Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Arena and Tracey Hanley.
Karen and Tracey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In September 1981 I opened my school two months before having my third child. When I first started, I had five children enrolled and had one teacher working with me. Through the 80s and 90s my business grew by word of mouth, and before I knew it, I had 20 children enrolled and more staff members. Throughout those years I continued to further my degree in education and was constantly enrolling in various courses.
Year after year we added more and more to our program to ensure that we had a top program for all families. Thirty-six years later, I am still the owner! I strive to ensure that the best decisions are always made for my staff and children that are enrolled. I always have each child’s best interest in mind when creating our curriculum, schedules and all programs at our center.
In June 2006, my daughter Tracey joined my team and has not looked back since. She received her bachelors in Elementary Education and later added Early Childhood and Administration. When Tracey joined my team, we added our third classroom which became our pre-kindergarten classroom and added ten more children per day to our enrollment. She taught in our pre-kindergarten room for four years and then moved to Administration and curriculum.
In 2009 when my older daughter, Kellie, started having children, I knew it was time to start caring for infants and toddlers. This was when I started a second school enrolling that age group. We started with two children, one being my granddaughter, and one teacher along with my daughter, Kellie. Within a year, we had six infants, and nine toddlers enrolled.
After a year in two different buildings, we realized we needed to be in one building. This is when I moved my permanent residence and made the house my children grew up in the school. We now have five classrooms and one sensory/multi-purpose room. Our enrollment is now at 50 children per day!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I wish I could say it has been a smooth road, but it certainly has not. There have been years that we faced obstacles that challenged us as a business. Whether it be low enrollment, teacher turnovers, or maintenance trouble, we have had many bumps in the road.
In these situations, we always stop and evaluate what happened, why it happened, and how we can either prevent it from happening again or be more prepared for situations. I would say the biggest struggle we ever had was the first year of our Infant and Toddler program. It was a new world for us and very different than the preschool and everything we were used to for over 25 years.
Luckily we had a wonderful administrator at the time. Once we figured out what worked best and found the right staff, it made it all worth it. Many late nights, sweat, and tears, but now that program is one of the best!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Four Seasons Pre School – what should we know?
Four Seasons Preschool is an early childcare center with children enrolled from ages eight weeks to 6 years old. We have five classrooms (infants, toddlers, 2.9-3 years, 3-4 years, and then our pre-kindergarten classroom.
All of our teachers are certified and very experienced in their field. We feel that children learn best by doing and have therefore developed a curriculum that includes hands-on learning activities at each age level.
At Four Seasons Preschool, we are known for our welcoming staff, hands-on curriculum, small class sizes, and overall fabulous moral. We sincerely keep each child’s best interest in mind when developing our program goals and make sure the parents feel part of all decision making at our school. We love hearing former families come back and tell us how prepared their children were for school after leaving our program.
One year a kindergarten teacher at a local school commented on how well prepared the children at our school are when they go to her. She had had a few years in a row where children from our school were placed in her class. She mentioned she was always happy to hear a child attended Four Seasons Preschool. It made us feel very proud of all of our teachers and was such positive feedback.
We also love that families who attended years ago are still sending local families our way and speaking so highly of our program. It is through word of mouth from families that have built our reputation. We have never needed to advertise in the 36 years we have been in business. We rely solely on other families spreading the word about our program and so far, that is all we have needed to be successful, so thank you to those families!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All of our current and past families deserve credit as well as any teacher that has worked for us over the last 36 years. We are who we are today because of all of the individuals that have ever been a part of Four Seasons Preschool.
Tracey and I can’t say enough about the families and teachers that are a part of our school both past and present. Without them, none of this would be possible.
Contact Info:
- Address: 15 Hall Ave
- Website: www.fourseasonspreschool.com
- Phone: 6179234848
- Email: fourseasonspreschool@hotmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FSPwatertown/
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