Incirlik ES History
Opened: 1967
Closed: 2008
Incirlik Elementary School was originally known as Adana Dependent School and was an elementary/junior high school with grades one through ten. The school was located on Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Turkey. The elementary mascot was Humphrey the camel, and his image was displayed throughout the school using the school colors of blue and white. The original buildings were Quonset huts and trailers. By the seventies the elementary school facility consisted of a permanent structure with one primary wing and four outlying, special-purpose buildings.
During the 1970-71 school year, the school had grades kindergarten through ten. The supervising principal for the complex was Renato Guastin, and Hollis Cox was the principal for the junior high. There were about 230 students in the junior high school. The junior high had four flag football teams that played intramural games, a basketball team, paddleball teams, and golf teams. There were cheerleaders for each of the flag football teams. The next year sports included an all-school swim meet. There were over 250 students in grades seven through ten.
When the high school building was built in 1972, the elementary/junior high was divided into two separate schools. Mr. Hollis Cox was the elementary principal beginning in the 1974-75 school year.
The teaching staff for the 1981-82 school year consisted of fourteen classroom teachers and specialists which included a learning development teacher, a speech therapist, a School Psychologist, a reading improvement specialist, a media specialist, and a host nation teacher. Additionally, art, music, physical education, and career education teachers were shared with the high school.
By the 1987-88 school year, the kindergarten through third grades were housed in a newly constructed building that adjoined the high school. Grades four through six were located approximately one mile away in the facility previously used for all elementary grades. The teaching staff had twenty-four classroom teachers, two kindergarten teachers, and specialists in speech, learning impaired, media, physical education, and music. The staff also included a school nurse, a psychologist, a counselor, and a teacher of the gifted and talented. There were 680 students in grades kindergarten through six.
The school was evacuated during the 1990-91 school year due to the Persian Gulf War. There were 635 students enrolled for the 1993-94 and 1994-95 school years. The elementary school was now comprised of two-story permanent structures, part of which were completed for use in October 1992. There were twenty-seven classroom teachers and specialists.
The elementary and high schools became Incirlik Unit School in 2008.