Kinser ES History
Opened: 1987
OPEN
Kinser Elementary opened to students on April 22, 1987, after moving from Makiminato Elementary School during the spring break. The initial enrollment at the first school was 325. The Makiminato Housing Area was closed, and the real estate turned over to the Japanese Government. Kinser Elementary (PSCD, Sure Start, and K-5) is located on Camp Kinser. The school is located on the beautiful island of Okinawa, a prefecture of Japan. “Kinser by the sea” overlooks the East China Sea. Five additions to the original complex were completed, as well as a softball field, soccer field, basketball court, and gymnasium/auditorium. The original school colors were blue, green, and yellow, representing the beautiful ocean and warm sun. The mascot is The Clipper, taken from the shipwreck affectionately called “The Clipper” that was just off the coast behind the school. It had run aground during typhoon evacuations in 1986 and was removed in 2006.
The school is named for Marine Sergeant Elbert Luther Kinser of Greeneville, Tennessee. Sergeant Kinser won the nation’s highest military decoration while acting as a leader of a rifle platoon, serving with Company “I”, Third Battalion, First Marine Division, in action on Okinawa. (A biography of Sergeant Kinser can be found in the 2015 yearbook.)
In its first full year, the new school had 500 in kindergarten through sixth grade. The school was a brand-new, two-story building with twenty-one regular classrooms and two kindergarten rooms. Staff specialists included teachers for communication impaired, learning impaired, Japanese culture, nurse, counselor, reading improvement specialist, compensatory education, media specialist, art, physical education, and music.
Terry Richard, the principal since the school opened in 1987, was honored as a National Distinguished Principal for 1993.
Within two years, the enrollment had increased to 800 students. By the mid-nineties, the school became a kindergarten through grade five school, and the enrollment for the 1993-94 school year was 775 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. In the 1995-96 school year, the enrollment was approximately 850. Sure Start was added to the school that year. By the 2007-08 school year the enrollment was 450 students, and the principal was Ian Coulbrough. He remained at the school for six years. Michelle Moore-Robinson was the next principal from 2011–2017. Her assistant for the 2015-16 school year was Vicki Alderman. The next principal was Lucille Sutherland who was at the school from 2017 through 2025. She was named the Pacific Region Principal of the Year for 2021-22.
According to the school’s website, Kinser is a POSITIVE ACTION school guided by the theme "Where Every Student Succeeds, Having Fun Learning". Some of the activities available to students in the nineties were Young Astronauts, Math Magicians, Joggers, Computer Bytes, Space Invaders, band, and safety patrol. The Kinser Kids Network produced and presented the morning announcements. Other extracurricular clubs included the drama club, beach and reef club, sign language club, Spanish club, multicultural club, newspaper, and a fitness club. Students and staff participated in annual events such as Red Ribbon Week, Read Across America, STEM activities and family nights.
From 2010 to 2025 the school’s enrollment went from a high of 520 (2012-13) to a low of 200 during COVID back to 250 (2022-23) to the current enrollment of 170 for PreK through fifth grade.
According to the principal’s message in the yearbook, during the 2021-22 school year “we learned what it was to be locked down, locked out, hand sanitized, isolated, quarantined, socially distanced, masked, traced, and tested. Yet through it all we found a way to unite and work together.”
The current school colors are blue and yellow, and the mascot is The Clipper. The school’s motto is "Where every student succeeds, having fun learning"
Information from a dissertation by Harold Clifford Brown, 1981; DoDDS School Information guides; yearbooks and the school website; Zimmerman, Fred. “Despite namesake’s removal, Kinser Clippers stay on course.” Stars and Stripes, 3 May 2006, www.stripes.com/news/despite-namesake-s-removal-kinser-clippers-stay-on-course-1.48510, 7 November 2023