Aerial photo of Freedom School

In 1860, Freedom School, began as a parlor of a pioneer home. When the parlor classes grew too large, the students were moved into the Roache's larger sitting room: a salaried teacher was employed at this time. Soon the classes had to move to the larger rancy granary, then to the horse pavilion. Finally in 1866, a school district was established and named in the Roache family's honor. First located at the Watsonville Airport, the Roache School was the predecessor of the present Freedom School.

A quick look through an old scrapbook filled mostly with newspaper articles from the early 1960's told me a lot about Freedom School. First I learned that the current school at 25 Holy Drive replaced an earlier Freedom School on Roache Road. The first photo in the album is of the ground breaking for the new school. This photo is dated September 15, 1962.

The current school was designed by architect Bruce Heiser, and built by contractor George Davis. An article in the local Watsonville Register-Pajaronian dated July 5, 1963 stated that the "ultra modern school" was built with a new "eye catching design."

The roof was referred to as the Butterfly roof by the architect because of its angular design. In hindsight, one should know that the roof has been plagued with leaks and has not met the test of time.

Other Register-Pajaronian articles (August 20, 1963,and October 8, 1963) addressed a number of problems the new school was having. The lowest classroom windows opened out creating a safety hazard. People could get locked inside the classroom furnace closets. No money was budgeted for playground equipment or for fencing in the kindergarten play area. There was no storage in the kitchen for storing the large amounts of government surplus food that helped keep costs down. The rock panels were, "a sore spot almost from the day it was installed", and more classrooms were needed as the school opened. The formal notice of completion was signed July 31, 1963.

The Freedom School District consisted of Amesti School built in 1958, Calabasas School completed the summer of 1963, and Freedom School finished along with Calabasas. The superintendent was Noel Hubber.

There were three administrators and forty-four teachers. The district itself was born out of six small districts that joined together in 1946. They first used the old Freedom School site which was purchased for one dollar from the United States government. (Watsonville Register-Pajaronian, August 20, 1963).