School Histories

Joan K. Mendel ES (formerly Yokota East ES) History

Opened: April 1973
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Joan K. Mendel Elementary School has students in grades Sure Start, PSCD (Preschool Services for Children with Disabilities) to Grade 5 with an enrollment of approximately 500 students. The school was formerly known as Yokota East Elementary School. The school mascot is the Panda, and the school colors are red and black although the colors were originally black and white.

The original Yokota East Elementary School was at the home of the Fifth Air Force and the 475^th Air Base Wing. Fussa City surrounded the base. In 1973, when Yokota East Elementary school opened, Ms. Mendel was one of the first teachers on staff at the school. She wrote about the school,

Built on an ammunition dump, Yokota East Elementary School opened its doors April 1973, to let in the mud, the empty bullet casings and two combination classes – a first/second grade and a third/fourth grade. Not a blade of grass had poked their heads through the thick, red-brown mud. Mothers spend all day sweeping dirt out of the new garden apartments. The Air Police spent all day investigating bullet casings, brought in to the teachers in big garbage bags every day.

There were no towers. Barbed wire surrounded everything. The Media Center was wall-to-wall furniture, brought over from schools that were closing. The two classrooms were jammed- not even enough room to stand to salute the flag! But all survived the mini opening and the summer of 1973 brought trees, grass, and big, empty classrooms- East was ready to roll!

In a later yearbook, Mendal added more detail about the original school. She reported that the original two classrooms had wall-to-wall children. The third/fourth combination class had forty-eight children. It was so crowded there wasn’t room to salute the flag in the morning. One weekend when they tested the temperature, it had risen to 160 degrees in the school. Monday morning all classes were held in the parking lot and continued for three days outside while the school cooled off.

By the beginning of the eighties the facility consisted of three modern buildings of one-story, ferro-concrete construction. The classrooms were large and well equipped. The media center served as the hub of both the physical plant and all curricular programs. Besides the twenty-six classroom teachers, there were nine specialists: Learning Development (LD), English as a Second Language (ESL), Reading, PE, Music, Nurse, Librarian, Counselor, and Speech therapist. There were also two Japanese Culture teachers. The school did not have a lunch program. In 1981-82 there were 730 students in grades kindergarten through four.

In 1987-88 the school had 1,100 students in grades kindergarten through six. The school now had four buildings. There were thirty-five classroom teachers and twelve specialists.

At the beginning of the nineties (SY 1989-90) there were almost 1,200 students in grades kindergarten through six. School clubs included six different art clubs; several Japanese culture clubs, soroban, origami and igotile; drama, chorus and band, health, newspaper, and Math Olympiads. The enrollment continued to be about 1,000 through the nineties. National Honor Society students from the high school participated in a tutoring program for the elementary students.

Yokota East Elementary had five ferro-concrete buildings with a media center as the hub of all curricular programs in the mid-nineties. In addition to the nineteen classrooms teachers, there were twenty resource teachers including mildly and moderately handicapped, ESL, compensatory education, reading, counseling, speech therapy, media, music, art, and physical education. The staff included over sixty well-trained professionals teaching academics, special education, and such specialties as art, music, physical education, ESL, Gifted education, and Japanese culture.

During the new millennium, the school enrollment began to fluctuate from a high of 985 in 2000-01 to just 515 in the 2006-07 school year. Most years the enrollment was about 550. The school became a PreK to fifth grade facility for the 2001-02 school year.

For the 2007-08 school year, the Yokota East Elementary School was renamed Joan K. Mendel Elementary School. Joan K Mendel (1931–2006) was an exceptional presence in the Yokota educational community for thirty-four years. When she wasn’t teaching, she could be found rescuing stray animals and surrounding herself with the loving faces of the children of Aiji-no-Ie Orphanage.

According to the school website, although she never had children of her own, she served as a parent, mentor, and friend to hundreds of children in Japan. Ms. Mendel volunteered her time at the Aiji-no-Ie Orphanage in Tokyo. She handled collections of clothing, food, and supplies. Ms. Mendel also started a sponsorship program between Yokota East Elementary and the orphanage which continues today. According to the 2013 and 2017 yearbooks there were thirty-six children at the orphanage ranging in age from three to seventeen. Elementary classrooms sponsor one to two children for each school year. The classes welcome the children with festivities, stories, games, crafts, and life-long memories.

According to the school website, Ms. Mendel was a compassionate person, an exceptional teacher, and a wonderful friend. She made such an impact on her fellow colleagues and community that it only seemed right to them to dedicate the school in her name and honor her legacy.

The 2010s brought a few new programs to the school and continued the traditions already established. In the 2012 yearbook, Hattie Phillips, the principal, wrote:

This year we have celebrated a number of wonderful events. First, our counselors offered an all school assembly highlighting the implementation of a Character Program and Anti-Bullying Campaign. All students were taught strategies on how to deal with bullies at the school or in the community. In addition, the USO provided a national well known speaker Mr. Trevor Romaine, on this topic for students in grades two through five. This successful program was beneficial and educational to all students.

The Partnership in Education program continues to grow in our school. We have community units and individuals who consistently come and read to students daily during our Read and Respond time. Parents also are actively engaged by volunteering in the classroom, study trips, special after school events, field day, and the Read Across America celebration. We had one of the most successful fundraiser [sic] with the “Walk-A-Thon” that was co-sponsored by our PE teacher, The Striders, Squadron Units and others who contributed towards this huge success!

Our PTO has sponsored many activities throughout the year. Several Book Swaps were offered along with performances by our own Panda Choir. These performances were in conjunction with other PTO events. We had a great time from BINGO nights to March Madness to our end of year activities. Events such as Candy Cane Lane, Asian Bazaar, and Book Swaps helped us build our school community between parents, teachers, students, and administration.

Other time honored traditions are the activities that our Host Nations teachers facilitate to foster the growth of our students by arranging Japanese cultural activities. These activities serve as future building blocks as they become ambassadors to our future. Some of the activities the students traditionally participate in are: Japanese storytelling, Soroban, Tanabata Drawing Contest, and cultural school exchange programs.

The 2013 yearbook expounded on the school’s annual JaPANDAsia Celebration that allowed students to experience various aspects of the Japanese culture. Hosting Soroban demonstrations, Tanabata Drawing Contests, and cultural exchange programs are a few of the many ways the Host Nation teachers help students connect to the Japanese community.

School Administrators 1989–Present

Information from internet sites, school yearbooks, DoDDS School Information Guides, and DoDDS Pacific Region, 1946-1986