Garfield Elementary in Springfield? [VA]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you planning to stay for middle school? Because Garfield feeds into Key, which has such poor behavior that they have to dismiss kids in shifts.

This. I taught at Key for years and would never send my kids there today. It's really sad what it has become.

Key feeds into Lewis, and Lewis is atrocious. Avoid Garfield.

Question is, why would you dredge up a five month old thread just to denigrate a pyramid?

[Anonymous]

Any new updates on Garfield and the climate there? Lots of admin changes going on. What’s it’s been like this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, middle school is a mess everywhere. Irving, right down the road and in WSHS pyramid, has been a constant mess of behaviors this year.

And I wouldn’t say the elementary schools in Lewis pyramid are undesirable. Some people like title 1 and smaller class sizes. And they all have good teachers.

Irving has been much better this year than last year, they are just communicating more about the bad behaviors. There's been much less drama at the plaza as well.

There is no comparison between Irving and Key. Yes, Irving has it's issues because all middle schools do, but it's a diverse group of good kids with overall supportive families of all races/cultures. Key is dangerous.

NP here. I don’t know…I still feel like Irving is struggling a lot, unfortunately. Read the post in the local moms’ group about boys going into the mattress store at the Plaza and performing fake sex acts in the window.

I have 7th and 9th graders, for reference.

That was 2 years ago during the peak of feral, covid lock down induced, tiktok addicted monsters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, middle school is a mess everywhere. Irving, right down the road and in WSHS pyramid, has been a constant mess of behaviors this year.

And I wouldn’t say the elementary schools in Lewis pyramid are undesirable. Some people like title 1 and smaller class sizes. And they all have good teachers.

Irving has been much better this year than last year, they are just communicating more about the bad behaviors. There's been much less drama at the plaza as well.

There is no comparison between Irving and Key. Yes, Irving has it's issues because all middle schools do, but it's a diverse group of good kids with overall supportive families of all races/cultures. Key is dangerous.

NP here. I don’t know…I still feel like Irving is struggling a lot, unfortunately. Read the post in the local moms’ group about boys going into the mattress store at the Plaza and performing fake sex acts in the window.

I have 7th and 9th graders, for reference.

That was 2 years ago during the peak of feral, covid lock down induced, tiktok addicted monsters.

Only it wasn’t…it was last year in 2023. I have an 8th grader there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you planning to stay for middle school? Because Garfield feeds into Key, which has such poor behavior that they have to dismiss kids in shifts.

Keys is not that bad. And TBH, ever school has some fisticuffs sometime. It’s just how boys act.

[Anonymous]

Admittedly, Key was under a quite poorly performing principal for the past 7 years. That principal was strategically placed at Key after getting demoted from a director of facilities position at Gatehouse, most likely because Key was the smallest MS in the county and would have had the least pushback. She finally left for another role at PWCS in the middle of 2023.

The new principal, Mr. Campbell, has been a very positive and stark contrast. He's a true advocate for kids and especially for teachers.

Of course the test results still won't show much but no school in the country has solved ELL test scores. However for the regular and Level IV kids, the overall environment of the school, and teacher trust, it has been a great change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Admittedly, Key was under a quite poorly performing principal for the past 7 years. That principal was strategically placed at Key after getting demoted from a director of facilities position at Gatehouse, most likely because Key was the smallest MS in the county and would have had the least pushback. She finally left for another role at PWCS in the middle of 2023.

The new principal, Mr. Campbell, has been a very positive and stark contrast. He's a true advocate for kids and especially for teachers.

Of course the test results still won't show much but no school in the country has solved ELL test scores. However for the regular and Level IV kids, the overall environment of the school, and teacher trust, it has been a great change.

+1

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above statements -- Mr. Campbell has done a great job so far this year supporting the staff and working to change the culture of the school from the toxic environment it was for the past several years. We are at less than 5% attrition this year -- meaning 95% of the staff have indicated intent to return next year to continue teaching at KMS. And I will reiterate what so many others have said, if you are involved in your child's education and social circle, knowing who they are hanging out with and encouraging honors classes, NJHS and the SCA, they will find their tribe and do well.