Romper Room a Jeanie Holland opus

Timothy Meyer

Jeanie Holland no longer has to drive the school bus, or interview potential employees from her walk-in closet at Romper Room’s original one-room school house that opened in Albertson in 1975.

But Holland, co-founder and CEO of the Romper Room Nursery in Great Neck and Williston Park, still keeps her hand in virtually every aspect of the two schools’ operations.

“When it comes to running my programs I can be a bit of a control freak,” Holland said following graduation ceremonies for her most class in Williston Park.

The original Romper Room Nursery was started by Holland and co-founder Meg Zack. It included one employee, one bus and a handful of students ages three to four. The school later relocated to 275 Lakeville Road in Great Neck, and has been thriving there for the past 36 years. 

A new Romper Room Nursery opened at 133 Hillside Ave. in Williston Park around 10 years ago.  

On a wall near Holland’s office hangs photos of  Romper Room alumni, who are posed with their children who  also graduated from the school. 

“We call it our wall of generations,” Holland said. “Deirdre Kenny was one of our students who graduated from Romper Room and sent her child here as well. She now teaches the Gemini program at Searingtown School in Herricks.” 

Holland points out another photo of the Renny family. The couple graduated at different times from Romper Room and met each other later in life. When they had a son, they enrolled him to Romper Room as well.

“Our motto was confidence building,” Holland said of first years. “The key was making sure I had every child getting a turn in front of their class. I wanted kids to be able to speak in front of the class and build confidence in them.”

Holland said the idea to start the Romper Room Nursery came to her in a vision, after she was inspired and concerned about the youth of society in the 1970s.

“I wanted to know why these kids were taking drugs and abusing themselves,” Holland said. “I wanted to start a nursery school and had a vision that these kids were going to love themselves.”

At the time, Holland was president of the New Hyde Park Welcome Wagon, which was started by her and 12 other residents. 

The Welcome Wagon would welcome new members to the community, according to Holland.

“Since I was in this group, a lot of the community already knew me,” Holland said. “So when I started the school, people understood who I was and what I stood for.”

Romper Room Nursery in Williston Park consists of five classrooms, which provide courses based on the students ages of either two, three or four or five. They also provide a “Romp with Mom” program for children ages 12 to 24 months, where mom, dad, or caregiver can participate with teacher or partially separate. 

There is also a “See-U-Later” program for 24 to 36 months where the child is separated from their parent or caregiver for two hours.

Holland’s technique of making sure every student is comfortable talking in front of the class begins at the two-year-old level, with a myriad of games designed be educational, fun and build confidence.

Holland said one of the games the students play in the three-year-old class has to do with  describing the weather. 

“Let’s say the weather is sunny out,” Holland said. “The student is asked what the weather is like outside, and after they check through the window they may come back and grab a sun cardboard cutout from the board. They then hold it up in front of the class and say its sunny. The teacher then asks the student if the sun is round or square, hot or cold, orange or red while the student answers to the class. After they get the correct answer they are given a stamp on their hand, a high five, and applause from the rest of the students.”

As well as confidence building games, Romper Room boasts an impressive language program that starts out children in the two-year-old class learning simple Spanish words. Once they get to the three-year-old class, they are introduced to basic French, Italian, and Spanish. At the four year old level class they are then introduced to full Spanish.

Holland said that it’s important to understand just how crucial the timing is when it comes to a children’s education, and cites an article she has up in the front window of Romper Room.  

“Ninety percent of brain development happens during a child’s first five years,” according to the Early Years Institute, a non profit educational and advocacy organization based in Planeview.

Another class event Holland explained was one of the projects for the three-year-old class, that included the building of an Easter theme basket the students made in advance of Easter. 

“The students were able to fill up the baskets with dirt and plant their own seeds in them,” Holland said. “Everyday the students would take care of their basket, watering them, and making sure they got the right amount of sun. It helps teach them responsibility and they learn about the growing process of plants. Once Easter arrives the baskets have sprouted plants.”

The students in the four-year-old class are introduced to the Pledge of Allegiance, and learn the song within the first two weeks of school. They not only learn the Pledge of Allegiance but are taught other patriotic songs. They are also taught what the stripes and stars on the flag represent, as well as who the first president was, what a president does, who the current president is, and even where he lives. 

On top of learning about the flag, these students are educated about all eight of the planets, and what is on them.

“These kids know more about the planets than any adult I know,” Holland said.

One of concerns with teaching young children is trying to keep their attention, but even in the two-year-old classes, Holland says the children are so attentive you could hear a pin drop.

“You ask yourself how can this be,” Holland said. “It’s because the lessons are always done in game form so they can learn and love it! Parents never believe me when I tell them, they have to come in to see if for themselves.”

Holland says she interviews every single family who wishes to enroll their children in the school. There are no contracts involved in enrollment process.

Romper Room students also get a chance to go on field trips to places such as the fire station, the fish hatchery, Long Island Children’s Museum, police station, and all the museums.

Holland said one of the key’s to success is office management and picking the right staff.  For the “continuity and safety of the children” all of the assistants in the Romper Room drive the school busses, according to Holland.

“In order to be a teacher here you have to train under a teacher for a full year as an assistant bus driver,” Holland said. “I can also interview a dozen candidates and know within the first 10 minutes if I’m going to hire them. I just get this feeling and I know.” 

Some teachers such as Maria Morizio have been teaching at the Romper Room for more than 29 years. Maureen Nofi has been teaching for more than 14 years, along with Lauren Kroufe who has been teaching for three years. Rosemary Gregus also has worked for more than four years and Diane Zalayet has been with Romper Room for four years. Some of Romper Room’s office assistants are administrative assistant Lisa Hollins who has been employed for the last 11 years, and office manager Joanie Petralia who has been there the longest at 36 years.

The majority of the students come from Great Neck, East Williston, Williston Park, Mineola and Manhasset, but some come from as far away as Queens.

Holland says she has no plans to expand again and is quite happy with the two schools she currently runs.

“Our goal is we want to make every child happy and confident,” Holland said. “A happy and confident child, will make for a happy and confident adult.”

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