Help Open Crescent's Red Barn Schoolhouse

Be part of the future of community school in Crescent: donate to the Red Barn Schoolhouse now

Crescent community members are rallying to open a new elementary school after the previous school closed in 2023. The Red Barn Schoolhouse, approved in January by the Iowa State Board of Education, is close to becoming a reality. The community has already made progress in a grassroots partnership with educational professionals to open a unique, nature-based public charter school where children and families can gather, grow and learn together.

But the community needs you to make the Red Barn Schoolhouse a reality.

A schoolhouse is critical to the small town of Crescent and surrounding areas, and a local schoolhouse is one way Crescent will remain vibrant and strong. The town’s elementary school was the hub of the community for more than 100 years, and this new school will build on the community’s reputation for strong academic achievement.

The Red Barn School will have nature-based instruction that takes place primarily outdoors, one of the many highlights of the school. Its location in the Loess Hills and proximity to Hitchcock Nature Center is a driving force for this style of learning.

How will your donation make an impactful difference?

The schoolhouse needs operational money to hire and train teachers and a principal prior to opening its doors this August. The schoolhouse is state-funded and tuition free, like other public schools, but receives $10,000 less per student per year than a typical public school. Donations before May 31, 2025, are especially important because start up funding is not available until after the school year begins. Even with that money, the school still falls short of its annual goal.

Your funds not only help us make that goal, they go toward important supplies, facility needs and teacher pay. Here are some examples:

$5 pays for pencils

$50 pays for necessary books

$1,000 covers the cost of microscopes

$40,000 provides HVAC

$65,000 employs a teacher for one year

Please help the Crescent community and The Red Barn Schoolhouse open its doors this fall, and help our children, quite literally, be raised in a barn. For more information, to learn our story and read about our approach, visit www.RedBarnSchoolhouse.org.