what they are given. Garfield has an abundance of intellectuals willing to lend a hand. They are passionate about what they do. Parents need to pay as much attention to their child's education as faculty does. Like mentioned above, Garfield is not a daycare. If a student decides to fail, he/she will. However, if a students strives to succeed, he/she will reach that ultimate goal.

-Student Body Vice-President/Class of 2009
-Duke University/Class of 2013

Wow.....HIgh drop out rate.....hhhmmmm lets see. first of all Garfield has a 9th grade student enrollment of maybe 1400. Within four years of that about 800 graduate. Why? Some students transfer to other schools, Some drop out (for whatever Reason), and others transfer over to a different district. This is what is included in the drop out rate. How many of those 1400 really drop out? It is not even investigated because the numbers would really be low. We may have a high rate of drop outs but we also have a higher rate of student enrollment. Get your facts stright LAUSD boardmembers......remember elections are not that far away.....

James A. Garfield High School is a GREAT SCHOOL! a second home for the students. Yes it might be an over populated school,with low test scores. But the school pride is there, students with the help of counselors will get together to fight for the TRUTH! AND TO SAFE OUR SCHOOL.

Students Should Get Involve With Their Parents And Fight These.

I suppose Garfield has seen better years. I am an 87 alumnus of the computer science magnet. I truly believed Garfield academically peaked with the Class of 1987 when Jaime Escalante was still there.