Vilseck ES History
Opened: 1954
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Vilseck Elementary School was originally Vilseck Dependent School and then became Vilseck American Elementary and Junior High School. The school was located just north of the town of Vilseck, which is a small, Northern Bavarian town.
When the school opened in 1954, there were forty-seven students, and the principal was Peter Carpenter.
The school mascot is the Lion, and the school colors are blue and gray.
To improve the appearance of the school campus, Vilseck Elementary/Junior High students planted thirty pine trees in the mid-seventies. Each class K–6 planted three trees with help from the junior high students.
In the early eighties, the junior high, cafeteria, gymnasium, and part of the elementary school building were made of masonry and reinforced concrete construction. Kindergarten, supply, and some elementary classes were in temporary buildings. By 1983, when the new high school was completed, all the temporary buildings had been removed, and all of the buildings were of masonry and reinforced concrete construction.
For the 1981-82 school year, the school staff of twenty-two included a reading improvement specialist, two resource teachers, a counselor, and a half-time speech therapist. There were 500 students in grades kindergarten through nine. At that time, approximately seventy percent of the student body commuted from neighboring military and civilian communities. High school students, grades ten through twelve, commuted to or utilized the dormitory facilities in Nürnberg.
The elementary/junior high school became Vilseck American Elementary School for the 1983 school year and now had grades kindergarten through six. By the late eighties, the enrollment at the elementary school was just over 450 students. The new elementary school was completed for the 1988-89 school year, and the enrollment had increased to 700 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
In the early nineties, the elementary enrollment was almost 900 students.
Sure Start was added to the elementary school and the sixth grade was moved to the middle/high school.
Gretchen Wall, a teacher for preschool handicapped students, was named the 2010 Bavarian District Teacher of the Year.
Vilseck Elementary School was recognized for the special reading program, Red Hot Books, that the school conducted in March 2011. The students partnered with Vilseck soldiers of the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment to read the same books. The soldiers and students then emailed, wrote letters, and even had video chats to discuss the books they read. At the time, the soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan. The students who participated in the month-long challenge read for over 10,000 hours. The principal, Nancy Hammack, even spent one day on the roof of the school reading and dressed up as a dragon to support the program. Vilseck Elementary received the Military Child Education Coalition, Pete Taylor Partnership of Excellence Award. This award honors outstanding partnerships between military installations and school districts.
Mr. Scott Finley became the principal of Vilseck Elementary school in 2012 and was still the principal for the 2022-23 school year when there were about 370 students in Sure Start through fifth grade.
Information from DoDDS School Information Guides and online articles