WALL TOWNSHIP — Tiny Treasures Nursery School is celebrating owner Carrie Kotch’s 25th year of owning and leading the school.
“This year marks 25 years of Carrie owning and leading Tiny Treasures,” Erin Gebler, assistant director at the school said. “Over the past two-and-a-half decades with her, the school has grown into one of the most sought-after early childhood programs in the area. Most recently, we even opened a second building on our property to accommodate our 50-plus child waitlist, which is an amazing testament to the quality of care and education we provide.”
Kotch spoke to The Coast Star on how she initially became a part of Tiny Treasures, before taking over ownership in 2000.
“I taught here and was the three-year-old teacher for two years,” Kotch said. “Then, I left to go on maternity leave, and the owner asked me to buy the school during that time. So, I came back as the owner, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Kotch spoke about the big changes that have taken place since she has owned the school.
“When I started out, I had 35 kids enrolled in the school,” Kotch said. “Now, we’ve expanded to the point of taking on another building. We went from 35 kids to now 125 kids enrolled, so we’ve grown. We now offer transportation with a school bus, and we have a newer baby room. When I first took it over, we only had kids ages 2-years-old up to kindergarten. Now, we offer infants up to kindergarten to come.”
Kotch spoke about the relationships she and her staff have been able to create with families who send their children to Tiny Treasures.
“We have very close relationships with our families,” Kotch said. “We have parents who were actually students here that come back with their own children now. I love seeing families come back after I’ve had two, three or four of their kids. It means a lot to know that I can provide a great service for the parents. It’s a very loving, homey environment, and we are very old school. I think that’s what people like about us.”
Kotch said the school has a lot of play involved, which helps students learn life skills like sharing, making friends and socializing.
“Instead of teaching just academics, these kids are young and they focus on important life skills,” Kotch said. “They are still babies. We focus on making friends, sharing and socializing, those core values.”
When asked what her role at the school means to her, Kotch told The Coast Star that doing what she loves while watching the growth of the school has been huge.
“One of the best things to see has been seeing the school grow,” Kotch said. “Both of my kids actually went here. I enjoy coming to work every day, and I love what I do. Watching it grow and having now a waitlist of 75 kids for next year is crazy. I wish I could take care of everybody. People always ask me if I will open another school, but I can only handle one.”
Kotch said the nursery school engages with parents in any way that they can, including hosting date nights where parents can drop their kids off for a stress-free couple of hours, a pre-kindergarten prom, Reading Across America storytimes with parent readers and more. Kotch and her staff say they do everything they can to accommodate the needs of their enrolled families.
“We like to make sure the families are involved,” Kotch said. “It’s not just drop-off at the door and the parents leave. We do special things to keep the parents involved and invite them to whatever we can.”
Gebler said of Kotch, “Her passion, dedication and commitment to excellence have helped shape a nurturing and enriching environment for both children and staff.”
“My staff stays with me, and we do not have a big turnover,” Kotch said. “One of our staff members has been here for 30 years, and even worked for the prior owner. My pre-K teacher has been here for 21 years. I had a kindergarten teacher who worked here until she was in her 70s, and it was hard for her to leave but she knew it was time. I make sure to take care of my staff, because it’s so important.”
“Speaking of staff, we are so proud of our team,” Gebler said. “We have at least eight staff members who have been with us for eight to 10 years, which is a rare and meaningful sign of a healthy, happy workplace.”
This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Check out our other Wall Township stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Coast Star—on newsstands Thursday or online in our e-Edition.
Subscribe today! If you're not already an annual subscriber to The Coast Star, get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.
 6x10 4c.jpg)
