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Happy First Day of School Garfield Families!
The new school year is officially here! We want to give a huge thank you to everyone who came out for our Back-to-School Nest Fest on Friday! It was wonderful to see so many of you and feel the excitement for the year ahead.
We are off to a wonderful start! It was such a joy to welcome our students back and begin what promises to be a happy and successful year. Starting today, staff and students will build strong classroom communities, which is the foundation of all the work we do at Garfield ES. Together, we are creating spaces where children feel safe, confident, and ready to grow as readers, writers, mathematicians, musicians, artists, and friends.
We look forward to strengthening our partnership with you this year. Open communication is key, and we encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher, our counselors, administrators, and anyone on our school team with questions, concerns, or celebrations.
At the start of the year, our focus is helping students feel connected and develop a strong sense of belonging through:
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Building Relationships: Using the Responsive Classroom approach, we begin with lessons that prioritize community and relationships, laying the groundwork for academic success all year. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social, and emotional learning approach to teaching. It is designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers.
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Morning Meetings: A daily time for students to greet, share, connect, and set a positive tone for the day.
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Establishing Routines: Teachers guide students in learning classroom routines, building independence, and practicing the skills they’ll need to thrive.
Here’s to a year full of learning, growth, and joy!
Blessings, Mrs. Peerman and Ms. Manning
School Hours and General Information
Friendly Reminders:
- Doors open at 9:05.
- The tardy bell rings at 9:20.
- Dismissal begins at 4:05.
To report an absence, please
Other Helpful Numbers:
Main Office: 703-923-2900
Health Room: 703-923-2910
Cafeteria: 703-923-2921
Please note that family lunch visits will be paused until October 1st to allow students to adjust to the new cafeteria routines. Thank you for your understanding.
We look forward to a fantastic school year with all of you!
2026-2027 GES Parent Handbook
The GES 2026-2027 Parent Handbook is a guide to help families access important information and school operating procedures. We hope it will serve as a resource as you navigate the 2025 -2026 school year.
Here is a 2026-2027 Mini Version of the GES Parent Handbook for a quick reference.
Birthdays at GES
We love celebrating birthdays! Families are welcome to drop off one packaged store-bought item that is allergy friendly. Please communicate with your child's teacher as early as possible if you would like to drop off a item to share. Items should be dropped off in the front office of the school.
Celebrations take place in coordination with the classroom teacher.
While we love our families, birthday celebrations are for students only.
NEW: No Personal Devices at School
Starting this school year, students must use FCPS-issued devices for school-related digital activities during the instructional day. This is in accordance with a new School Board requirement, approved on July 16, which states that students may not use personal electronic communication or computing devices, including personal laptops, tablets, smartwatches, smartphones, and similar devices.
If devices are brought to school, students will be prompted to turn off and put away in backpack until end of day. Families will also be reminded of expectation as needed.
Discipline protocols have been added to the FCPS Student Rights & Responsibilities: Handbook for Families.
SR&R Updates
Understanding Student Rights and Responsibilities:
New Universal Grade Matrices for Families
Families are encouraged to review the updated FCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities (SR&R) document, which explains expectations for student behavior and adult responses in order to enhance school safety and to create a fair, equitable, and supportive school environment.
Updates for the 2026-27 school year include new Universal Grade Matrices (UGMs). UGMs are charts that show behavior expectations and school responses by grade level (K-3, 4-8, and 9-12). These at-a-glance resources (in Appendix D of the SR&R) are designed to make it easier for parents and caregivers to understand how schools respond to different types of behavior concerns.
Visit the SR&R webpage for more information and to review additional updates to the SR&R for the 2026-27 school year.
Transportation: How do you get to School?
To ensure a safe and successful start to the school year, please have your child follow their daily arrival and dismissal procedures on the very first day. Establishing this routine early helps them learn how to get to and from school safely.
Bus
Bus routes are posted to SIS ParentVUE accounts. Children with specialized transportation should have received a call from transportation with details.
Student ID Cards: Students who ride the bus will receive a student identification (ID) card, which will be provided by the first week of September (update), more information coming soon.
Students who ride the school bus will tap their student ID card when boarding and exiting the bus. This ensures that transportation team members can see which students are riding which school buses. Again this will begin early in September.
You can monitor your child's bus arrival. To know when your child's bus is approaching, get the Here Comes the Bus mobile app. It is a school bus tracking system that gives you real-time bus location and text or email notification. Click here for more information and the FCPS access code. Here Comes the Bus will be replaced with FCPS My Ride later this year.
Kindergarten, PreK and PAC
Kindergarten students, riding the afternoon school bus will be returned to school unless a parent, guardian, caregiver, or an older sibling (middle school age or above) meets them at the bus door and verbally confirms their name.
Pre-K and PAC students, riding the afternoon school bus will be returned to school unless met by a parent, guardian, or caregiver, 18 years or older meets them at the bus door and verbally confirms their name.
Kiss and Ride
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New families who are in need of a Kiss and Ride tag should come into the school office to get a tag. Tags are required for families whose students will be picked up every day from the Kiss and Ride line.
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Students will be let out of cars starting at 9:05 a.m. and will be dismissed to cars starting at 4:05 p.m.
Changes to Your Child's Transportation
Teachers need to know how all students typically get to school. Should you need to make alternate arrangements one day (i.e. you will pick up your child instead of sending him on the bus), let the office and teacher know that morning so they are aware of the change. The best way to make a change during the school day is to call the office, 703-313-4300. Teachers are instructing and not checking email.
I Need to Pick Up My Child Early
If you need to make a change to your child's regular
transportation for the day, here are best practices:
For Same-Day Changes
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You must call the school office at 703-923-2900 to make a change.
- The call must be made by 3:30 PM.
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Do not email the teacher for same-day changes, as they may not see the message in time.
- If you're picking up your child, you'll need to sign them out in the front office with a valid ID.
- It's recommended that you sign your child out before 3:30 PM.
- Students cannot be taken off the bus once they are on it after school.
For Next-Day or Future Changes
- You can make transportation changes for a future date by emailing or texting your child's teacher.
In short, if you need to make a change for today, call the office. If you're planning ahead for tomorrow or later, you can email or text the teacher.
YOUR GES PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
We are in this together!
Your Garfield Partner Principals
Mrs. Peerman, Principal, Klpeerman@fcps.edu
Ms. Manning, Assistant Principal, eamanning1@fcps.edu
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