2002 15th St NW
Washington, DC 20009

This school has been very frustrating because Cardozo has so much potential, but it will never be met with short sightedness and high turnover. Principal needs to go!

We had high hopes for our son's first year at Garrison Elementary, particularly after Principal Kip spoke so highly of the staff and described the 4thgrade class that my son would be joining as "unusually kind" . My son's experience has been far from kind. Garrison failed to meet my expectations of providing a safe learning environment for my child, which has now resulted in an unexpected mid-year withdrawal.Bullying/School SafetyBetween August-December, my son has been bullied on more than one occasion. I met with with Principal Kip after the first incident to express myconcern regarding my son's safety and more specifically, that no one from the school had contacted me to inform me of the incident. Theschool officer was on the playground during recess and was aware of the incident, but the incident was never reported.It's now January and yet another bullying incident recently occurred on the playground during recess. An adult eventually intervened and escorted my son to see the school nurse. The school officer was made aware of the incident and yet again, no one contacted me to inform me that my son was being seen by the school nurse in relation to this incident (not the nurse, the school officer, or anyone else from the school).CommunicationCommunication needs improvement, in addition to the lack of communication related to the above-mentioned incidents. I raised concern with not having a parent teacher's conference. Principal Kip assured me that a parent teacher conference would be scheduled the following week. Still no parent teacher conference was ever scheduled. Communication concerning field trips has been minimal. For example, permission slips have been sent home for signature, seemingly more so focused on waiving liability to DCPS rather than providing adequate details beyond the date and location. Other pertinent info (i.e., departure and return time, plans for lunch, method of transportation) was never shared. The fourth grade class rode the Metrobus for their last field trip due to financial constraints rather than for a learning experience. While I can appreciate the creativity of the teachers making it happen, perhaps the PTO or individual parents may have been willing to support if this was communicated in advance.On a positive note, I do have to say the IEP team (Ms. Dorn, Mr Saxton, and Mr. H in particular) were genuinely committed to doing what was in the best interest of my son throughout the IEP evaluation process.