Pine Brook Preschool Celebrates One Year

As the Pine Brook Little Learner Academy celebrates its first anniversary in September, President and CEO Harriet Lerner is already looking ahead to another location, keeping the business in the family, and maybe, eventually, slowing down her own involvement.

The Pine Brook center opened along with another one in Denville last year, adding to already existing locations in Rockaway, Budd Lake and Lake Hopatcong. The new location, in Jefferson, will open on August 16.

"I think I have a formula that works," Lerner said. "All of the schools basically use the same curriculum. I believe childcare should be a learning experience. I get upset with people when they refer to childcare as daycare, because I think that has a negative connotation."

Pine Brook director Shelby LoPresti said the location has really taken off.

"I can't believe it's already going to be one year," she said. "It goes really, really fast. We were a little nervous in the beginning, but every time you start a business, it's about getting people in."

Lerner, however, said it has not been all smooth sailing, especially with the newest centers.

"When I started the Denville and Montville projects, it was before the economy was bad, and I had no idea what I was walking into," she said. "Last year was a very difficult year for us. People don't have jobs, they don't need childcare."

However, despite the economy's effects, Little Learner is going ahead, currently serving 80 families in Pine Brook, and 450 total throughout all its locations. Lerner, who works closely with sons Scott and Jason in running the business, said she'll transfer several teachers to the new Jefferson location, in hopes for a good start there.

Little Learner Academy caters to a wide range of ages, from infant to 10-year-olds, including their own pre-school and kindergarten programs, as well as summer camps for school-aged children.

Little Lerner distinguishes itself both through its educational approach and its flexibility, LoPresti said.

"They [parents] can pretty much come in here and dictate what kind of schedule they want, and we give it to them," she said.

Children are grouped according to age and reap the benefits of both constant supervision and peer socialization.

Katie Schmitt, who teaches the 2's at Pine Brook, said her group does a project every day according to a weekly theme.

"I encourage a lot of socialization through songs, circle time," she said. "I try to bring something new to the table."

Suzanne Anzalone, who sends her daughter, 6, and son, 4, to Little Learner, said things like the weekly theme really stick with her children.

"The teachers there are very helpful and nurturing," she said. "For working parents, you're there eight hours, sometimes longer, and knowing I could drop my child off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon and they're happy and they're doing things…gives you that piece of mind which is most important."

Lerner has been involved in childcare since 1975. Back then, she lived in a house on top of a double hill in White Meadow Lake, Rockaway, and taught at a private school.

"I hated living there," Lerner said. "And I really did not like my job."

She noticed the local nursery school her sons attended, Community Nursery School, was up for sale. She informed the owner she would be buying the school and called the realtor to put her house up for sale.

"When my husband got home from work, I said, 'Guess what?'" she said. "My husband was okay with the whole idea, and a month later, we moved."

She ran the school and eventually decided to start Little Learner Academy, mostly because Community lacked facilities for infant care. Community still exists under a different owner.

The rest of Little Learner Academy's history is speckled with relocations and re-groupings, until the finalized current locations emerged. Lerner, who's 65, said she's been giving her sons more responsibility, but is hesitant to broach the topic of retirement.

"I keep threatening that I'm going to retire, but I don't know what I'm going to do with myself," she said. "I'm doing something that I love doing and I enjoy coming to work. Not too many people can say that."