Demand for preschools has grown after an influx of oil and gas employers have brought more families to communities, such as Springwoods Village, Champions and The Vintage.
At least eight preschools have opened near these growing communities since mid-2014.
Terry Sun, who owns The Goddard School on FM 2920, said the prospect of being less than 5 miles from Springwoods Village attracted him to Spring. The master-planned community projects to accommodate at least 12,000 residents upon build-out.
The newest Spring franchise of the Pennsylvania-based business will begin serving children from 6 weeks to 5 years old in November, when the facility opens its doors, Sun said.
“I chose this location because of the growth of the area—primarily ExxonMobil and Springwoods Village,” Sun said. “Knowing it was pretty much in [the] crosshairs for a lot of developments [was important].”
Other national preschool companies have been drawn to Spring and Klein, too.
Two franchises of Fort Worth-based Children’s Lighthouse Learning Centers have opened in a little more than a year: one within Gleannloch Farms and another inside the 1,000-acre master-planned community Harmony.
Florida-based The Learning Experience also has opened two Spring sites since August 2014.
“We saw so much growth, and we did not see a lot of higher quality preschools in the area,” said Hubert Vaz-Nayak, owner of the Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center in Harmony. “We saw a tremendous need [for a preschool] here.”
Demand is also causing preschools to open closer to Hwy. 249. Both the Learning Experience near The Vintage and independent preschool Little Scholars Academy on Spring Cypress Road opened in August.
“We saw so much growth, and we did not see a lot of higher quality preschools in the area. We saw a tremendous need [for a preschool] here.”
— Hubert Vaz-Nayak, owner of the Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center in Harmony
“If you drive down Spring Cypress Road, you won’t see a lot of quality child care institutions,” Little Scholars Academy owner Aziz Lakhani said.
Districts plan to address need
Spring and Klein ISDs have pledged more public preschool offerings as well.
KISD included plans for a $14.1 million early childhood/prekindergarten center on the north side of the district as part of its $498.1 million bond, which was approved by voters in May. Meanwhile, SISD partnered with AVANCE-Houston Inc. to provide its first full-day prekindergarten within the district in 2015-16.
The AVANCE/Spring ISD Head Start Center serves about 80 4-year-old children at Lewis Elementary School who are either economically disadvantaged, homeless, children of military personnel or speak a language other than English. AVANCE also provides dental, nutritional and both physical and mental health care services to the students and their families, said Jose Villarreal, executive director of AVANCE Houston.
SISD committed to offer full-day prekindergarten services and pre-K centers in Every Child 2020, the district’s five-year improvement plan that was announced in May.
“One of our imperatives is opportunities and choices for our families,” SISD Chief Academic Officer Lupita Hinojosa said. “One of the big focuses here is that we provide excellent early childhood programs for our children, and that specifically speaks to our pre-K programs.”
