James A. Garfield High School is a year-round public high school founded in 1925 in East Los Angeles, an unincorporated section of

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

. At Garfield, 38% of students participate in

advanced placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

programs. Approximately 93% of the student population comes from disadvantaged backgrounds with limited financial or social opportunities. The school maintains a comprehensive minority admission policy with a 100% minority population. As of 2020, Garfield is one of the 254

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s in the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

. The high school's

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

program is dedicated to students aspiring to pursue studies in the field of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. Garfield High School gained recognition through the film " Stand and Deliver," which tells the story of teacher Jaime Escalante, and the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film "

Walkout In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest. A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...

." The school also hosts the annual

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

game known as the East LA Classic, a tradition dating back to 1925.

History

James A. Garfield High School opened in September 1925 on land that was formerly used for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, offering education for students in grades 7th through 12th. The school operated as a six-year institution, allowing students to earn two diplomas: one from Garfield Junior High School after completing the 9th grade, and another from Garfield Senior High School. In 1926, uniforms were required for girls only, consisting of a navy blue pleated wool skirt, a white middy blouse with a dark blue collar and cuffs, along with the option to wear a black tie. Stockings or socks were part of the uniform and had to be worn at all times. By the late 1930s, Garfield became overcrowded, leading to the construction of a new Junior High School for grades 7 through 9. This new school was Kern Avenue Junior High School, located on Fourth Street and Kern Avenue, which is now known as Griffith STEAM Magnet Middle School. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) appointed architect George M. Lindsay to design the original

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

campus buildings. Today, one of these buildings, known as the '300 Building,' remains, though it has undergone modernization to its front. In the 1950s and 60s, new classroom buildings were added, along with a library featuring a multistory arcade, guided by the New Formalism architectural style in the 1970s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, students from James A. Garfield High School worked at Lockheed and Douglas aircraft plants on war-related machining and assembly projects to support the war effort, earning school credit and pay. The efforts and details about the program at Garfield High School were featured in a film created for

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and Navy servicemen and women in 1944 by the " Army–Navy Screen Magazine." In addition to their contributions to the military, dozens of Garfield students and Japanese-descendant graduates were relocated to internment camps. At the end of World War II, the need for another city college became evident due to the large number of returning servicemen. During the 1940s,

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

(LACC) was the sole city college, but limited and costly transportation made it difficult for many students to attend LACC. Meanwhile, the Eastside was rapidly developing into an industrial center. To address this need, Arthur Baum, editor of the East Los Angeles Tribune, led a citizens' committee composed of presidents of various clubs and organizations in the community. They collaborated with Principal D. Raymond Brothers of Garfield, County Supervisor Smith, Superintendent Kersey, and several industrial leaders. This group presented the proposition of establishing a Junior College to the Los Angeles City Board of Education in a special meeting on March 1, 1945. The Los Angeles Board of Education voted to establish a Junior College on the Garfield High School campus, which would become East Los Angeles College (ELAC). ELAC became the second city college (or junior college) in the Los Angeles area. Formally established by the Los Angeles City Board of Education in June 1945, East Los Angeles College opened for classes on September 4, 1945. It initially operated on the Garfield High School campus with 373 students and a faculty of nineteen, although the school board had authorized a faculty of 25, selected from the LACC faculty. Of these students, 107 attended college classes at Garfield, while 266 pursued

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

careers, primarily nursing, at L.A. County Hospital. The junior college was part of the Los Angeles City Public Schools (now part of the L.A. Unified School District). The college relocated to its current 82-acre site on Avenida Cesar Chavez in February 1948. It is situated six miles from the Los Angeles Civic Center. It remained part of the Los Angeles City High School District until 1961 when it merged into LAUSD Garfield High School was one of the five schools that initiated student protests known as the East L.A. walkouts in 1968. On March 26, 1968, the LAUSD Board of Education convened in the auditorium at Lincoln High School to address the students' demands with community members. During this meeting, students representing each of the Eastside high schools handed over leadership to the Educational Issues Coordinating Committee (EICC). In 2006, Garfield also played a role in the walkouts, protesting against the HR 4437 bill. In 2018, Garfield High School and the five Walkout schools were included on America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

Campus

"On May 20, 2007, the auditorium was completely destroyed when an arsonist set fire to the 82-year-old building. A benefit concert, in collaboration with

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") is a Mexican American rock group, rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional ...

, was held, and a donation was provided by boxer Oscar De La Hoya. The Los Angeles Unified School District contends that the 1925 auditorium needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to meet state building codes. However, nine insurers insist that the walls are salvageable and could support a new building, according to district officials. The main

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

building at Garfield, which is attached to the auditorium, must be retrofitted to meet earthquake standards. Officials have not yet determined the extent of demolition required."

On March 31, 2010, a day after the death of Jaime Escalante, the

announced that the new auditorium under construction at Garfield High would be named in his honor. On April 1, a memorial service honoring Escalante was held at Garfield High, where he taught from 1974 to 1991. During the service, students observed a moment of silence on the front steps. Approximately 200 people attended the service, as reported by Principal Jose Huerta. A wake in memory of Jaime Escalante was held on April 17, 2010, in the lecture hall where he taught

calculus Calculus is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...

. In July 2010, during the school's first summer vacation since 1991, the Administration Building and the remnants of the original Auditorium were demolished. By the beginning of the school year in September, the entire building had been leveled, leaving only a small power plant from the original structure. The school's 300 building is the last remaining structure that dates back to its opening in 1925. On April 5, 2014, officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) cut the ribbon for Garfield High's Auditorium project. This new facility features state-of-the-art upgrades and the newly created Jaime Escalante Memorial Plaza. The school is renowned for its

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s. In 2006, several murals were removed due to structural damage.

Demographics

In 2021, Garfield had 104 full-time teachers serving approximately 2,569 students in grades nine through twelve, resulting in a student-teacher ratio of 25:1. The previous year, in 2020, there were 108 full-time teachers serving about 2,531 students, with a student-teacher ratio of 23:1. In 2019, Garfield served around 2,531 students with a student-teacher ratio of 25:1 and employed 101 full-time teachers. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Garfield High was predominantly

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

. However, since the 1960s, the majority of the student body has been Hispanic 2 In the 2005–2006 school year, the school had a total of 4,620 students, with 99.26% of them identified as

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

. The total number of students enrolled in the 2009–2010 academic year was 4,603."

Year-Round Calendar

Garfield was on a year-round, multi-track schedule from July 1991 to June 2010. Initially, there were four tracks (A, B, C, and D), and students were randomly assigned to one of three tracks with alternating two-month vacations. As a result, only three-quarters of the student body were on campus at any given time. In 2010, the school announced that due to the opening of the new Esteban Esteban Torres High School, it would revert to a traditional August–June calendar starting in August 2010.

Academics

Prior to Henry Gradillas' tenure as principal in the 1980s, the average reading level of 10th-grade students (sophomores) was equivalent to that of a student in the second month of the fifth grade, which corresponds to a 5.2 level.Jessness, p
ix
Before Gradillas's term, the total number of AP tests taken at Garfield each year was 56. During Gradillas's term, the average reading level of 12th-grade students (seniors) reached the tenth-grade level, and the annual number of AP tests increased to 357.Jessness, p
x
This increase in the reading level was attributed to the introduction of required reading and remedial English courses for students who were at least three grade levels behind, as well as the implementation of a reading laboratory.Jessness, p
ixx

US News Rankings

Small Learning Communities (SLCs)

At Garfield, there are Small Learning Communities (SLCs) that divide the student body into smaller academies, each focusing on a particular area of study. These include the Career and Performing Arts Academy, Computer Science Magnet, Global Academy, Humanitas Academy of Leadership and Law, and the University Preparatory Program. These SLCs are housed in separate buildings throughout the campus, with each student being assigned to one. SLCs were introduced to LAUSD around 2005 as part of an effort to combat the issue of students dropping out of school.

Advanced Placement

Garfield gained renown primarily due to Jaime Escalante, who, in the 1980s, worked alongside Henry Gradillas, the school's administration, to establish an exceptional

program. In 1982, 18 of Escalante's students successfully passed the advanced placement

test. The

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

suspected cheating and required the students to retake the examination. Subsequent testing confirmed that the students had indeed learned the material. By 1987, 73 students had passed the exam, with another 12 passing the second-year calculus test. The events of 1982 were later immortalized in the popular film " Stand and Deliver," starring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominee

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Detective List of Blade Runner (franchise) characters#Gaff, Gaff in ''Blade Runner'' (1982) and its sequel ''Blade Runner 2049'' (2017), Lieuten ...

, released in 1988. By 1990, over 400 students were enrolled in Escalante's math program, spanning from

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

. However, in 1991, a dispute with the school administration led to Escalante's departure from the Garfield school system. This resulted in a decline in the number of students passing the calculus exams. By 1996, only seven students passed the basic calculus exam, with four succeeding in the advanced exam. This marked a significant drop from the high of 87 passing students nine years earlier. In 2001, the school showed a slight recovery in its calculus scores, with 17 students passing the basic test and seven passing the second-year test. In 2004,

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

ranked Garfield as the 581st top high school in the nation. This ranking was based on the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at the school in 2004, divided by the number of graduating seniors."

Student performance

In 2005, Garfield achieved the highest number of combined Latino/Chicano and African-American student admissions to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, (UC Berkeley) as reported by the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Admissions and Enrollment at UC Berkeley, Richard Black.Landsberg, Mitchell. "This King/Drew, a Magnet School, Is a Robust Success." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. April 27, 2005. p
1
Retrieved on April 16, 2014.

Sports

American Football

Garfield High School participates in the " "East L.A. Classic"," the

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

game against Theodore Roosevelt High School, which traditionally attracts over 20,000 fans.NFLHS.COM – State Stories
The East LA Classic has been hosted at the East Los Angeles College's

Weingart Stadium Weingart Stadium (formerly East Los Angeles College Stadium or ELAC Stadium) is a 22,355-capacity multi-purpose stadium located at East Los Angeles College, in Monterey Park, California. It was built in 1951 at a cost of $3.1 million, and follow ...

, although it has also been held at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

Other sports

In addition to the football team, other sports also play significant roles in the annual classic, including the Drill Team, Cheer, and Band. These teams are well-known and have achieved success in various competitions throughout the year. The school also boasts strong programs in

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, Swim, Cross-Country, and

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Notable alumni

Listed in alphabetical order by last name: * Richard Alatorre (born 1943), member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

and the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

. * Carlos Almaraz (1941–1989), Chicano painter, Garfield High School class of 1959. * John Arguelles (born 1927), former

Associate Justice An associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some ...

of the California Supreme Court. * J. Jon Bruno (1946–2021), Episcopal

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Los Angeles. * Oscar De La Hoya (born 1973), former world champion and gold medal-winning boxer and founder of

Golden Boy Promotions Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion (in six divisions) Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy." Hist ...

. * Ken Davitian (born 1953), film and television actor, co-star of 2006’s '' Borat.'' * Alexander Gonzalez (born 1946), President at

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

. * Antonia Hernandez (born 1948), philanthropist, attorney, and activist. * Ricardo Lara (born 1974), California Insurance Commissioner and first

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

statewide elected leader in California history. *

band, multiple

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

Award-winning Chicano rock band, the alumni members include: ** David Hidalgo (born 1954), ** Conrad Lozano (born 1951), ** Louie Pérez (born 1953), ** Cesar Rosas (born 1954). * ''Ned Arnel'' "''Carlos''" ''Mencía'' (born 1967), comedian, writer, and actor. * Richard Polanco (born 1951), former

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

Majority leader and member of the

. * George Ramos (1947–2011)

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

–winning journalist for the

. * Esteban Edward Torres (born 1930), former Congress member from California and former United States Ambassador to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. * Maria Helena Viramontes (born 1954), writer and professor of English at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. * Sergio Valdez and Thomas Valdez (1991 Alumni) both employed at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

, where Sergio is a supervisor in the

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

section and Thomas is a research engineer. Thomas has a master's in

materials engineering Materials science is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origi ...

References

* Jesness, Jerry (coauthor). "Preface." Gradillas, Henry and Jerry Jesness. ''Standing and Delivering: What the Movie Didn't Tell'' (New Frontiers in Education). R&L Education, November 16, 2010. , 9781607099437.

Notes

External links

Garfield High School homepageLos Angeles Unified School District Web siteGarfield High School Alumni Foundation websiteHome of the Bulldogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garfield High School Los Angeles Unified School District schools Eastside Los Angeles Public high schools in Los Angeles County, California 1925 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1925