Orca K-8 School

We definitely don’t “all belong” at orca K-8. As someone who had childhood ADHD, they were un-equipped to help me and rather than Admin or any teacher suggesting that I go to a different school due to being ill-equipped, I was treated with consistent intolerance and dogma for the challenges that someone with ADHD as a kid face. ADHD as a kid is not that big of a deal or abnormality when provided the proper environment and tools (which my parents were lead to have to completely advocate for and figure out on their own etc), but this is not the place for that to be cultivated or thought through. Their “open minded” culture only exists within the box of “open mindedness” they’ve selected to curate and already have... go figure. There are a few excellent, legitimately open minded teachers here that understand that not everyone can go through a cookie cutter education, but these are very much on the basis of the individual. This school thinks that open mindedness and inclusivity ends at a majority White staff trying to include empowering messages for racial minorities and the lgbtq, which is clearly not not a bad thing, however it stops there and is in no way the “Wholistic” approach they advertise. If you do not want to or cannot go through a cookie cutter education socially and academically, Orca is not for you. The cookie cutter may have a unique shape but it’s still very much so a cookie cutter. I highly suggest looking at Graham Hills Montessori Elementary program, Montessori is designed to set almost any kid up for high achievement without extreme toil at a young age and is focused on the individual and the individuals needs.

Orca has a strong social justice and environmental education program that is not reflected in these statistics. The school also ought to be compared to K-8s, not elementary schools and middle schools.

Orca is a great school - don't let the test scores fool you. While Orca has its share of struggles, I feel the scores don't reflect the experience of most students at the school. In addition, there are a number of families who opt out of standardized testing and those students get a 0. Their scores are averaged into the school rankings, which significantly lowers the overall scores.

Orca is an alternative school in the Seattle school system with a focus on environmental stewardship and social justice (hence the opting out of standardized testing!). There is a vibrant parent community and the teachers are excellent. I can't think of one deadbeat teacher or staff person - many of them are extraordinary. The principal, Concie Pedroza, is fantastic and really inspires staff and students to pull together and work hard.

Orca is a K-8 school. The middle school is relatively new - I think the first class graduated in 2010. It is small, approximately 175 students, which is great for some kids and not for others. It continues to get stronger every year and seems to have really found its stride in the last year or two.

In an era of low public school funding, Orca has managed to keep a full time art teacher, garden teacher and PE teacher, plus a .5 movement teacher, a .6 instrumental music teacher and a .5 vocal music teacher. The garden program is great and the environmental lessons taught in classrooms are experienced first hand in the garden, which in turn influences the classroom learning. Starting in about 3rd grade, students typically complete 1-2 significant projects a year that integrate different aspects of learning (science, art and writing, or writing, math and garden, for example). The highest compliment I can give the school is that my 4th grader wants to go every day and is excited about what he is learning.