Founding of the International School of Kuala Lumpur by Paul T. Luebke prietary school that had been es-­‐
tablished several years earlier, would be unable to accommodate the expected influx of school-­‐age dependents. Further, unlike Brit-­‐
ish parents who customarily sent their children back to the UK for secondary school, American fami-­‐
lies wanted a high school as well as elementary grades. Concerned officials from various embassies, businesses, and foundations formed a working' group to plan for the establishment of a school that would serve the needs of the international community. An announcement sent in ear-­‐
ly 1964 from the U.S. Department of State to all diplomatic posts advised that a new entity, the Of-­‐
This rambling old sultan's palace on a hill near the fice of Overseas Schools (A/OS), center of Kuala Lumpur served for a number of years as the home of the International School of had been established within the Kuala Lumpur, founded in 1965. Department to deal with prob-­‐
lems concerning education of el-­‐
ementary-­‐ and secondary-­‐level de-­‐
hen Malaysia came into exist-­‐ pendent children at overseas posts, ence in 1963, succeeding the with Regional Education Officers as-­‐
Federation of Malaya, Singapore, and signed to serve in each of the De-­‐
British North Borneo that came un-­‐ partment’s overseas regions. I had der British administration in the late been designated REO for South Asia nineteenth century, British troops and the Far East (everything from that had been assigned in the former Iran eastward to Japan as well as Malay states were scheduled to move Australia, New Zealand, and the Pa-­‐
out within a year. School age de-­‐ cific island nations), unquestionably pendents of British military person-­‐ a “school district” unequaled in size nel and some other English-­‐speaking anywhere in the world. expatriates in Kuala Lumpur had at-­‐
With several senior officers of the tended the Bourne School, a British U.S. Mission in Kuala Lumpur actively military dependents' school. With the involved in planning for a new departure of the military contingent, school, the fortuitous announcement the school would cease to exist. Un-­‐ prompted an immediate request for like expatriates assigned to Kuala assistance. My initial overseas tour to Lumpur today, who need have no the region began in Iran and brought qualms concerning educational op-­‐ me to KL late in the Fall. When I ar-­‐
portunities for their children, per-­‐ rived in KL the school planning sonnel considering assignment to committee had already considered Kuala Lumpur thirty-­‐five years ago numerous approaches to meeting the faced the prospect of inadequate or needs of a diverse clientele, promi-­‐
no school facilities. nent among them a plan to organize With the establishment of the the school with a common core cur-­‐
new government, the U.S. Embassy riculum, but with separate American, and other diplomatic missions antic-­‐ British, Dutch, Malaysian, and other ipated rapid growth, and, considering “streams” to accommodate the spe-­‐
the number of American and interna-­‐ cialized needs of each of the various tional businesses that were moving constituencies who might wish to into Malaysia, it was evident that the participate in the school. Govern-­‐
Garden School, a small British pro-­‐ ments and businesses in 1964 were W 1998 FALL INTER ED not in the habit of providing more than several hundred dollars annual-­‐
ly for student tuition costs, so that it was rather obvious that the high cost of a multi-­‐stream program would require sizable outside support. In meetings with the planning group I pointed out that the new A/OS grant program could accom-­‐
modate substantial start-­‐up costs, but that there were legal restrictions precluding major expenditures for support of other than American cur-­‐
ricular programs. The legislation en-­‐
abling A/OS to function provided funds for two broad purposes: (a) to ensure the availability of adequate educational opportunities for U.S. Government dependent children comparable to that available at home and (b) to demonstrate American educational philosophy and practice in countries around the world. In addition to financial considera-­‐
tions, the planning group considered the host of problems that would be associated with organization and administration of a multi-­‐stream program, and came to the conclusion that the only logical way to proceed would be to establish a curriculum based on a particular system of edu-­‐
cation, but with strong commitment to accommodating the special needs of students from a variety of back-­‐
grounds. With the majority of stu-­‐
dents anticipated to be American, and with a major portion of antici-­‐
pated special grant funds limited es-­‐
sentially for support of their needs, it was agreed that the new school would follow a basically American curriculum. The American Embassy repre-­‐
sentative on the planning committee approached the Ministry of Educa-­‐
tion to obtain approval of the new school proposal. Initially it was sug-­‐
gested that the proposed school would be unnecessary because Ma-­‐
laysian English-­‐language schools could accommodate the anticipated needs, but at length the argument was accepted that foreign students needed preparation for entry into American and other higher education programs rather than into the Uni-­‐
versity of Malaya. Approval was then granted, but with the proviso that no Malaysian students be allowed to enroll. Thereupon a school charter was drawn up, a parent association was established, a governing board was elected, and, with a total of 27 students firmly committed to enroll, the International School of Kuala Lumpur came into being. Plans called for the school to open with grades 6 through 9, and to add both lower and higher grade levels in succeeding years. The search for a school site was concluded when the Sultan of Selan-­‐
gor agreed to make available a long-­‐
vacant palace or istana located not far from the center of Kuala Lumpur. The problem of finding someone to run the school was solved when Rob-­‐
ert Fendley, a Peace Corps Volunteer completing his assignment as a teacher in Malaysia, appeared on the scene at the proper moment, and agreed to stay on in KL as interim administrator of the new school. At first blush, it appeared that there would be no difficulty in staffing the school; there seemed to be an ade-­‐
quate number of qualified teachers available from among wives and oth-­‐
er dependents of embassy personnel from the U.S. and other English-­‐ speaking countries and from among dependents of employees of United Nations and of foundation and busi-­‐
ness personnel. In addition, several American and British women mar-­‐
ried to Malaysians appeared as likely candidates, and, of course, there was a logical source of teachers among the many able local English-­‐speaking teachers. The matter of staffing, however, was not quite that simple. Local gov-­‐
ernment officials, sensitive from many decades of foreign domination, exercised their right to deny work permits for non-­‐Malaysian applicants if there were qualified local teachers seeking the positions, and it soon became obvious that the process of teacher selection would pose highly sensitive political considerations. Similarly, obtaining instructional ma-­‐
terials turned out to be more than a matter of ordering and waiting for delivery. Local officials reserved the right to inspect all materials to de-­‐
termine their suitability, and inter-­‐
minable delays and confiscation of “unacceptable” materials became the rule. Stimulating, invigorating, exciting. These words de-­‐
scribe the tropical physical environment of ISKL and the nurturing educational climate provided by ISKL teachers It became increasingly evident that a group of foreigners couldn't go it alone, even though approval had been given for the establishment of the new school. Help came in the person of the newly hired Office Manager, Dixie Wai, a Malaysian citi-­‐
zen who was well acquainted with how things work in Malaysia, who was able to help get things started and assist the new administrator in holding things together. (Still serving in essentially the same role after more than a third of a century, Mrs. Wai probably holds something of a record for longevity in overseas schools in the position of office man-­‐
ager/administrative/ assistant/ ex-­‐
pediter/ business manager/" gal Fri-­‐
day," and with her business acumen and organizing skill she was instru-­‐
mental in forming an association of Malaysian business women for which she regularly conducts in-­‐service training seminars.) By the time the school opened in September 1965, the anticipated en-­‐
rollment had doubled, with more than a dozen nationalities represent-­‐
ed. The school adopted a school cal-­‐
endar, which it followed until 1972, of "three months on, one month off," so that the months of December, April, and August were school holi-­‐
days. The rambling old istana pro-­‐
vided ample space for the small en-­‐
rollment. Each of the large class-­‐
rooms had several small anterooms that served well for individual and small group study activities. Because escalation of hostilities in Vietnam had caused evacuation of dependents and closure of the American School of Saigon, we fortunately were able to arrange for shipment to Kuala Lum-­‐
pur of an ample supply of textbooks and library books, science labs, and classroom equipment and supplies that greatly facilitated the opening of the new school. Feeling his way 1998 FALL INTER ED through uncharted waters, but with strong support and assistance from his office manager and the school's Board of Directors, the administrator and his staff ran a successful first year with an ever-­‐growing enroll-­‐
ment that again doubled by year's end. Reviewing “Our School’s History” in the school yearbook at the close of the third year of operation, the stu-­‐
dent editor wrote, “The International School of Kuala Lumpur has had many changes and additions since it first started in September, 1965. There were then only about 60 stu-­‐
dents and 9 teachers. During Decem-­‐
ber of 1965 the science lab was en-­‐
larged. A sandy basketball court was added the following month. Lockers were installed in October 1966. In August 1967, the art and music rooms were built. Rooms 15, 16, and 17 were added in November 1967, and during December the shower rooms were enlarged and the bas-­‐
ketball court was finished. During April vacation, the library was re-­‐
modeled, room 13 was enlarged, the former library workroom was made into room 14, and the school was painted. Our school now has about 260 students and 25 teachers. * Of these, only 5 students were here when the school first started and none of the original teachers are left. Grades one through ten are now taught [in regular classroom settings] while grades eleven and twelve are still done by [University of Nebraska] correspondence." In addition to financial support for staff salaries and for purchase of educational materials, books, and equipment, the Office of Overseas Schools supported the new school's efforts in staff in-­‐service education. For this purpose I turned to The Na-­‐
tional Education Association, which in the 1960s was very active in pro-­‐
fessional staff development activities. The NEA Director, Dr. Sam Lambert, having served as a consultant to the State Department during planning for the Office of Overseas Schools, was well acquainted with profes-­‐
sional problems facing overseas schools. He agreed to grant special leave to Dr. Ole Sand, Director of the NEA Center for the Study of Instruc-­‐
tion, to conduct a series of in-­‐service workshops in schools in East Asia in the Fall of l966, including the fledg-­‐
ling International School of Kuala Lumpur. (Dr. Sand was an old friend who had been an up-­‐and-­‐coming in-­‐
structor when I attended graduate school at Wayne State University in Detroit.) As a second member of the consultant team we turned to Dr. John Goodlad, then Dean of the UCLA School of Education, who had attend-­‐
ed graduate school at the University of Chicago with Dr. Sand and whom I had known since sharing the plat-­‐
form with him at the University of Chicago Conference on Reading some years earlier. (During this overseas tour Sand and Goodlad also served as consultant/speakers at regional con-­‐
ferences that A/OS supported in Sin-­‐
gapore and Athens for schools in the Far East and in South Asia; these in-­‐
formal conferences later led to the establishment of EARCOS and NESA.) One of Dr. Goodlad's in-­‐service education projects involved the "League of Cooperating Schools," a consortium of schools in Southern California spearheading educational innovations, including the open classroom concept, team teaching, and other “leading edge” activities of the time. Sand and Goodlad saw the new school as fertile ground for in-­‐
novation, and offered to provide re-­‐
sources to help the school, with the possible inclusion of ISKL as an "off-­‐
shore" member of the League of Co-­‐
operating Schools if the school chose to select an administrator familiar with the League when the time came to recruit a Stateside administrator. On his return to Washington, Dr. Sand immediately dispatched train-­‐
ing cassettes and other materials from the Center for the Study of Edu-­‐
cation for use by the school. By mid-­‐l967 the school had reached the stage at which the Board considered Stateside recruitment of its school administrator desirable, and began compiling a list of candi-­‐
dates. During my visit to the school in the Fall, I agreed to seek approval of A/OS grant funds to help support the cost, and strongly recommended fol-­‐
lowing up on Dr. Goodlad's offer to take the school "under his wing" and recruit an administrator well ac-­‐
quainted with his in-­‐service and school management philosophy and practice. The Board agreed to include any candidates he might suggest, but reserved the prerogative of consider-­‐
ing other candidates as well, and there clearly were several individuals considered by various Board mem-­‐
bers as likely candidates. Early in the Spring of l968 the Board requested me to interview one of Dr. Goodlad's recommendations for the position on their behalf. The request came via State Department “Airgram,” a message sent through the diplomatic pouch, which fre-­‐
quently took more than a week to arrive. (In 1968 e-­‐mail was unheard of, overseas telephone communica-­‐
tion was chancy at best, and State Department cable facilities were to be used only for urgent messages.) Accordingly, I arranged to meet dur-­‐
ing the first week of April with Al Chudler, principal of one of the League schools in Los Angeles. When I arrived at the Chudler home, I was greeted with the news that Washing-­‐
ton, DC, had erupted into serious ri-­‐
oting pursuant to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and with my wife home alone in our ninth floor apartment near the city center within sight of the fires and rioting, I found it hard to concentrate on the interview. As soon as possible I rushed back to Washington, found my wife sorely shaken but safe and sound, and responded to KL with a thumbs-­‐up report on the Chudlers. Response to my Airgram was an Airgram reply stating that although Mr. Chudler was high on the list, the Board had decided to go with a member's recommendation of a can-­‐
didate whom he knew personally. As chance would have it, I had recently met the candidate in question at his post in an overseas school in South America, where he'd confided that following his recent retirement from a career in Stateside schools and his current two-­‐year stint overseas, he'd like a year or so in a comfortable school in another region of the world before his final retirement. Deeming my response "urgent," I sent a cable to Bob Moore, U.S. Embassy repre-­‐
sentative on the Board, commenting on both candidates, urgently suggest-­‐
ing that a vibrant new school needed an administrator to match, not one looking forward to a coast into re-­‐
tirement, and again stressing the op-­‐
portunity for special help through Dr. Goodlad's League of Cooperating 1998 FALL INTER ED Schools. At length a response came noting that the Board had altered its decision and was offering the posi-­‐
tion to Chudler, but there was this parenthetical addition by Bob Moore: "Suggest that when you come to KL in the Fall, you bring a selection of recipes for crow." The Chudlers arrived in KL in mid July, near the end of the third three-­‐
month term of the 1967-­‐68 school year, along with two additional teachers recruited from League schools in Los Angeles. Negotiations for work permits had met with unex-­‐
pected delays and the anticipated airport visas for the party had not been forthcoming; they were advised to board the next plane back to Sin-­‐
gapore. The two teachers complied, but the Chudiers, exhausted from the trek from Los Angeles with three small children, begged for some means of ending the impasse, at least temporarily. Their four-­‐year old daughter came to the rescue, charm-­‐
ing the authorities, who agreed to issue 24-­‐hour visas for the family. During that 24-­‐hour reprieve the U.S. Embassy, the ISKL School Board and Office Manager, and all others con-­‐
cerned "pulled out all the stops," and managed to get the long-­‐term visas approved. (Work permits were an-­‐
other story that took many more months to resolve.) AI Chudler had a brief overlap of several weeks with Bob Fendley, who had seen the school through its birth pangs, addition of the lower grades and regular classroom instruction through grade 10, supervised corre-­‐
spondence courses in grades 11 and 12, and a four-­‐fold enrollment growth. (Bob returned to Los Angeles where he's still teaching in the L.A. public schools.) My planned visit to KL and other East Asia posts in the Fall of 1968 was outlined in an Air-­‐
gram several months after the new administrator had begun his work. The Board Chairman appended a cryptic note to the reply that sug-­‐
gested the Board's reaction to the new school head they'd selected: "Forget crow recipes." Visa and work permit problems, endless negotiations attendant to recruitment of overseas staff, difficul-­‐
ties with customs clearance of in-­‐
structional materials, budgetary cha-­‐
os brought on by currency fluctua-­‐
tions, termites in the book room, snakes and assorted wild “critters” infesting the lower parts of the build-­‐
ing, the onset of student drug prob-­‐
lems, and the endless other inimita-­‐
ble facts of life in overseas school administration were as nothing in the face of the communal riots that erupted during 1969. The unrest brought about dusk-­‐to-­‐dawn curfews throughout Kuala Lumpur, severely limiting freedom of movement that requited temporary school closure, and seriously threatening continua-­‐
tion of school activities. When the communal strife ran its course, however, new problems erupted when various oil companies, having negotiated long and hard for off-­‐shore drilling rights, began bring-­‐
ing large numbers of employees and families to KL, sorely taxing the school's facilities, staff, and re-­‐
sources. The many small anterooms adjoining the large classrooms that served open-­‐classroom team teach-­‐
ing strategies so well had to be pressed into service as regular in-­‐
structional space, but still more room was needed. Fortunately, the istana grounds were extensive enough to allow for erection of prefab class-­‐
rooms, which further aided in ac-­‐
commodating the rapidly increasing enrollment. Meanwhile, the League of Cooperating Schools, while it did not accept ISKL into regular or special membership, did provide materials and several consultants to assist in program development. Grades 11 and 12 were added during Chudler's administration, and he saw the graduation of the first class of three graduates of the full school program before he completed his contract in the Summer of 1970. He had presided over another near doubling of the enrollment. The school was now a firmly-­‐established, going operation, ready to face the new problems of finding and devel-­‐
oping a new site, school plant plan-­‐
ning and construction, and further rapid growth. The task of guiding the school through these new challenges fell to Bob Gaw, ISKL's third adminis-­‐
trator, another Californian with ties to the League of Cooperating Schools, who would assure continuity in cur-­‐
riculum and school management phi-­‐
losophy. Humble beginnings in humble surroundings no doubt had much to do with the attachment former ISKL students and staff have for the school and the camaraderie among them. There have been numerous ISKL re-­‐
unions-­‐two during the summer of 1998-­‐and continuing contact among ISKLers, including a very active web site (http://www.umr.edu/ ~kevingaw/iskl78.html), attesting to enduring identification with the school. With a current enrollment 60 times that of the initially committed pupil count of 27, operating in non-­‐
pareil facilities on two campuses, today's ISKL has indeed come a long way from the old istana on Jalan Maxwell on a hill not far from the center of Kuala Lumpur. This is one in a series of vignettes re-­‐
garding the establishment or rebirth of various overseas schools in which the author was involved. Dr. Luebke was the first Regional Education Of-­‐
ficer assigned to the U.S. Depaltment of State's Office of Overseas Schools (A/OS) upon its establishment in 1964. He served in A/OS as REO for South Asia and the Far East until 1965, REO for East Asia from 1965 to 1985, REO for Africa (including North Africa) from 1969 to 1979, A/OS Deputy Di-­‐
rector from 1965 to 1985, and as a consultant from 1985 to 1994. He has also served as a consultant to AAlE, ISS, and other professional education-­‐
al organizations, to various individual overseas schools and regional associa-­‐
tions, and to several Stateside colleges and universities and school districts. He wishes to thank Ms. Dixie Wai, Mr. Robert Fendley, Mr. Robert Moore, Mr. Albert Chudler, Dr. Eric Chudler, and Mr. Robert Gaw for sharing their rem-­‐
iniscences. ot, humid, green. Stimulating, in vigorating, exciting. These words describe the tropical physical environment of ISKL and the nurtur-­‐
ing educational climate provided by ISKL teachers. As a fifth and sixth grader at ISKL (1968-­‐1970), I had teachers who provided me with the skills to ask questions and the oppor-­‐
tunity to investigate the natural world. These skills and experiences stimulated my fascination with the life sciences and inspired me to pur-­‐
H 1998 FALL INTER ED sue coursework and later a career in the biological sciences. Eric H. Chudler, PhD, Research Associ-­‐
ate Professor, Department of Anesthe-­‐
siology, University of Washington. * Correction: The statement "none of the original teachers are left" is incorrect. Teachers who continued teaching for many years under Bob Fendley and other adminis-­‐
trators were Beryl Lau, Saras Sundram, AI Daniel, Corrie Recter and Joanne Mahendran. Many of them are residing in Kuala Lumpur and are still connected to ISKL. Thank you.