Illesheim ES History
Opened: 1957
Closed: 2015
Illesheim American Elementary School served the military stationed in Illesheim; a small hamlet located in the valley of the Aisch River. The town is approximately thirty-five miles south of Nuremberg and thirty-five miles east of Wuerzburg. The school was in the housing area of Storck Barracks. The school originally had students in kindergarten through eighth grade. By the late nineties, a preschool program was added, and the seventh and eighth graders left after the 1998-99 year.
The building being used as of the 1981-82 school year was built in 1965. The school had sixteen classrooms, a teachers’ lounge and workroom, a learning resource center, an audio-visual room, music room, science lab, multi-purpose room, and a gymnasium. There was a large, well-equipped playground.
For the 1981-82 school year, there were 420 students in grades kindergarten through eight. In addition to the classroom teachers there was a reading improvement specialist and a learning development specialist. Part-time physical education and music teachers served the school. The services of a speech therapist, social worker, and school psychologist were shared with neighboring schools. Most classes were self-contained except for seventh and eighth grades, which were mini-departmentalized.
By the 1987-88 school year, the school had been recently renovated. The enrollment had increased to 480 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Dr. Ed Mantel was the principal of the school from 1989–1998. His assistants were Carla Peters (’89–’90), Dr. Judith Sessions (’96–’97) and Don Ness (’96–’97). Don Ness became the principal the following year and remained principal through 2001.
There were 445 students enrolled in the school for the 1993-94 school year. The enrollment was only 415 students for the 1994-95 school year. By the 2000-01 school year the enrollment had dropped to just 250 students in Preschool through sixth grade.
In 2015, after more than fifty years, Illesheim Elementary School closed its doors. The closure was a result of the Aviation Restructuring Initiative.
Illesheim held its closing ceremony and final award ceremony on June 4, 2015. The school had helped to educate more than 12,000 students. The last principal was Audrey Griffin.
Information from school yearbooks and DoDDS publications