Preshool Continues to Flourish in Collin County Suburbs

Preschool growing into third Collin County community in less than 6 years.

WEBWIRE – Friday, September 27, 2013

Danielle Dorman-Chapa was looking for a preschool program for her two children near Melissa, Texas in 2005. She was heading back to school to get a masters degree. She quickly became discouraged with the quality of child care facilities serving the more rural areas of Collin County.

            “I spent many years working in corporate centers like Crème-de-la-Crème and Children’s Courtyard and was wondering why children in smaller communities didn’t have access to safe, affordable and meaningful child care,” said Dorman-Chapa, Corporate Directors for Mudpies & Lullabies Creative Preschools.

            Dorman-Chapa took matters into her own hands. She put the higher education on hold. She stepped out on faith and a dream to build a preschool that would meet her own high expectations she held for her own children.

            The first Mudpies & Lullabies was open by January of 2007 in Melissa.

            “We converted an old house on State Highway 121 and turned it into a little school house,” Dorman-Chapa said. “We had three employees, 10 kids and a capacity of up to 82 children.”

            “We were sold instantly on Mudpies philosophy and the staff,” said Tana Barker, a parent of three different Mudpies & Lullabies Children. “We are fortunate to have such a quality preschool serving our area.”

            The quality of care, affordability and educational programming quickly caused enrollment at the school to surge and within one year, Mudpies & Lullabies Melissa had already expanded by building an additional 5,000 square foot facility with a capacity of 192 students.

            “Even with our first expansion in Melissa we were finding it hard to house all our students,” Dorman-Chapa said. “We were on the verge of building again in Melissa when we looked at our student enrollment.”What the Mudpies & Lullabies staff discovered was that families were coming from Anna, Van Alstyne, Blue Ridge, Bonham, Gunter, Celina and other surrounding areas for their service.

            “Expanding in Melissa really didn’t make a lot of sense. We saw we had families from all over North Collin County so we decided to build another school in Anna,” Dorman Chapa said.

            Mudpies & Lullabies Anna opened in August of 2011.

            “We also found that many of our families were coming from the Prosper, Gunter and Celina areas and both the Melissa and Anna campuses weren’t terribly convenient for these families,” said Kimberly Joines, campus director of Mudpies & Lullabies Celina.

            The need for an expansion in Anna and Melissa to alleviate space issues lead to decision to build another campus in Celina for the benefit of families currently enrolled from this area and to give other child care and educational options to families in this area.

            “We are excited to be able to bring our educational philosophy to the Celina area,” Joines said.

            The Celina campus is currently under construction with a target open date of October. The facility will feature the same state of the art internet monitoring for parents, high-tech access control systems, open play spaces, large classrooms and eventually a water park that can be found in Melissa and Anna.

            “The key is that we will bring our same affordable educational programming to the children in this area,” Joines said. “Our schools are also known for low student to teacher ratios and recruiting teachers with degrees and advanced education.”

            The maximum enrollment for the school will be 150 children and will create at least 25 jobs.
With the opening of the Celina campus, Mudpies & Lullabies will grow to employ over 45 staff and educate 600 students in the North Collin County area.

            For more information about the programs available or job opportunities, visitwww.Mudpies-Lullabies.com or call 972-837-2332.