Spangdahlem ES (formerly K-8) History
Opened: 1952
OPEN
The original Spangdahlem Dependent School was located in twelve classrooms that were sets of two classrooms with restrooms and an administrative office and teachers’ lounge. The dependent school had grades kindergarten through eight. High school students were bussed to Bitburg High School. The school was located on Spangdahlem Air Base, which was in the Eifel Mountain region of Germany. The airbase was eleven miles east of Bitburg and nineteen miles north of Trier.
At the beginning of the 1975-76 school year, the school became a kindergarten through six school. The seventh and eighth graders were transferred to the newly formed Bitburg Middle School. The middle school teachers from Bitburg and Spangdahlem met several times prior to the move to plan the implementation of the middle school concepts in the new school.
By the 1981-82 school year, the school was composed of twenty-one relocatable classrooms, twelve classrooms of regular school construction, and seven basement classrooms located in the family housing area. There were gymnasium, media center, and office facilities. The school had about 900 students in grades kindergarten through six. There were two administrators, three kindergarten teachers, twenty-nine elementary teachers, two host nation teachers, and three paraprofessional aides. The school also had a counselor, health educator, a learning development teacher, a reading improvement specialist, a speech therapist, a music specialist, and a physical education specialist.
In the late eighties, the school enrollment was 950 students in grades kindergarten through six. By the mid-nineties, the elementary school had grades Pre-K through four, and there were 830 students enrolled.
According to Stars and Stripes, in 2013 more than 500 students and staff members were relocated to Bitburg Air Base until work to renovate and expand the Spangdahlem Elementary School was completed, with work expected to be completed by 2017. The renovated and expanded school opened for the 2017-2018 school year.
Currently, Spangdahlem Elementary is part of the Europe West School District. It serves approximately 500 children in grades Sure Start through five. The school population is made up of dependents of US Military and Department of Defense Civilian Personnel assigned to Spangdahlem Air Base and Buechel Flugplatz. The current school is located near the residential area of the base.
The school offers a wide range of academic programs, including physical education, music, host nation, art, as well as the basic curriculum of language arts, mathematics, science, health, and social studies.
The current campus includes seven buildings, several outdoor playgrounds, an information center, and all classrooms are connected to a LAN with internet access. The principal for the 2022-23 school year was Dr. Jennifer Seals and the assistant principal was Dr. T. J. Klein. The school colors are blue and gold, and it is the Home of the Dragons.
Information from DoD School Information Guides and DoDEA school website