Elementary Principal Kathy Page is leaving her position.

“For me to say I have enjoyed my time at Orcas Island Elementary School would be a huge understatement,” said Page in a recent letter to the parents of elementary students.

Page is saying goodbye to the island to attend graduate school. She looks back at her time here as full of accomplishments. Her “Beat the Bell” program reduced lateness by 40 percent. Other highlights of her time include monthly assembles and spirit days. She credits the staff with improving the school by designing curriculum maps for writing and implementing reading intervention schedules and strategies.

“These efforts will go a long way increasing student achievement,” said Page, who was appointed principal of elementary and middle schoolers in 2013.

Page has worked in education for more than 25 years, and 13 of those years she spent working in pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. She received her bachelor of arts from Central Washington

University and her master of arts from Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash.

Page has worked in various states across the U.S., including Fort Campbell on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee where her husband was stationed with the Army. There she worked as a middle school principal and a response to intervention coordinator.

She initially came to Orcas with the hopes that she could find a community that had traveled back in time to an era she thought had disappeared.

“My impression is that this community takes care of each other,” she said in a 2013 interview. “I feel like I have stepped back in time to a better place and time. I didn’t believe places like this existed anymore.”

Now as Page departs she said she takes with her a wealth of “fond memories.” Working with the students every day allowed her to go home every night with a smile on her face.

“They are thoughtful, creative and they are going to make a positive impact on our world,” she said.