Principal's Message
Welcome to the 2026–2027 school year and to the #1 high school in the district, Garey High School, "Home of the Vikings." The staff and I are excited about our return and look forward to serving the students and families of Garey High School. As a proud Pomona Unified School District alumnus, it is a great honor to return to Garey in my 32nd year working for PUSD.
As a former PUSD student, a proud parent of PUSD alumni, and a grandfather of PUSD students, my family is three generations of PUSD. My wife Edna (PUSD alumnus and 27-year employee of PUSD) and I truly enjoy saying, "Proud to be PUSD." In my years with PUSD, I have taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, serving as a Teacher, Resource Teacher, Intervention Teacher, Head Coach, Athletic Director, Dean, Assistant Principal, and Middle School Principal along the way. This is my sixth year as Principal of Garey High School.
As Principal, I aim to maintain an open-door policy for students, parents, and staff. I want every person who arrives on our 
campus — whether a student, staff member, parent/guardian, or visitor — to feel "seen, heard, respected, and protected." Working as a team, we will continue to celebrate our greatness while finding ways to improve. We will be "intentionally consistent and consistently intentional." We will make data-driven decisions while remaining empathetic to the needs of our students and staff. Collectively, we will "Build Our Future Together."
This year's approach will focus on academics as well as the social-emotional well-being of our students, staff, and families. We will continue our work and focus on literacy, using Achieve 3000 to engage students in reading more expository text at their independent reading levels. During "Viking Connect," students will learn about the importance of their Lexile score and its relationship to college and career readiness. Our community is very proud of our award-winning music program and athletic teams, and we encourage all students to join a program, club, team, and/or band.
Our theme this year is "Here to There!" We are currently #1 in the district, but we want to take Garey to an even higher level. We will continue to improve, remain the top school in the district, and strive for state distinction. Garey High School continues to transform into one of the top academic institutions in the state of California. We recently received a fresh coat of paint, new restrooms, new turf in our athletic stadium, and solar panels. Garey will be an active construction site for much of the year as we complete our gymnasium renovation and upgrade our physical structure. Staff, students, and families will remain focused and flexible — our commitment to a safe, quality education will not waver. Our goal remains for every student to be college- and career-ready, and we will adapt to the changes ahead and thrive.
Garey is in a constant quest to be better today than we were yesterday. We simply want to get better every day. This mindset will help us achieve our goals of increasing our CAASPP scores, our graduation rate, and our A-G college acceptance rate. Despite the great gains we have made over the last five years, we want to continue improving. We will keep our focus on state standards and use our resources to sustain our students' trajectory of success, offering rigorous courses that prepare them for college and career readiness.
To be a true, collaborative community, we need your support. We ask that you join our committees, attend our "Coffee with a School Leader" meetings, volunteer on campus, and learn about 21st-century skills to help support your students' learning. We will continue our parent workshops and work to increase school-home communication. You can visit the school website or our Instagram page (@GareyHighSchoolVikings) for information. The district has also moved to ParentSquare for communication — please don't hesitate to call for support.
Attendance counts! It is the greatest predictor of GPA and graduation. Please make sure your student is in school every day, on time. We want to make every moment of their high school years memorable. The bell schedule is available on our website.
As always, teachers, parents, community members, students, and administration will collaborate to promote a positive and safe environment, focus on continuous learning, and ensure that all students gain the skills needed for college and careers in the future.
We are looking forward to a positive year of learning!
Roddy Layton
Principal, Garey High School
(909) 397-4451
