- November 29, 2024
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There’s a little red school house that’s going to be bigger when the new school year starts next August. The Children’s Workshop, a developmental preschool at 506 Lincoln Ave., is going to expand to answer a need for more students.
“It was like it was meant to be.”
Brian Adair, on buying the Children’s Workshop
“We have to turn away 30 or 40 students when school begins each year,” said director Kimberly Adair, who co-owns the school with her husband, Brian.
The building looks like a “little red schoolhouse” because it was originally a private home, built in 1957. The new building will fit right in, because it will be Florida Cracker style, and the current building is an original Florida Cracker house with wood siding and a metal roof.
The school is for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds, with a curriculum geared for each age group.
The new building will allow about 60 more students and more staff will be hired. The additional classes will be VPK for 4-year-olds, which is the most in-demand level.
“The goal is to keep a warm, homey environment,” said Adair, who has a master’s degree in education for special needs and gifted children. “I don’t want to go too big.”
Originally from Ormond Beach, Adair taught school in Palm Beach County for 10 years and then decided she wanted to open a preschool. She told her husband she wanted it to be like “the one in Ormond Beach,” with a curriculum for learning.
Soon after, when visiting Ormond Beach in 2006, they learned The Children’s Workshop was for sale.
“It was like it was meant to be,” Brian Adair said.
The couple bought the school in 2007 and remodeled the interior.
The school was started by the first owner in 1983. The Adairs said they are now teaching sons and daughters of people who attended the school as children. They have one teacher who has been there since the school opened.
The Adairs received approval for a $50,000 Building Improvement Grant for the planned 3,000-square-foot building from the Ormond Beach City Commission on Dec. 1. To be eligible, a property owner must at least match the grant amount, and Brian Adair said the total cost for the project is going to be more than $350,000.
Adair, who works for Charles Wayne Properties, said similar grants have been very beneficial for the city. Business owners have remodeled and improved rather than move out of the area.
“It’s a big reason to stay here,” he said.
Properties in the Community Redevelopment Area, an area north and south of Granada Boulevard, are eligible for the grants. The money comes from property tax collected in the area.
Kimberly Adair is happy about her choice to go from teaching to running a preschool, saying she enjoys the relationship with the children and with parents.
Visit thechildrensworkshop.net.
