I had never came here for education, so I don't know anything about that…read more But I do come here almost weekly during the weekend to ball kids up. There is this manhole on the fence that allows people to go into the school, so that's pretty cool. The lights near the benches never close, so we could just you know order some pizza or some shit and eat over there when its too dark or your friends are too fat to walk. They have cool automatic lights on the grass that turn on when you don't need em and when you actually do need em they turn off, so that's pretty cool. Uhh its a pretty big place so if you wanna play hide 'n go seek then you could get lost in this joint. But that's why its fun, cause when you can't find someone you just quit and sit at the benches so they could hide for dayz. There's also market carts that you can take inside the school and push your friends with. This place is so chill that one day we all assembled here to play basketball and ended up playing charades and no basketball at all, so the ball boy had to walk back home and never came back again. Overall, you could do anything you want here during the weekends so thats pretty cool. Just don't come around the bench area cause thats like our home turf so, if you don't wanna get blasted, you know what to do.

I went to McKinley for all my elementary school years and it is an amazing school!! All the…read moreteachers are very nice and caring!!

My son was currently enrolled at Willard Elementary School. I am writing this with all the pain in…read moremy heart that my son was a victim of some type of bullying/ racism behavior from his teacher. On April 23, 2026, as I dropped off my son at school, I waited for the bell to ring and waited for the kids to walk off. I encountered a situation with Ms. Bugarin that left me SHOOK! It was about 7:45 am when my son walked in the kindergarten gate and stood in line to wait for the rest of the kids. As my son was standing in line, I was outside the gate, less than 5 feet away from my child. Two boys started bumping my son, and my son stated, "Guys, please stop pushing me." Ms.Bugarin then turns and says, "Matthias, stop bumping into your friends." The first time around, I did not say a word because I understand we are all human, and she might not have seen the entire situation. The boys kept pushing my son, and my son again said: "Guys, please stop". Ms.Bugarin then says again, "Matthias, I already told you to stop bumping. Come over here because you're not listening". *****All this is happening in front of my eyes, I am standing less than 5 feet away from my child!***** as i see this play in front of me I advocate for my son and say " matthias speak up baby. let her know it was NOT you, that the boys kept pushing YOU." Instead of the teacher addressing the situation there and then, what she did was the following: she grabbed my child from the hand and walked away, not only from the situation, but she walked away from ME, the MOTHER of MY child. I advocated for him, I spoke up for him, and she IGNORED me, BLAMED my child, and SCOLDED my child for something he did NOT do. which now has me infuriated as to, if she has the COURAGE to act the way she did with my child when I am PRESENT what happens when I am NOT present. I called the school IMMEDIATELY to hold a meeting with the principal and the teacher because there is no excuse, no reason, or motive to IGNORE the mother of the child for ANY reason. Especially if I have every right to advocate for him! The meeting was held on 4/24/26 at 8 AM at Willard Elementary School, and I was told, and I quote the teacher, "I think the problem is Matthias' behavior and that is what we need to fix." I had zero accountability from the teacher and from the principal. The principal said, "I agree to disagree. Maybe the adrenaline and how fast things happened, you saw one thing, she saw another." So, I walked away being labeled a liar? All because I advocated for my child, so are they saying this behavior is ok? Are teachers allowed to IGNORE the mother of the babies? Not only are they not satisfied with picking on my child, but now they want to pick on me? Unacceptable. I then proceeded to contact the senior director of Pasadena, and in summary, the district, the principal, and the teacher all said I am a liar. Attached are the emails and letters I received from the district. As stated in the email, it says, "I will be reaching out to you and the others involved to complete the investigation within this time frame." I never received a call, no one reached out to me to ask what happened or how it happened. I then just received a letter stating "the evidence does not support that the teacher is bullying...The evidence SUPPORTS that the teacher was putting strategies in place to support the student the student and to make sure he was not being accused of negative behaviors unfairly. " So, the district supports the teacher ignoring the mother of a child? My son was STILL accused unfairly, and the district is stating, and I quote, "... the district is not required to take corrective action." The Pasadena School District has failed my son and me.

A nice school to be a part of. Have been there for 5 years on staff. Always feels like family there.read more

Garfield is the best school, soccer is what I play every day. The food is pretty good for school…read morefood but it could still use a little work

it is a awesome school because people here are very very nice and the teachers teacher very nicely…read moreand I understand everything they teach

I was invited to the annual Fall Carnival this past year, and I thought they did a good job for all…read morethe parent volunteers, teachers, and the PTA. My kids enjoyed all the games and food options available. They even had Fusion food trucks, Boba trucks, taco truck, and don't forget the churro truck too!

I honestly hated this school and still do, I was bullied the whole entire time going here and the…read morestaff just watched and didn't correct the situations, once I was even choked out which led to me passing out, I only one teacher that I liked and I believe her name was Mrs. Heminze, but that's it so I honestly don't recommend this school due to multiple people being bullied.

My child went here for summer school and we had a good experience. It's very hard to find parking…read morethough, unless you are at the drop off, pick up line. The lady that is the set crossing guard is very good. She will yell at bad drivers to be careful.

This school is great. Both of my kids go to this same school. It got blue ribbon last yearread more

This is a highly rated School which means it is high stakes high pressure the facility is…read morereasonably maintained the auditorium is super old as old as the school itself some minor upgrades and remodels have taken place in the span of the history and you Auditorium was built just a few years back that's another story to tell teachers have been here for a long time parking is shared with the community center and also overflow from the library and the district office is also within the same Center and distance could improvements of the facility be made of course there can always be

The choir teacher, Mr. Jamieson is the best! He is so nice and funny! I like this school because of…read moretheir large number of sport options and elective choices. It is a great school.

My 5 yr old son started kinder 8/2018. The 1st day was a simulation. (Practice run) we parents got…read moreto stay with our child the 1st day. The lining up process & picking up process is what every school should do. I'm impressed on how the process and system that's in place. I felt very much at ease leaving my child. I have volunteered many times at Marengo elem, and I have had my kids In south Pasadena unified school district since 2010. Any parent should be so lucky to have their children going to school here. It's diverse, safe, clean, & the parent participation is outstanding. PTA

I can't speak from the experience of a student or even parent of a student, but I have picked…read moreup/dropped off children at this school many many times and worked with local Marengo kids. Of the various elementary/middle schools that I frequent in and around the LA area, this just so happens to be one of my favorites. Always a pleasant experience in South Pas ; ) Not to sound like the Stepford Wives type lol, but whenever dealing with the locals or the teachers & staff, I always seem to walk away impressed at how 'normal' everyone here seems. That could also just say something about how I feel towards the rest of LA lol, but a nice, attractive, organized, friendly, no complaints thusfar kinda school if you ask me. Grounds are well kept (as I would hope any elementary school, or any school for that matter, would be). Kids enjoy it, parents are pleased, right in the middle of a great neighborhood (off of any main streets), and everybody seems happy.

I'm also a K-8 and I'm a product of the public education system. I graduated in 2001 and I still…read morethink I remember all my teachers! K: Ms. Tat (or Mrs. Dang) 1st: Mrs. Kimball 2nd: Mrs. Littel 3rd: Mrs. Kaneko (taught W/Th/Fri)/Mrs. Terasawa (taught M/Tu) 4th: Mrs. Goodrich 5th: Mrs. Glick 6th: Mrs. Renaud 7th: Ms. Gonzales 8th: Mr. Robinson I guess with time, you forget who your professors are because of the short quarters in college, but you can still remember the teachers you had for one entire year! So much has changed since I graduated: principals, the size of the playgrounds, the number of "temporary" classrooms being built, the color of the doors (they used to be bright red-orange!), the paintings of the walls (it used to be peachish), it has become a California Distinguished school (yay!), and it seems to be doing very well. Go Chargers! :)

The School now has a Dual Immersion program in Spanish. The office staff is professional and…read morefriendly. They have an active Parent Teachers Association. The teachers are approachable. The campus can use updating but to my understanding funds will be available for that in the coming years.