Garfield High School has the distinction of being the first continuation high school in the United States. The original Garfield High School opened in 1921 with part-time classes held at the First Mexican Baptist Church in downtown San Diego. Inl930, the school moved to its own building on 11th Street across from City College and was named E.R. Snyder High School. In 1977, the school moved again, this time to a former elementary school site in the residential community of North Park and was renamed Garfield High School.
In 1993, to alleviate elementary school crowding in the North Park area, San Diego voters approved a bond issue to relocate Garfield High School and to convert the Garfield High School site back to an elementary school. A Relocation Task Group was formed to make program and facilities recommenŽdations for the new Garfield site to the Board of Education. Chaired by a teacher, the Task Group included certificated and classified staff, parents, students, community members, and district office support personnel. Planning sessions were open and attended by staff, area residents, and board members. The Task Groups final relocation recommendations were based on needs expressed by students, staff, the district, and the community as well as current state curriculum frameworks and educational research.
In the summer of 1998, after five years of planning, looking for an appropriate location, and then designing and constructing the new facility, Garfield High School moved. The brand-new, 15 million dollar building is located on 16th and B Streets on the east side of the san Diego City College campus in downtown San Diego. Central to the new schools educational focus is Garfield staff collaboration with City College Staff to help Garfield Students complete high school and successfully make the transition to post-secondary education.
Our school has many opportunities to offer a dedicated student. A quick summary of the programs we offer are:
City Middle College (CMC)/ Joint Diploma Program (JDP)
Culinary ROP Course
ORACLE Located on our 4th Floor which is more of an independent study program
GENESIS Program which is our student recruiting program; to allow a more successful transition into our school.
HSDP which is Located at the Back end of our campus (not accessible from our site, its annexed)
We also have an Expectant Teen Center (ETC)