Wakkanai Dependents School History
Opened: 1963
Closed: 1972
Wakkanai Dependent School was located the cold northern tip of Japan. It was one of the more unique DoDDS situations. The 1963-64 school year was the first year that dependents were allowed there. The school had grades kindergarten through twelve. There was no actual school building. A section of bachelor office quarters was used as classrooms. Some high school teachers had as many as eight daily class preparations, teaching four classes in the morning and four in the afternoon, but the class sizes were relatively small. For example, that school year there were only one 12th grader and two 11th graders. Other classes were larger. One teacher related that it was like a primitive one-room schoolhouse, high school students in the morning and junior high in the afternoon.
The school opened in 1963 and closed in 1972.
Information provided by Lloyd Swanberg