The new Netzaberg Elementary School will be one of three elementary schools at Grafenwohr and Vilseck open for the next school year. The new school and an influx of students are prompting school officials to alter school district boundaries. (Seth Robson / S&S)
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Children who live on the border of school districts that separate Vilseck and Grafenwöhr will likely have to change elementary schools next year as the garrison adjusts to a rapid population influx.
U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwöhr commander Col. Brian Boyle told parents about the looming school district changes at a recent town hall meeting.
The districts are changing because the garrison will open a third elementary school along with a new middle school at Netzaberg for the next school year. Boyle said Friday that elementary school kids from Netzaberg, Kaltenbrunn and Steinfels military housing areas will be affected by the boundary changes.
Some Netzaberg kids, who bus to Vilseck Elementary School because there is no space for them at Grafenwöhr, will walk to the new Netzaberg Elementary School next year.
And kids from Kaltenbrunn and Steinfels, who attend Grafenwöhr Elementary School, must register for Vilseck for the next school year, he said.
The school moves are not popular with parents of affected children. One Kaltenbrunn mother, whose son will have to change schools, complained at the town hall meeting about the impact the move will have on extra-curricular activities.
“He does guitar and karate at Grafenwöhr. We are only here one more year. My kids will now have to go to Vilseck. Their dad is deployed and they will have to move and then they will have to move again,” she said at the meeting. The mother declined to give her name after the meeting.
Boyle said the goal is to make the school districts permanent by the time the garrison reaches its “end state” with two combat brigades and the Joint Multinational Training Command based there in 2010.
Until then, the community is faced with the challenge of planning for the arrival of more soldiers and family members such as those from the 172nd Infantry Brigade coming to Grafenwöhr over summer, he said.
The school districts are based on the capacity of the schools, the number of homes in military communities and limiting time the kids have on buses, he told the meeting.
The garrison does not know how many kids will attend each school until students register so Boyle urged parents to register their children as soon as possible for the next school year.
