Kadena MS History
Opened: 1971
OPEN
Kadena Middle School was opened for the 1971-72 school year and was built using relocatable buildings. The school was located on Kadena Air Base, within walking distance of Bob Hope Primary School, Amelia Earhart Intermediate School, and Kadena High School. It was located across the street from the high school, and in 1990 an access bridge between the schools was constructed. Kadena Middle School originally had five modern buildings arranged on a campus with twenty-one general purpose classrooms, host nation room, art room, two music rooms, six science labs, computer and typing labs, seven rooms to support special services, a cafeteria/multipurpose facility, media center, gymnasium, and an industrial arts lab. The school started with just seventh and eighth grade.
The school’s relocatable units were purchased by the Air Force and were shipped in and assembled on a site that had been prepared the year before. The schools were constructed with cafeterias, administrative offices, restrooms, and libraries. They were air conditioned, with individual classroom compressors located outside each building or unit. These buildings were not designed for the weather on Okinawa. While they did serve to eliminate a critical facilities problem and were very comfortable and functional, the cost of maintenance proved to be almost prohibitive. A new pitch roof was installed on relocatable buildings at Kadena Middle School after one year.
For the 1981-82 school year there were 820 students in grades six through eight.
The next buildings were opened in September 1990. The staff for the 1993-94 school year included two guidance counselors, reading improvement specialist, three special education teachers, compensatory education teacher, English as a Second Language teacher, communication impaired specialist, school psychologist, talented/gifted teacher, and a school nurse. For the 1994-95 school year, there were 820 students in grades six through eight.
Kadena Middle School was renovated in 2018 to adapt learning space for pods and common areas with collapsible classroom walls to encourage co-teaching. With an average annual attendance of over 700, over 14,000 military and civilian dependents have been KMS Wolverines since opening. The school colors are red and black.
The current middle school, grades 6-8, is based on an A/B schedule, the DoDEA middle school curriculum, and opportunities for a variety of core and elective classes to include a rich fine arts program, which comprise of band, chorus, and art. Other electives include PE, Host Nation, Family Consumer Science, and AVID. Kadena Middle School also offers Algebra I, Geometry, Japanese I & II, and Spanish I & II for high school credit. The school has excellent support for students with speech/language concerns, students with a learning disability, English as a Second Language, and students that meet the criteria for the DoDEA gifted program.
For the 2023-24 school year there are approximately 500 students enrolled in grades six through eight and the administrators are Ms. Mary Mullins, principal, and Mr. Silvanas Thrower, assistant principal.
Information from dissertation by Harold Clifford Brown, 1981; yearbooks; school webpage; and DoDDS School Information Guides