Kleine Brogel ES History
Opened: 1976
OPEN
Kleine Brogel American Elementary School is located in northeastern Belgium in Limburg Province. The town of Meeuwen is about fifty kilometers south of Eindhoven, Netherlands, and approximately ninety kilometers east of Brussels, Belgium.
The school is a modern, prefabricated structure. There are two classrooms, a learning resource center/media room, a multipurpose activity room, and an office/supply area. Also in the building are two Belgian classrooms, as Kleine Brogel is part of a state-run Belgian elementary school. On the site are another classroom building, a kindergarten, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium, which is shared with the Belgians. There is a large, paved playground area.
In the early eighties, the staff consisted of two teachers, a half-time library technician, and a host nation teacher/clerk. For the 1981-82 school year, there were thirty-five pupils in grades one through six. By the 1987-88 school year, there were thirty students in the school. By the mid-nineties, the population had increased to over fifty students. By the 2000s the enrollment was about thirty students with three multi-age classrooms.
The school continues to serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade in multi-age classrooms. The school still shares the complex with a local Belgian elementary school.
A strong relationship is maintained between Kleine Brogel and its neighboring DoDEA school, AFNORTH Elementary. After students complete the fifth grade at Kleine Brogel, they attend the AFNORTH Middle School located in Brunssum, Netherlands. AFNORTH schools are approximately thirty miles to the east. Some administrative and educational support services are shared with the AFNORTH schools.
The school principal for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years was Crystal Bailey with Vanda Waller as the assistant principal. Ms. Waller became the principal for the 2014-15 school year followed by Dr. Runberg
The 2015 school yearbook listed the top ten reasons the students loved Kleine Brogel American Elementary School. The list was written by Mrs. Vasko-Kingma’s class. The reasons were:
- We get to have lots of celebrations!
- We have the best teachers in the whole world!
- Delicious homemade lunches prepared by Mrs. Hilda.
- Everybody is friends with one another.
- We go swimming every Wednesday.
- Cool specialists come from AFNORTH.
- We go on lots of field trips.
- We are a small family school.
- We have personal chauffeurs (Mr. Eddy and Mr. Michel). [Spelled “Michele” elsewhere in the yearbook.]
- Ms. Heidi keeps our school clean and tidy!
The administrators for the 2021-22 school year were principal Kristy Fountain and assistant principal Dr. Donald Rush. The school colors are purple, gold, and black. The school mascot is the Roadrunner. The current enrollment for grades K–5 is thirty-two students.
Information from DoDDS School Information Guides, school yearbooks and websites