Garfield High School

James A. Garfield High School
Location
East Los Angeles, California United States
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"A clear head, a true heart, a strong arm"
Established	1925
School district	Los Angeles Unified School District
Principal	Michael Summe
Grades	9 - 12
Enrollment	4620 (2005–2006)
Color(s)	White, Blue, & Crimson
Mascot	Bulldog
Website	Official website LAUSD website

James A. Garfield High School is a public, year-round high school founded in 1925 in East Los Angeles, an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, California. The school suffers from many of the problems common to inner-city schools. Its strong computer science magnet, Academic Decathlon, and Advanced Placement programs have led to unexpected academic success stories. The school was made famous by the film Stand and Deliver about teacher Jaime Escalante.

Contents 1 Administration 2 History 2.1 Year-Round Calendar 2.2 Demographics 2.3 The Catherine Jones Library 2.4 East L.A. walkouts 2.5 May 2007 Auditorium fire 3 Academics 3.1 Advanced Placement 3.2 Academic Performance Index (API) 3.3 Academic Decathlon 4 Activities 4.1 Marching Band and Colorguard 5 Sports 5.1 Football 6 Notes 7 External links

Administration

Garfield is administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Alma Mater: Where purple mountains lift their heads ‘neath skies of deepest blue, there stands a high school that we love. To her we’ll all be true. Her crimson banner raise aloft beneath an azure sky, and raise to her our song of praise, all hail to Garfield High!

History

The school colors are crimson, white, and blue, and the mascot is the bulldog.

Year-Round Calendar

Garfield has been on a year-round, multi-track schedule to relieve overcrowding since July 1991. Initially, there were four tracks. The students are, for the most part, randomly assigned to one of three tracks, and alternate two-month vacations. Only two-thirds of the student body is on campus at any given time.

Demographics

• From the 1930s through the 1950s, Garfield High was predominantly White. However, since the 1960s, the majority of student body has been Hispanic. ^[1]

• The school had a total of 4620 students in the 2005–2006 school year; 99.26% of the students were identified as Hispanic^[2].

The Catherine Jones Library

Miss Jones was the Librarian at Garfield High School between 1955 and 1985. In 1985 because of her outstanding and inspirational work, the administration, faculty and staff named the library in her honor.

The library is located on the 2nd floor of the 200 building. The library was originally located on the first floor of the 400 building (the main administration building) on room 412 and the Community Room. It was moved into the newly constructed 200 building in 1976.^[3]

East L.A. walkouts

Garfield was one of the five schools to initiate student protests know as the East L.A. walkouts in 1968, and contributed to the walkouts in 2006, in protest to the HR 4437 bill.

May 2007 Auditorium fire

• On 20 May 2007, an 17-year-old arsonist set fire to the school's 82 year-old auditorium. It is estimated over $30 million dollars in damages in the fire, the auditorium is now completely destroyed.^[4] The 17-year-old arsonist boy who was a freshman at the school was sentenced to juvenile camp and ordered to pay restitution for setting the blaze. Chandeliers were saved from the auditorium.

• A benefit concert was held in collaboration by Los Lobos, and a donation from boxer Oscar De La Hoya. No further progress has been shown.

L.A. Unified contends that the 1925 auditorium needs to be rebuilt from the ground to meet state building codes. But nine insurers insist that the walls are salvageable and could support a new building, district officials said.

Designs for a new auditorium are almost complete and will be submitted soon for state approval, said facilities chief Guy Mehula. But in a further hitch, Garfield's main administration building, which is attached to the auditorium, must be retrofitted to meet earthquake standards, and officials have not determined the level of demolition needed.^[5]

Academics

Overall, Garfield has a student population that places significantly below average in the California Standards Test.^[6]

Classes are approximately 63 minutes in length and meet five times per week. Sixteen weeks constitute a semester. The highest mark possible is an "A" ; the lowest passing mark is a "D".

Advanced Placement

Garfield achieved fame because of Jaime Escalante who, in the 1980s, along with the administration of Henry Gradillas built an exceptional advanced placement program. In 1982, 18 of his students passed the advanced placement calculus test. The College Board suspected cheating and required the students to re-take the examination. Further testing showed that the students had actually learned the material.^[7].

In 1987, 73 students passed, while another 12 passed the second year calculus test. In 1988, a popular film titled Stand and Deliver starring Academy Award-nominee Edward James Olmos was made about the events of 1982. In 1990, there were over 400 students in Escalante's math program from algebra to calculus. In 1991, he had a falling out with the school administration and as a result left the Garfield school system. By 1996, only seven passed the basic calculus exam, with four passing the advanced exam. That was a total of eleven passing students, down from a high of 85 nine years earlier. In 2001, the school made a slight recovery in its calculus scores, with 17 passing the basic test and seven passing the second year test.^[7]

The legacy of Jaime Escalante can be seen in the 722 students who took AP tests of some sort in 2000. They had a 44% overall pass rate, which is comparable to the national average.^[7]

In 2004, Newsweek ranked Garfield 581^st top high school in the nation. The rank was based on the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2004 divided by the number of graduating seniors.^[8]

Academic Performance Index (API)

API for High Schools in the LAUSD District 5 and local small public charter high schools in the East Los Angeles region.

School	2007 [9]	2008 [10]
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts	831	840
Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School	807	818
Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School	718	792
Abraham Lincoln High School	594	609
James A. Garfield High School	553	597
Woodrow Wilson High School	582	585
Theodore Roosevelt High School	557	551
Thomas Jefferson High School	457	516
Santee Education Complex		502

Academic Decathlon

Garfield has the following record in the California Academic Decathlon from 1998 to 2006^[11]:

Year	State standing	State points	LAUSD standing	LAUSD points
2007	9th	44,509.7	5th	43,992.4
2006	10th	42,707.9	6th	44,310.4
2002	13th	42,645.0	7th	41,677
2001	12th	39,398	3rd	41,702
1999	8th	44,557	2nd	45,780
1998	6th	45,912	2nd	Unknown

Activities

Marching Band and Colorguard

The Garfield High School Marching Band and Colorguard (formerly Marching Band and Drill Team) is one of the most successful groups in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Since the late 1980s, Garfield has won 14 City Championships, and has won 5 in the last 7 years. In 2007, the Band and Colorguard became the 4th LAUSD school to make the Southern California Schools Band and Orchestra Association's Field Championships, tying for 6th place. As a side legal note, the school was posthumously deafeated in 1991 by West Central's Belmont High School. In response for their undeniable defeat the school filed a lawsuit against the students of Belmont after the public championship in the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Their case was lost and an appeal was filed. Nevertheless, the Belmont Sentintels remain champions. To date, the Sentinels, will not be denied and the case remains a thorn in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a case of poor sportsmanship. Even though the Bulldog Marching Band and Colorguard have suffered some hardships, they have the determination to move forward for further victories. ^[12]

Sports

Football

Garfield High School participates in the "East L.A. Classic" the homecoming football game against Theodore Roosevelt High School, that traditionally draws over 20,000 fans^[13]. The East LA classic has been held at the East Los Angeles College at the Weingart Stadium although it has also been held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Classic is one of the most highly acclaimed and attended high school football games west of the Mississippi River and has taken place since 1925. Garfield has the following record in the classic: All-Time Garfield 29, Roosevelt 39, Ties 6 as of 2008.

Year	W/L	Score	Source
2008	W	26-7	[14]
2007	L	15-23	[15]
2006	W	35-13	[16]
2005	W	27-26	[13]
2004	L	14-18	[17]
2003	L	0-33	[18]
1999	W	16-13	[19]

• Garfield beat University to become 2007 (CIF) 3a City Invitational Champions, during the (2007) season, Garfield was not part of the City Division.
• As of June 5, 2008 Garfield would longer participate in the Invitational Division, instead would participate in the City Division.^[20] However the League Alignment remains the same, and should not be confused with Division Alignment. ^[21]

Notes

External links

• Garfield High School homepage
• Garfield High School Alumni Foundation website
• Home of the Bulldogs

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