The Kaiserman JCC’s Robert J. Wilf Preschool & Kindergarten has a waitlist of 50 families, according to JCC Chief Operating Officer Amy Foster.
To accommodate that waitlist, the JCC is opening another school: the Philly JCC Early Learning Center at Temple Brith Achim in King of Prussia.
Foster expects the school to open this fall. The JCC has applied for approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Enrollment is already open on phillyjccelc.com.
Seven or eight students have registered. Most of the kids in the Robert J. Wilf Preschool and on the waitlist are JCC members or friends/acquaintances of JCC members, according to Foster.
But the COO plans on spreading the word through message boards and flyers in King of Prussia’s town center. JCC and synagogue leaders will also post lawn signs and electronic messages on TBA’s campus along South Gulph Road. They will also post social media advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
TBA attracts members from more than 20 towns in Philadelphia’s western suburbs. It has room in an existing religious school for as many as eight classrooms.
“Everything was to code. Everything was turnkey,” TBA President Janice Biros said.
Kimber Hamilton, a kindergarten teacher at the Robert J. Wilf Preschool, will become director of the new school in July, according to Foster. Hamilton, a Wynnewood resident, is not Jewish, but she sent her daughters Abigail and Quinn to the Wilf Preschool.
They had a great experience, she said.
“Once my kids started coming to the JCC, I fell in love with this place,” Hamilton said.
Their experience inspired Hamilton to get a job at the JCC. Over the years, she’s developed an approach to early education that includes Jewish values.
“What I say all the time is that my job is to keep kids happy, healthy, safe and loved. When I think about this school, I think about those four things,” she explained. “Learning about Jewish holidays and culture and religion. Getting the full gamut of childhood experience. I think the biggest work of childhood is play. I expect to see plenty of that happening.”
If enough families sign up, Hamilton and Foster will have to hire 15-20 employees over the summer.
“Right now, we’re just opening enrollment, and we’re going to see how it plays out,” Foster said.
The JCC opened enrollment for the Robert J. Wilf Preschool in January. It filled up in a month, according to Foster.
“People are really searching for child care,” she said.
The JCC’s strategic plan is to become “a vibrant hub of Jewish community,” Hamilton said.
“We’re looking to extend and connect that hub,” she added.
Wynnewood and King of Prussia are less than a half hour from each other. But Kaiserman and TBA don’t really serve the same people. Now, they might, according to their leaders.
TBA’s congregation includes 171 households. In the final months of 2023, 106 of them contributed $437,308 to a capital campaign to help secure the temple’s future. The congregation also hopes to hire its next rabbi for a July 2025 start date.
TBA’s current rabbi, Chana Leslie Glazer, believes a preschool will help the synagogue.
“It puts us on the map as being committed to children and families,” she said.
Biros agrees.
“This partnership puts TBA in a more prominent position in our larger KOP community,” she said. “We’re not just a synagogue isolated on a side road by itself. We’re going to be seen as an integral service in the community.”
