Darmstadt ES/JH (combined ES/MS in 2006) History
Opened: 1946
Closed: 2008
Darmstadt American Elementary/Junior High School was originally referred to as Darmstadt American Dependent School and Darmstadt American School. The Darmstadt Dependent School was one of the original schools opened in Germany after World War II. The main school building, The Lincoln Village School, was located in the housing area of Lincoln Village. The school opened in 1946. Grades one through nine where part of the original school, with high school students bussed to Frankfurt.
In 1954, there were 556 students in the school, and the principal was Robert J. Riley. Construction on the new, main school began in 1955.
The school mascot was the Dragon. The school yearbook was called Reflections and the school newspaper was the Dragon Gazette. Student activities included chorus, band, student council, and the Goethe Chapter of National Junior Honor Society.
The principal of the Darmstadt school for the 1972-73 school year was Robert J. Plattenburg, and he remained principal until the 1980s. The assistant principal was Frederick Norris. The school had over 1,000 students with about 250 in grades seven through nine. Ms. Sue Kraeber became the second assistant principal for the 1976-77 school year.
For the 1975-76 school year the school received new curtains, new sidewalks, and new fences. All of these upgrades were done by a community school improvement project. The school also now had a primary annex.
The school had an intramural program that included basketball, wresting, and soccer for boys. Bowling was added as a coed intramural program in the mid-seventies. The students engaged in host nation activities in the local area as well as other cities in Germany. The school also had an annual ski trip to Austria.
By 1980, there were twenty-two classrooms, a gymnasium/auditorium, Education Resource center, learning development and reading improvement rooms, and offices in the main school facility. Adjacent to the main building was a Quonset for Industrial Arts and a Modulux with six classrooms. The annex building on the Cambrai-Fritsch Kaserne housed the kindergarten, first, and second grades. The building in which the annex school was located was a converted barracks with military offices on the first and fourth floors. The play area for this school was very limited.
In 1981-82, the schools staff consisted of a principal, two assistant principals, forty-one classroom teachers, an administrative assistant, two counselors, reading improvement specialist, learning development teacher, speech therapist, an Educational Resource Center, three host nation teachers, a school nurse, and clerks. The enrollment for the school was 1,100 students. Most of the sports programs for the students were provided through coordinated programs with the Dependent Youth Activities (DYA).
The school was divided into an elementary school and middle school for the 1987-88 school year.
By the 1989-90 school year, the elementary school had thirty classrooms and three prefabricated buildings with six classrooms. The annex was no longer in use. The school enrollment in grades kindergarten through five was 940 students. At this time, most of the students walked to school, and nearly all remained at the school for lunch.
A preschool was added to the elementary school in the early nineties. The school enrollment dropped to about 500 students for the 1993-94 school year when the school became a Pre-K through five school.
The elementary school and middle school were combined for the 2006-07 school year, and the school closed in 2008.
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