The business of child-care centers is increasingly the domain of corporate chains with numerous locations that offer marketing advantages as well as economies of scale.
Add to that the fact that more public schools than ever now offer pre-school services, and you’ve got a downright competitive environment.
It wasn’t like that back in 1993, when Lisa Amantia opened Grow-ville Community Day School in — you guessed it — Groveville. Then, as now, many child-care centers and pre-schools were located in churches and temples, but neither the corporate competition nor the public schools were quite so prevalent more than 30 years ago.
Grow-ville Community Day School isn’t affiliated with a church, but it is located on church-owned property — and Amantia refers to her center as a nondenominational, Christian-based preschool that is open weekdays year-round to children ages six weeks to six years.
Amantia started working in child care when she was in high school, and never left the field. She was looking to start her own business in 1993 when a friend told her that Groveville Methodist Church was looking to rent out the small brick building on Church Street that had housed its Sunday school.
“It wasn’t really a decision to be in Groveville at the time,” says Amantia, who lived in Hamilton then. “I was just looking to open a center and I wanted it to be Christian based. It’s all by God’s grace, it really is.”
She says there were other child-care centers that were considering renting the building at the time, but that Groveville Methodist Church chose her over the others because of her pledge to maintain a faith-based approach.
“I justed wanted it to be faith-based because I truly believe children are blessings from the Lord, and for me to be able to have the privilege of spenidng four or five years with them while their parents go off to work, it’s just a blessing,” she says.
While the children who attend Grow-ville change all the time, there are always some who enter as newborns or infants and stay until they are ready to leave for kindergarten.
For newborn and infants, Grow-ville provides child-care services.
“A lot of schools take more children, we only take four (infants),” Amantia says. What we do for that age group is very individualized. We try to stick to their schedule as much as possible before we try moving them onto our schedule.”
As the children grow up, the center provides age-appropriate care and instructional services, divided by age groups. Grow-ville has an infant room, a toddler room, a preschool room and a pre-K room, with children who stay over a period years moving from one room to the next as appropriate.
“There’s a lot of play,” Amantia says of the curriculum. “Sometimes people when we say play, they think well we’re just babysitting them. Play is the foundation for literacy skills, for math skills, for all those things. It’s very structured, but in a way where we’re giving children choices and opportunities to engage. They learn how to socialize, they learn how to share. We make it very intentional to turn it into a learning experience. Everything we’re doing has a purpose.”
As kids reached the pre-K room, they have more sit-down time, doing things like learning sight words and sounding out letters. “Their play time’s going to look a little different. But we say that a child’s play is their work, that’s their job. Nowadays, pre-K is more like kindergarten was when I went to school, but I feel it’s important for the children to be children and have time to play and not stress.”
Once kids reach the pre-K room, Amantia says, she and her staff are mindful of state standards in terms of what children will be expected to know and what skills they will be expected to have upon entering kindergarten. “All these things are touched upon so that when they go for kindergarten orientation and testing, that they are mostly able to do what they’re asking them to do. And of course, if we see any delays, we’ll let the parents know early on. From the time they walk into pre-K until the time they leave, everything is preparing them for kindergarten. We hold a graduation ceremony and everything, they even wear a cap and gown.”
Amantia says that Grow-ville enjoys a high retention rate, and that after 31 years in business, she has already begun to enroll the children of some of her earliest clients. However, parents are welcome to call or schedule a tour any time of year and, as long as there is space available, they will be able to enroll any time of year.
In summers, Grow-ville opens up its facility to older children, such as the older siblings of enrolled children, up to age 8. For some parents who work throughout the year, the option to have a place like Grow-ville to take their kids in summer is appealing.
“We don’t go anywhere — no field trips, no outside travel — just for safety purposes, but every day we try to have something fun to do,” Amantia says.
Amantia grew up in Trenton and attended McCorristin High School. She is married to Brian Amantia, a former Trenton police officer who today works in the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department.
They lived in Trenton after they got married, then moved to Hamilton for a time before settling in Columbus. Their three children were all homeschooled. The eldest, a daughter, graduated from Cairn University in Langhorne, and middle child, a son, attends Cairn University today. The youngest, a foster son, currently attends private school in Medford.
Amantia believes that the smaller size of Grow-ville compared to some larger centers offers her clients some advantages that the competition cannot match.
“Children and parents are treated like family,” she says. “Our prices are affordable. And I think, just my communication with parents as well. I am always available, they can reach me at night or in the morning.”
She also believes that operating Grow-ville Community Day School was a calling. “It’s never been a huge money maker, but God blesses us for what we do,” she says. “We genuinely love the children, and it shows.”
A librarian from Hamilton Township Public Library visits Grow-ville Community Day School in November. (Facebook photo.),
