708 S Hickory St
Ottawa, KS 66067

Garfield consistently improves each year in test scores and more areas. Teachers are extremely caring and enthusiastic about teaching. We have been in Garfield with two children and the atmosphere and curriculum continue to improve every year! We very much appreciate the principal who came a few years ago from the Blue Valley District. She has great ideas, is great to work with and strives to create a positive and progressive learning atmosphere. This school is moving forward in leaps and bounds!

We have had many opportunities to get involved with school functions and activities . We've had great experience with sports and our child is a beginner, so no special treatment from what we can see. I've had great luck with caring teachers who are available at any time to discuss my child's education.

Went online for a semester of my last year and the performance has been sub par. For starters, the school didn't let students change their classes on their (the ones they chose in April of the previous year) schedules at the beginning of the year. So students got stuck with classes they didn't need or want for a semester. Another consistent issue is at least once a day a class won't start the meetings (where online students go to start class.) The school uses a site called Big Blue Button which causes them frequent problems. The teachers don't really know how to teach online with all due respect. Not their fault but if you're going to have online students make sure your teachers know how to teach online classes. Communication is something they need to work on. Barely any interaction with online students and as a student who is trying to learn the subject, it makes it very difficult. It puts a lot of stress on kids my age and younger. I've had to try and teach myself on many of these subjects and it just doesn't work. It's not as though that they aren't aware about the struggles kids are having as they occasionally send out emails telling us that "we're stronger for the experience" (in regards to online learning). As a student, it's demoralizing to have your efforts be for nothing and for the school to know why. So, to summarize, don't send your children online at any point to this school. They will not receive anything from it except undue stress. Online schooling here does not put students in a good position to learn. 2/10 would not do again.