Each morning the Children’s Creative Learning Center at Orlando rises with the sun to begin its action packed schedule of enhancing little minds. Teachers begin their day by making sure all classrooms are prepared for all of the learning that will take place. The dried paint is chipped and washed off each paint-pod so they can be filled with fresh paint. Little chairs big enough to hold eager children who bounce out of their seats are stacked around low tables in a neat order. Fresh daily reports are pulled from their packet so not a single detail is missed from each individual’s day. These small tasks may add up to be a mundane morning routine, but not while working for Jenelle Cortes.
Cortes has been faithfully working for the Kindercare brand since she first moved to Florida with her husband in March of 1990. She began as a four-year-old teacher in a Kindercare center close to Disney World. At first, she had no intentions of devoting so much time to the company. A pregnant Cortes originally planned to work until she gave birth to her son. “I got hooked. No idea why I got hooked but I did. I just loved what I was doing”. After accidentally promenading her way into the intricate field of Early Education, she fell so in love with shaping little minds that she concentrated on learning all the necessary tools to make her the best possible teacher.
When she returned from maternity leave she slowly began to move her way up in the company by becoming the lead teacher of her centers toddler room. As a lead teacher, Cortes was constantly alternating between working in the office and teaching her class full of little ones. This opened the opportunity for her to step-up to the management plate. “The director at the time was the acting area manager, so the assistant director ended up becoming the acting director and the lead teacher ended up becoming the acting assistant director. So that’s just how I slowly moved up into the company.”
In 1999, the company embraced another transition regarding management positions which allowed Cortes to become the director of her Kindercare center. When the magical contract was not renewed at the Disney center in 2005, the school was unfortunately forced to shut its doors for good.
By this point Cortes had become a valuable asset of the Kindercare brand. She was transferred to another Kindercare center close to Universal Orlando as a program specialist. As the seasons changed in 2007, so did the management positions. She had once again worked her way up to becoming the director of her new center.
In 2008, big changes began to take place throughout the Kindercare Company. This specific Kindercare was transformed into a CCLC. The transition was intended to make this specific center shine in its own unique manner, but in a more swashbuckling way opposed to the silent approach they had been executing.
CCLC rises above typical centers because they cater to a corporation. Universal Orlando is contracted with the school to provide discounted child care rates to their employees. CCLC also benefits from this contract because they are located on the theme parks land. This allows the school to spend little to no money to keep their building secure in its current location. CCLC also offers extended days and hours to accommodate Universals employees as much as possible. The center is open seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. They are also open every holiday, aside from Thanksgiving and Christmas.
CCLC even provides three hot meals a day: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A snack is also provided each afternoon in-between lunch and dinner. The school focuses to accommodate busy parents while making sure their children enrolled are in a healthy learning environment. This allows each child to flourish while discovering their new abilities.
It has recently been announced that CCLC of Orlando will be making another transition back into Kindercare as of January 2017. Cortes said, “I could not be happier that CCLC is transitioning into Kindercare. We used to be Kindercare before. I was born and raised Kindercare!” Although the company originally intended to redesign this specific location to set themselves apart, Cortes feels the transition is much needed to bring the entire company back under one roof. It can be so easy to get caught up in competition that sometimes the reason for Early Education centers existing can be pushed to the back burner.
“In theory we’re all here for the same thing so there were their rules and our rules. Why have separate rules when we’re all one company? Fortunately, by putting us all back under the Kindercare name we’re going to be aligned in every sense of the matter”.
Universal Orlando is still contracted with the school and plans to be until their contract expires in four years. After the four years have passed, they will decide if they want to continue partnering with the school. Universal Orlando expects nothing but the best, even from third party affiliates. To resign the contract, the company requires CCLC to preserve their extended hours, continue to open on holidays, and retain their NAECY accreditation.
Cortes is already anticipating the arrival of this day. She has already contacted the corporate company to have a back-up plan ready to go regardless of Universal resigning the contract or denying the offer. She plans to keep her booming center open to continue educating young children, helping them start on the right path. She may make some minor changes if this ‘plan b’ takes action, such as not staying open as late as 8 p.m. and closing on most holidays. However, she does plan to have extended hours compared to other centers, as well as, being open on the weekends. All these details are what set CCLC at Orlando apart from the surrounding early education centers. Cortes said, “We call it a purple cow. What’s our purple cow? Our purple cow is that we are open late, holidays and weekends”.
There is so much more to being the Director of an Early Childhood Education center than just the corporate policies. Cortes genuinely cares about every person that passes through her center, regardless of how long they may be there. She works hard to ensure every child receives a wonderful start to their school career. At times, this may not be feasible and that could bring on a stigma of defeat when having to dis-enroll a child. Cortes said, “There are some children you cannot reach and those are the ones you want to reach a little more. Everyone has a story”.
Although it may break her heart, sometimes dis-enrolling a child is the best option for that specific student. “Unfortunately in this day and time we have a lot of students with special needs, diagnosed or not. We are not always going to be the care that is needed. Nine times out of ten, a child with special needs coming into an environment like this does not do them any good. It’s too overwhelming, it’s too much for them and they start hating school. That’s the last thing we need. If they’re hating preschool we’re screwed for the next ten years, so I have to make this the best learning environment for these children”. This mindset is one she worked tirelessly to achieve. She continued, “That was one of my biggest things that I had to learn”.
Cortes puts her entire heart into her career. When talking about the tasks she has at hand, her eyes light up brighter than a Christmas tree in the middle of town. While this career is one full of unconditional love, it also has its hardships. “You have to have the patience to be in this business. You may come to school with a ‘plan a’ and by the end of the day you could be on ‘plan f’. You just never know what could happen.” The flexibility she exerts has allowed her to roll with the punches and transform not only her center into a booming success, but her teachers as well.
As a little girl, she did not dream of educating tiny children. This career path simply found her. Cortes’ original ‘Plan A’ was to become a truck driver and take the United States delivery system by storm. She then dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. This soon transformed into the desire to become a flight attendant. Ultimately, she decided on a career in cosmetology until she found herself falling head over heels for the Early Education field. “I just love it. I love everyone. I love going to a class. Just the kids and just the things they say, spending that extra time. Its unconditional love”
Higher for Hire 