Mannheim High School

WIESBADEN, GERMANY — June 21, 2011 — To ensure students have a full-range of academic, athlete and extracurricular opportunities, DoDDS-Europe has revised its transformation plans for Mannheim schools, as the student population there continues to reduce.

As a result, all seventh and eighth grade students in Mannheim will now attend Heidelberg Middle School, beginning in the fall. Parents of sixth graders will have the option for their students to attend Mannheim Elementary School in a self-contained fifth/sixth grade classroom or attend Heidelberg Middle School.

The original plan called for Mannheim Middle School, Mannheim High School and Mark Twain Elementary School in Heidelberg to close at the end of the 2010/2011 school year. The Mannheim Elementary School was to be configured to a Pre-K-8 school.

The accelerated movement of school aged children out of the Mannheim area creates smaller than optimal classroom sizes.

Heidelberg District Superintendent Frank Roehl presented a number of options to the affected families at a meeting last week and conducted a survey. Based on the results, the course of action identified, is an adaptation of the most popular option.

"Our overall concern was for each child to have access to the best possible educational opportunity," said Roehl. "We believe this solution allows for that. We have plenty of capacity available at the Heidelberg schools and there, we’ll be able to provide them a full range of academic, athletic and extracurricular activities.

"We thought it was important to offer those affected a chance to contribute to the decision making process," he added. "Regardless of their personal choice, we are committed to working with each family to facilitate the best possible situation for their students."