Orcas Island School District Calendar 2026-2027

Orcas Island School District has to organize public education across water as well as grade levels. Most students attend the Eastsound school community, where the elementary, middle and high-school years are concentrated on the main island. Families can remain connected to one familiar district through graduation while ferries, seasonal employment and island travel continue to shape daily schedules.

Waldron Island School preserves a very different scale. The remote-and-necessary K–8 school commonly serves only a small group spread across nine grade levels. One teacher may plan for several ages, and supplies, visitors and services depend on transportation to a community without the ordinary conveniences of a town campus. After eighth grade, a Waldron student needs a new high-school arrangement.

On Orcas, the Farm to Classroom program has linked gardens, food production and the cafeteria since 2005. Students learn in the school garden, and locally grown or student-grown food can enter meals. The working island landscape becomes part of science, nutrition and community life, placing food and land inside the curriculum.

OASIS adds a statewide parent-partnership route with individualized plans and substantial learning at home. Orcas Island serves students through a full K–12 island campus, a remote K–8 school and family-directed study. Boats, ferries, gardens and home classrooms create different school days, all connected to the same island public system.