Making the Grade
Think you have to be on personal terms with the likes of Elmo and Barney to run a preschool? Well, think again.
Angela F. Norman is not a teacher. She doesn't have a degree
in education or early childhood development, yet she's running
a preschool. Formerly a district sales manager for a pharmaceutical
company, Norman, 33, is now the owner and business operations
manager of The Goddard School of Centerville, a child-care and
education center in Centerville, Ohio.
"As the owner of the school, I manage all the business
operations, and the educational director manages all the
educational parts," Norman says. "They're two
separate entities, so I don't have to have an early childhood
education background to be in the field." While her staff of
20 educators works with infants, toddlers and small children, from
6 months to 6 years old, Norman is in charge of the payroll,
accounting, billing and enrollment-one of the most important tasks
at the school, which serves about 120 children each day.
"It's my role to make sure the school stays 100 percent
full," she says.
Goddard's program is generally designed to prepare children
for school. Norman's center-opened in 2001- in particular works
with children on social, emotional, self-help, cognitive and motor
skills. Babies at Norman's center learn sign language, and
preschool-aged children learn Spanish.
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Just because Norman's main focus is on the business side
doesn't mean she's not interacting with and being affected
by the children. "It's very rewarding because you get to
be around little children and watch them grow," she says.
"I see children in our program who [started as] infants and
are now almost 2 years old-it's awesome."
Norman also gets the gratification of watching her business
mature-the center has already achieved many of the goals she set
for it two years ago. "In some regards, I feel I'm at a
pinnacle of growth," she says. "What I'm trying to do
now is maintain my 100 percent occupancy and make our program
stronger."