Orion Alternative

Orion Alternative is one of the mid-sized elementary schools in Redwood City, California, one of the schools within Redwood City Elementary, with 512 students on its rolls from grades K through 5.

Redwood City Elementary comprises 12 schools with combined enrollment of 6,378 students; Orion Alternative is among them.

Demographically, Orion Alternative logs that 29% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school lists 24% multiracial, 23% White, 22% Asian. Compared to San Mateo County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the income-and-resources front, Orion Alternative lists 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 21.8:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 28% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for San Mateo County indicate median household earnings sit near $158,855, 54% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, San Mateo County runs 176 public schools (combined enrollment of about 82,403 students), of which Orion Alternative is one.

Rocketship Redwood City is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Orion Alternative.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Orion Alternative has increased 143%, going from 211 students in 2018 to 512 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 47% to 23%. Class-load math has fell: from 23.4:1 in 2018 to 21.8:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Orion Alternative community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.