Osterholz ES History
Opened: 1978
Closed: 1992
Osterholz American Elementary School met in the German Beethoven Schule from September 1978 until the school moved into the new school building January 12, 1979. The elementary school had two classroom buildings in the new school complex. The first day in the German school there were 9 students with a staff of 28 including the administration. This ratio did not last long as the housing units were completed and dependents arrived. Prior to the completion of base housing, many families lived in hotels in Bremerhaven. This created a need for bussing children all the way from Bremerhaven to Osterholz for an afternoon of school. The school’s hours the first year were 1:30 to 5:30. This made for a late return home for the children.
When the move to the new building was finally made, all children had to bring lunch since the cafeteria was unfinished and the kitchen equipment was not installed. The library and playground took shape during the third and fourth years of the school. An active Parent-Teacher Association contributed to the school program through very successful fund-raising activities.
In the 1981-82 school year the staff at the elementary school consisted of two administrators, a counselor, an Education Resource Specialist, a Learning Disabilities teacher, a Reading Improvement Specialist, a nurse, a music specialist, a physical education specialist, twenty-eight classroom teachers and three educational aides. There were 220 elementary students in grades K-6.
By the 1989-90 school year the elementary enrollment had increased to almost 1000 students in grades K-6. The staff of seventy-five included thirty-seven classroom teachers, two administrators, two counselors, four special education teachers, two speech teachers, a reading teacher, English as a second language teacher, compensatory education teacher, two teachers for music and physical education, an art teacher, a talented and gifted teacher and a nurse. Additionally, there were ten educational aides and other specialists.
At the end of the 1991-92 school year the elementary and high school were combined into a unit school and the unit school was closed at the end of the 1992-93 school year.
The AOSHS archives have scrapbooks that preserve many of the happenings in the school’s history.
Information provided by Sue Kerns and DOD Information Guides