Maddie and Richard Cannon’s son, Ace, was diagnosed as with autism spectrum disorder when he was just two years old. Ace was nonverbal, locked in an isolated world where it seemed no one beyond his family could reach him.
When Maddie Cannon realized that local public schools simply didn’t have the specialized resources to meet Ace’s needs, she decided to create a school that could. Cannon partnered with Ace’s speech therapist, Joellen Freeman, to found the Academy of Collaborative Education (ACE), a public charter school for children diagnosed with autism.
“We began by researching different types of schools for children with autism nationwide. Private schools for children on the spectrum had tuitions as high as $60,000 a year,” Joellen Freeman recalls. “We are in northeastern Louisiana, where that kind of tuition would not be possible for so many families in need.”
Instead, Cannon and Freeman developed a detailed plan for a public charter school that would be open to any child in Louisiana with a diagnosis of autism. The women spent more than two years visiting other schools nationwide, researching best learning practices for children on the spectrum, learning the ins and outs of founding a charter school, and rallying tremendous community support.
When the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously to approve ACE’s charter in front of a packed room of more than 100 supporters from around the state, the cheers could be heard outside the building. More than 100 applications poured in from families from all over Louisiana, reinforcing what Cannon and Freeman already knew – there was a desperate need for a school like ACE.
The co-founders found the perfect home for ACE in a former school building in Monroe that had stood vacant for three years. The school’s nonprofit arm, Friends of ACE, turned to HOPE for the critical financing needed to purchase and renovate the building. HOPE used grant funds from the Department of Education to make a $1.9 million loan to Friends of ACE to turn the shuttered building into a new school and a community focal point.
“HOPE gave us a quick turnaround on the loan, so we were able to get to work immediately,” Freeman says. “They understood that we were juggling a lot of things at once trying to launch the school, and they worked hard to make purchasing the building less ‘labor intensive’ for us. HOPE seemed as thrilled as we were that this project was happening.”
On August 5, 2024, the doors to ACE opened, welcoming 92 students in grades K-5 from eight Louisiana parishes to a school created just for them. ACE is staffed by teachers and therapists who work together to ensure every child, from academically gifted students to those who need assistance with basic skills, has everything they need to learn and to thrive.
Freeman left her career as a speech therapist to serve as the school’s executive director. Maddie Cannon, ACE’s board president, was there every minute of the school’s first days, watching her dream come to life.
“Maddie loved every second of being here. When she left school early one day, I thought she was just tired,” Freeman says. “I couldn’t have imagined Maddie would never come back.”
On August 30, 2024, just 25 days after ACE opened, 36-year-old Maddie Cannon died of a sudden illness. She left behind her husband and high school sweetheart, Richard, and their three young children, Gracyn, Jett, and Ace, now nine years old, for whom the school was named.
“Ace is thriving here. We know he misses his momma, but he’s been so happy here,” Freeman says through tears. “Maddie would be so proud of his progress.”
Whether or not Ace knows that his mother founded the school he loves is unclear, but his father is certain that Ace feels Maddie’s presence there. For Richard Cannon and their other children, the school’s success has helped in some small way to ease their loss.
“Maddie got to see her dream come to fruition. That means everything,” Richard Cannon says. “Maddie left an awesome legacy, not just for our son, but for every one of those kids and their families, and for all the kids to come. I feel a duty to uphold that legacy. It gives me something to work for, a way to honor Maddie and to make her proud.”