The University of Northern Iowa and the Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education have developed a model early childhood education program in partnership with the Waterloo Community Schools, the R.J. McElroy Trust, Mrs. Janice Freeburg-Cannon, Tri-County Head Start, Allen College and Allen Health Systems, Inc. The program is known as the Freeburg School and is located in McElroy Hall, on the Allen College campus.

The R.J. McElroy Trust provided $1,000,000 for the building, and other significant contributions come from the John Deere Foundation, the Mansfield Foundation, Leighty Family Foundation, Anna Spengler, and the Minnie Crippen Trust. A UNI graduate, Janice Freeburg-Cannon, has pledged $1,000,000 over twenty years for the program’s operating funds. The Waterloo Schools committed, for at least ten years, the per pupil allocation for each Waterloo school-age student enrolled in the program. The school also acts as a site for Tri-County Head Start three- and four-year-olds. Allen College and Allen Health Systems has provided the site for the building, maintenance of the grounds, and access to Allen College’s classrooms and fiber optic network room.

The Freeburg School offers outstanding education in a model facility and also offers before-and after-school programs and summer programs. Sixty-six children ages three through first grade will be enrolled in the four classrooms. Our hope is that the Freeburg School will eventually be expanded to children from infancy through third grade. The students are drawn predominantly from the neighborhood adjacent to Allen Memorial Hospital.

The program will work in partnership with community organizations such as Allen Memorial Hospital and the MAPLES Neighborhood Association. The Freeburg School will have access to the health education resources of Allen College and Allen Memorial Hospital.

Providing pre-service and in-service education for teachers, health professionals, and child care providers are important components of the program’s mission. Parents, guardians, teachers, and researchers are able to observe classrooms through one-way mirrors. The Freeburg School is also a site for conducting and disseminating research and developing curriculum. The program’s excellent facilities for teaching and research, combined preschool and elementary structure, urban neighborhood population, and related family programming will make it unique in Iowa and outstanding in the nation. 

Click here to visit the Freeburg School website.

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