Vogelweh ES (formerly Kaiserslautern ES #1) History
Opened: 1947
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Vogelweh Elementary School (VES) is part of the Kaiserslautern Military Community, which is the largest military community outside the continental United States, consisting of Air Force, Army, and all other military branches with the exception of Coast Guard. Air Force facilities are located at Ramstein Air Base, Vogelweh, Einseidlerhof, and Kapaun Air Station while Army facilities are located at Sembach, Rhine Ordinance Barracks, Pulaski Barracks, Danner Kaserne, Landstuhl, Miseau, Pirmasens, Kleber, and Panzer. The Kaiserslautern School District is located in the Rheinland-Pfalz state of Germany, about one hour southwest of Frankfurt. VES students are Air Force (49%), Army (40%), other branches (1%), and civilian (10%) family members. The school’s student sponsors are comprised of 18% officers, 13% E1-4 (enlisted personnel), and 69% E5-9. The school is located in the middle of the Vogelweh housing area which contributes to the significant number of E1–E9s.
The school was originally called Kaiserslautern American Elementary School, becoming Kaiserslautern Elementary School #1 when a second school was opened. It was later renamed after the housing area where it is situated. The first school was located in an apartment building.
Vogelweh Elementary School occupied two buildings situated in the housing area across the street from the Kaiserslautern Elementary, Middle, and High Schools. Originally, all students walked to school since they lived in the local housing area. Currently, about half of the students are bused to school using thirteen buses.
The school colors are red and black, and the mascot is the Eagle. The school motto is “Educate, Engage and Empower”. The school song is:
At VES we are so bright,
Our teachers help us get it right!
We soar together to take our flight,
With our true goals always in sight!
By the 1978-79 school year there were 1,400 students at Vogelweh. The school had a Red Cross swimming program for students and field trips were an integral part of the host nation program as well as annual ski trips. Student activities included chorus, safety patrol, student council, and yearbook. Volksmarching was another annual event.
In the early eighties, there were almost 1,500 students in the elementary school in kindergarten through sixth grade. By the end of the eighties, the enrollment had decreased to just over 1,200 students. During the early ’80s, the school configuration was Quonset huts for kindergarten students, grades one and two in their own section of Quonset huts, and a building (The Primary Center) for grades three and four. In the main building were grades five and six as well as the Center for Exceptional Children—special needs students.
Walter Reeves was the principal for Vogelweh Elementary School for ten years beginning in 1974. For the 1981-82 school year his assistants were Allen Haymon and Alice Blucher. Ms. Blucher was an assistant principal from 1979 through the 1992-93 school year. Letcher Connell was the other assistant for the 1984–1987 school years. Susan Krabber became the principal for the 1986-87 school year and was followed by Jill Breaux for the 1996-97 school year. Peter Grenier and Pat McKay were part of the administrative team for the 1988-89 school year.
For many years, Vogelweh Elementary served special needs students of the Greater Kaiserslautern Community through the services of the Center for Exceptional Children. Between thirty to fifty students each year benefited from the programs at the Center.
Vogelweh had an active arts program that included the chorus and band, drama clubs, artwork in the yearbooks, and student creative writing. Field trips to military locations and host nation cities such as Karlsruhe, Rothenberg, Kaiserslautern, Ramstein, Mannheim, Darmstadt, Bacharach, and Idar-Oberstein enriched the school’s curriculum and highlighted the host nation’s culture and history. Other annual student activities were ski weeks, volksmarches, German school exchanges, 100 days celebrations, Geography and Spelling Bees, and Math Olympiads. There were clubs in the eighties for computers; the newspaper, Vogelweh Express; running; geography; and folkdance. During the 1993-94 school year the school held the Winter Special Olympics.
In the 1992-93 school year, Howard “Buddy” Iles became an assistant principal and was joined by Joe Masters the following year. The six grade was moved to Kaiserslautern Middle School, and the enrollment was just over 1,000 students. Five student teachers trained at the school during the 1996-97 school year.
By the first decade of the new millennium the enrollment for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade had dropped to under 900 students. The principal from 2007 to 2010 was Donna Donaldson, and her assistants included Ms. Janie Paige and Ms. Baxler-Oakley. The school was involved in the Red Ribbon Program, Read Across America, Dr. Suess celebrations, and had family skate nights.
For the 2012–2015 years Sandy Meacham was the principal, with Lynn Carey and Cathy Marziali the assistants the first year followed by Ms. Marziali and Mr. Sonny Bertschinger the second year. The school added STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) emphasis to the curriculum. Students now produced the Student Web News, participated in a technology club, and had a Student Leadership Team instead of a student council. An Anti-Bullying program and Character Counts program were added to the curriculum. Students also participated in a school beautification project by planting tulips each year. Military personnel from the 5/7 Air Defense Artillery served as mentors for students.
Other student clubs in the 2010s included junior bloggers, Minecraft, and robotics. STEM became STEAM activities with the addition of art to the previous program. Spanish was taught with the addition of Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) and gifted education activities were offered as an extracurricular program.
The school enrollment during these years decreased from 1,000 students to about 850 students.
Joseph Lovett was the principal beginning in 2015-16 and his assistants included Kaawa Fulton (2014–2016), Paul Crane (2015–2021) and Dr. Lori Hill (2016–2017).
In the 2016 yearbook the principal wrote:
What a fantastic year of activities, enrichment, excitement, and fun! The back to school "Welcome Back", PTSA Boo-Hoo Breakfast, PTSA Movie Nights (my favorite was Mr. Peabody and Sherman), Spirit Days, Harvest Moon, Monster Mash, Book Fairs, Holiday Store, Spelling Bee, BINGO Night, School Pictures, Tulip planting, Study trips, the Fire Department, the Drug Dogs, and on and on, and on – especially the great starts every day with the Morning Meetings that brought us all together!
A new 21st century school building was opened for the 2019-20 school year. The principal was Lee David and there were over 100 faculty and staff. The enrollment was just over 600 students. With the advent of COVID during the 2000-21 school year the enrollment dropped to less than 500 students.
New student activities in the 2020s included a geography club and cross-age buddies where students in kindergarten were paired with third graders and first graders were paired with fourth graders.
The principal for the 2022-24 school year was Dr. Vitania Quinoes-Quinland, and the assistant principal was Dr. Mary Bade. The school had grades PreK–5, with less than 500 students enrolled. The administrators for the 2024-25 school year were Pamela Wimberly, principal, and Dr. Brenda Hebner, assistant principal. By the 2024-25 school year the enrollment was up to 555 students.
Information from DoD School Information Guides, school yearbooks and the DoDEA School website