Waterford Township lays claim to the first public school in Oakland County.
That number grew to thirteen when its first permanent home, a log schoolhouse, was dedicated the next year.
[2] As the township grew, more schoolhouses were built, including Drayton Plains in 1865,[3] Four Towns in 1866 and Waterford Center in 1869.
Attention was then turned to building a high school for Waterford Township, which doubled in population during the 1940s.
Waterford School District also operates the Children's Village School for students at Oakland County Children's Village, the county's juvenile detention, residential treatment, and shelter program.