Imagine, if you were a child … and you visited the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples for the first time.

Wow! Sensory overload. Joy and fun—and learning—around every corner.

An arts classroom where you could make a paint-smeared mess that you would never be allowed to make at home, an enormous indoor tree/clubhouse, a wind tunnel, etc.

You couldn’t wait to come back.

Within the next year or so, up to 90 lucky youngsters will come back every weekday, when the museum with the inviting nickname CMON adds a pre-school.

The project will build on education staff already in place. Existing second-floor space will be retooled, and administrative staff will move to offices on Goodlette-Frank Road.

All marquee programs such as public- and private-school field trips will carry on, CMON promised. So will the Mega and Mini Wonders program that affords students part-day previews of kindergarten, with and without parents, starting at age 3. That also will be the starting age for pre-school, which will be full-day to accommodate two-working-parent households, CMON CEO Jonathan Foerster explained.

After several years of bad news—from COVID to a hurricane and steep inflation—the CMON endeavor joins a recent wave of good news and growth in early education in Collier and southern Lee counties, including plans by major employer Arthrex to launch full-day pre-schooling from the ground up at its North Naples and Ave Maria sites.

North Naples will welcome up to 216 children ages 6 months to 6 years, with one-third of the class space shared with Naples Comprehensive Health, whose Bear’s Den pre-school is giving way to a new surgical center. Ave Maria will nurture up to 66 students of the same ages.

Before a North Naples couple debuted the first of their four regional Ivybrook Academy franchises in Estero in August, headlines were generated by Fun Time Early Childhood Academy, a pioneer in Naples, for expanding to two Collier County Public Schools sites and rescuing a pre-school that failed in Golden Gate. Immokalee-based Guadalupe Center and Pathways Early Education Center completed or planned expansions.

Meanwhile, two major institutions—Florida Gulf Coast University and the Naples Children & Education Foundation, driven by the Naples Winter Wine Festival—joined forces to rejuvenate a pre-school on the East Naples campus of Florida SouthWestern College, to tutor the youngsters of today and the educators of tomorrow.

At CMON, Foerster’s long-range goal is becoming the area’s most in-demand pre-school within 10 years.

Arthrex aims high, as well, with the goal of education quality to match what the medical science company delivers to its customers and employees. The schools will be run by Bright Horizons, based in Newton, Massachusetts—it’s America’s largest provider of employer-sponsored childcare, with approximately 1,000 early education and childcare centers around the world.

The groundwork

The museum, in its 12th year, welcomes more than 160,000 kids and adults annually. Boosted by a $1.5 million state grant, Foerster expects matching fundraising to be low-key, chatting up donors who already support CMON and early childhood education. He said naming rights are available for the school, classrooms, lobby and more.

Memberships—ranging from $175 to $1,000 a year, and $30 for families who qualify for federal food assistance—will give families priority for enrollment once construction starts.

Fees have not yet been set, Foerster said, promising tiers for all income levels. “We won’t be the most expensive, nor will we be the least,” he said. “Our aim is to set a fair price for the services we will offer.”

He hopes for state tax breaks for CMON and other nonprofits on par with new incentives for pre-schools at businesses.

Students will have access to classrooms in addition to the entire museum, including a backyard playground, and North Collier Regional Park next door—making the brain-building powerhouse “the most unique early learning space in Southwest Florida,” Foerster said.

Learning can be subtle, he said, pointing to a museum display that blows soft, bouncy balls through translucent, flexible tubing. As children follow the action, they develop left-to-right eye motion that will be helpful as they learn to read.

“While we aren’t going to solve the problem of too few early learning spaces available in the community by ourselves, we are excited to do our part,” Foerster said. “It’s a fairly natural extension of the work we do already.”

Simone Lutgert, one of the founders of CMON, offered perspective. “Our mission was to create an inspiring environment where children and their families could play, learn and dream together,” she recalled. “While we may not have initially anticipated the museum evolving to the level of opening a pre-school, I see it as a natural progression and a testament to the success and impact that CMON has had in the community.”

Timing and context

To CMON Board Chair Laura Alexander, the timing is ideal. “With Southwest Florida’s continuing population surge and increased birth rate, there’s a clear recognition from our state leaders of the importance of investing in our youngest learners … The enthusiasm and backing we’ve received for this initiative reflects a collective commitment to fostering an environment where early education can flourish.”

A less obvious benefit to building now, Foerster said, is undoing damage from COVID, which he said “had a tremendous impact on the ability of kids to interact positively with each other.

“Just as it delayed educational attainment for many kids who didn’t spend that time in classrooms, it impaired the social and emotional skills of those same kids, as they didn’t spend time interacting with people outside their family. We still see kids who are playing ‘harder’ (with less regard for others around them, unsure or unable on how to share, negotiate boundaries, etc.).”

Melanie Stefanowicz, CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida, sized up the CMON and Arthrex/NCH projects as different.

“Arthrex/NCH is special because it represents employers taking significant steps to support employees and their families with high quality early learning and care that aligns employers’ needs and those of their employees,” she said.

“The Golisano project is special because it represents an extension of CMON’s mission to inspire lifelong learning and exploration through play-based learning, which is the museum’s wheelhouse. It’s a natural fit and exciting because the leadership is exploring a combination of private-pay and subsidized pay as its business model.”

She added a hopeful note: “As the state irons out the rules around the recently adopted Child Care Tax Credit, I think we will see more initiatives like these.”

The challenge ahead

Jessica Campbell, executive director at Naples’ Fun Time Early Childhood Academy, which is expanding to other sites to meet needs, welcomes the CMON and Arthrex/NCH projects.

Still, as a passionate veteran in the field, she offered context to the big picture.

“The closure of 25 centers in the past year due to rent increases, staff retirements, lack of funding and damages from Hurricane Ian highlights the fragility of the childcare industry,” she told The Naples Press.

“Fees alone cannot cover the costs of providing high-quality care and fair compensation for teachers,” she explained. “This is why initiatives like state tax credits and the support from the Naples Children & Education Foundation and other philanthropy in our community are so crucial to ensure non-profit centers such as Fun Time Early Childhood Academy and Guadalupe Center can continue to operate and serve low-income working families.”

Campbell also singled out elevating early learning as a professional career. “Supporting early learning teachers in obtaining degrees and advancing their careers is vital for teacher retention and the overall stability of child-care centers,” she said, while doubling down on “a long-term investment in quality early learning programs.”

Still, with so much at stake, she is optimistic.

“Together, we can build a more stable and accessible child-care system that benefits our children, families and the broader community.”

Jeff Lytle’s That’s so Naples column was published in The Naples Press on Sept. 27.