MEET THE OWNERS
Meet the Owners
Meet the owners: Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center is led by two of the most influential women in the childcare industry. Jessica Johnsen, CEO, and Kylie Schrader, COO, work together to inspire their employees to be the best teachers their students could ask for each day. Having worked as teachers, directors, and regional directors themselves, Jessica and Kylie understand the importance of building classrooms that thrive on personal connections. Jessica and Kylie lead by our core values which are rooted in our mission to “put good humans into the world, and leave it better than we found it”. Our teachers’ trainings start with our children in mind, building our teachers’ skillsets from the classroom outward. With personal goals to build an environment that fosters professional development, Jessica and Kylie have succeeded in their efforts by adding additional professional development opportunities annually! Not only are our teachers led through trainings and opportunities, but they are also shown how to execute the vision of Yellow Brick Road by Jessica and Kylie leading by example. Although Yellow Brick Road has grown to include multiple states and schools, our owners are personally involved with the hands-on operations of each school to ensure we are creating our communities’ highest-quality preschool programs!
Core Values Spotlight
Our Core Values are the six words that are at the heart of all that we do here at Yellow Brick Road to uphold our mission. Our goal is to make our classrooms the most fun, nurturing, and positive environments for our students through collaboration, communication, and innovation!
Programs Include:
Jessica and Kylie work hard to create a culture that aligns with the child care center’s core values, which include:
Collaboration
There is no “I” in team, or development, or learn, or teach, or parent! It takes a village to raise a child and we are here to help. Our team members work with children from six weeks old to five years old every day. We see things parents may not see at home and vice versa! You are experiencing developmental milestones that we may not see. We strive to work together each day to make sure that each child is hitting those important developmental milestones. Our collaboration doesn’t stop there. YBR works together with our teachers to constantly improve quality and make each day better than the last. We believe that “every complaint is a gift” as long as the complaint is productive and solution-seeking!
Communication
Communication goes hand in hand with collaboration. We can’t operate without two-way communication. We have a daily communication app that we use to communicate live updates about your child(ren) throughout the day. We do our best to give you as much notice as possible for center events, teacher changes, and other important information. We always strive to be transparent in our fast-paced environments. Not only do we want to tell you what we are doing, but we want you to know WHY we are doing it.
Innovation
We have values rooted in years of best practice, but always welcome new ideas. The world is changing fast — but sometimes the basics are still best! Yellow Brick Road strives to know what trends to follow and which to ignore. We are always open to new research and new ideas but we are never chasing “the next best thing.” We take pride in never doing things because “that’s the way we’ve always done them,” but instead offering our “why” in our practices and motive. While we keep some processes the same, we are also innovators who welcome new ideas.
Positivity
We do not have time for negativity — we are too busy growing the future! We try and see what is going right instead of what is going wrong. This doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye if something needs to be changed or fixed — we just handle it with a solution-based mindset. We are a human-based industry serving our littlest beings. Things will never be perfect, but everything can be handled with a smile. We make decisions and move forward. We do not hold grudges, instead, we look for ways to set up success. We don’t HAVE to be here, we GET to be here.
Nurturing
We love the heck out of the children and our staff. We handle each other with accountability rooted in grace and gentleness. We promise to nurture everyone where they are and allow kids to grow and learn at a pace that is comfortable to them. Development is about scaffolding and growth, not being the exact same as your peers. We seek to understand every human we come into contact with, whether tiny or full-grown. We nurture our bonds and our relationships to stimulate learning to make each day better than the last.
Fun
We do silly. We do dance parties. We do pajama Fridays. We do hugs and snuggles and ring-around-the-rosie. We believe that learning is better while giggling. We like each other. We joke and make up songs. We keep each other, our environments, and ourselves safe to foster the best environment for being able to cut loose and learn. We want the children to want to be here. We believe that indoor and outdoor learning environments belong to the child, but are kept safe by the adults, so everyone gets to have fun while laying the path to life, one yellow brick at a time.
At Yellow Brick Road, we take pride in the work we do and the child care center we created. Here, your child will develop and learn in a caring and nurturing environment that will help them create a strong academic foundation. We will collaborate with you every day to ensure that your child is getting the best possible care and allow you to understand everything that we are doing. We believe that our child care center is different and can provide your child with everything they need to succeed.
With locations in Plymouth, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie, you can find the perfect child care center close to you. Contact Yellow Brick Road today to learn more and to get any questions answered. Thank you for considering us! We look forward to meeting you.
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