Because COVID-19 closed our schools, your children are eligible for food assistance, called Pandemic EBT (P-EBT): Emergency School Meals Program.

P-EBT provides families with funds to make up for some of the cost of meals while school was closed. This benefit is for Washington children in grades K-12 who receive free or reduced-price school meals. These benefits will be on an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card which is used like a debit card to buy groceries. Because all YSD students receive free breakfast and lunch, all YSD students are eligible regardless of income. If you do not already receive benefits, you will need to apply on or after June 30.  If you receive food assistance benefits already, the money will appear on your EBT on June 30.

Update 7/6/20: We have been in contact with OSPI last week and they said that DSHS had the incorrect student list for Yakima School District which is why they turned down some parents; they are updating with the correct list which will show any student enrolled in Yakima School District that was grade K-12 in the school year 2019-2020 as eligible for PEBT.

PEBT Flyer - English

PEBT Flyer - Spanish

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During this difficult time of our schools being closed, the staff members at Garfield Elementary are not stopping efforts to make a difference in the lives of their students and families.  This week, approximately 50 staff members have each taken a list of families to call on the phone making sure that they are up to date with information and that their basic needs are being met.  The staff is also sticking together though daily communication with each other using the GroupMe app, and planning meetings using Google Meet.  Finally, our students continue to receive daily breakfast and lunch nutirition thanks to our cooks and cutodians.  Garfield Staff...you are amazing!

      For over 25 years Garfield 5th graders have been making apple pies to donate to the Union Gospel Mission. With help from staff members, friends, family, and this year Fred Meyer the students gather the supplies to make these apple pies. 

       The morning starts early as the students come to wash and prep the apples. They divide into their table groups, decide what roles they will fill in the operation, and get to work. From that point, it is a ballet of students bustling about. The kids are focused. Using their fraction skills to measure ingredients, and using their reasoning and inference skills to make on the spot decisions to ensure the pies are being created with love and precision. The students rival worker bees with their ability to work towards a common goal. In the end, they have created a gift to share with those less fortunate. 

        The next day the students stand outside, pies in hand, ready to take the pies to the truck. As a tradition, each 5th grader will pass the pie to the next student down the line until it reaches the truck. 

         This year our students donated about 40 pies to the Union Gospel Mission!

Monday, October 7, 2019, from 5:30-7:00 pm in the Garfield Elementary School Gym. Free and open to all YSD young musicians and their families!

This will be the first guided concert experience that the Seattle Symphony is offering outside of Seattle. It is a unique opportunity for students and families to enjoy an important symphonic work (Mahler's 1st Symphony) in the company of friends and family AND with movie snacks!

The Seattle Symphony's effort to bring this concert to our community also helps with making the world of orchestral playing seem more accessible - more human. They will be bringing some SSO musicians to speak about what it's like to play this piece, and to talk with audience members after the viewing. It is approximately 50 minutes in length.

Above is a photo of our oldest orchestra, YAMA Philharmonia's trip to Benaroya Hall and for a workshop in Seattle last June: YAMA student Jaiden Cano conducts the orchestra with the help of guest conductor, Jonathon Heyward. 

Garfield 5th graders helping our 1st graders learn to love reading.