Upper Heyford HS History
Opened: 1966
Closed: 1982
The original Upper Heyford High School was located at Croughton. The first principal was Arnold Goldstein and there were twenty-four faculty members. Grades seven through twelve formed the student body of approximately 460 students with thirty-five seniors the first year.
The school mascot was the Hadites and the school colors were maroon and white. The school yearbook was the Trident and the school newspaper was Imprint. The first year the school had a full academic program and offered several extracurricular programs. There was a Student Council, National Honor Society and a yearbook was published. Athletics included cheerleaders for girls and football, golf, cross country, wrestling, and basketball for boys. Additionally, the school had a chorus, a band and majorettes.
By the 1970-71 school year the student enrollment was almost 700 students. There were forty-three faculty members including the principal and assistant principal, Fred Paesal. There was also a supervising principal, Luther Skelton, for the school complex. The next school year Mr. Paesal was the principal with Fred Antobus as the assistant. The high school was now grades nine through twelve with sixty-six students in the senior class and over 160 in the freshman class. The school launched its first school carnival which was a combined effort between the high school and the elementary school. The high school also opened a Sculpture Park between the mathematics and art wings in 1973. A creative magazine, Odyssey, was added to the school publications.
For the 1973-74 school year, a seven-period day was implemented and the high school again had grades seven through twelve with almost eighty seniors and 200 students in the seventh grade. The faculty totaled fifty-five and a second assistant principal, Mr. Brisley was added. Sports for girls, hockey, volleyball, basketball and gymnastics, were added for girls and coed tennis was added to the athletic schedule. Upper Heyford High now had a varsity and intermediate band and the Chorus competed in competitions within the English community. The school also had a riding club and an active “L” Club to recognize outstanding sports lettermen. AFJROTC was added to the curriculum and had 130 members the first year.
The school continued to grow in the mid-seventies. Miles Aiken and Ira Scheir became assistant principals for the 1974-75 school year. In 1975 the high school was housed in a new modern complex. Mr. David Schlesinger was the new principal. The school now had its own television studio, computer class and Hadite printing facility run by students. French, German, and Spanish language clubs were added to the extracurricular offerings as well as a business club and Madrigals for music. Dr. Richard Bauer became the principal for the 1977-78 school year. The AFJROTC program received the Meriorius Unit Award for the first time.
In 1981-82 there were thirty teaching stations with special purpose rooms for auto mechanics, industrial arts, hobby shop and computers. The school closed in June 1982.
Information from school yearbooks and the DoDDS School Information Guides