The Kalona Historical Village is hosting the 15th Annual Iowa Country School House Conference later this week. Bill Sherman started organizing this conference in 2000 shortly after retiring from the Iowa State Education Association and publishing a book on country schools. Sherman says on Friday they have a lineup of speakers who are from the area, including Michael Zahs, and others that are traveling some distance to share their knowledge, like this year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Mark Dewalt of Winthrop University in South Carolina.

A tour of some of the area’s one room school houses is being held Saturday. Sherman notes they’ll stop at the Middleburg School which may be the longest continuously operated school in Iowa. According to Sherman, it was a public school from the 1860s up until the 1960s when it was purchased by the Amish. The building east of Kalona has been used by the Amish community as a private school ever since.

Registration is required, and space is limited. Call Nancy Roth at 319-656-3232.