How did we end up finding Celebree School and why bring Celebree School to Tulsa?
Jennifer and I decided to take a sabbatical back in 2022. We decided we wanted to stay in Tulsa and continue to help our community grow. As we considered becoming business owners, we were introduced to Celebree School via a business broker. This was very different from anything I had ever done, but it was intriguing. Celebree had almost 30 years of experience successfully operating high-quality childcare centers in Maryland (as of 2022) and had recently started franchising (in 2019). Jennifer and I are both passionate about education and continuous learning, and I’ve always loved the people development side of my leadership roles in my career.
As we started to evaluate the opportunity, we learned that Celebree had developed a model that focused on “Growing People Big and Small”. By taking care of their teachers and staff and investing in their careers, Celebree benefited from employee turnover rates well below the industry average of 40%. By maintaining staff continuity, we learned that it helped children feel safe because their teachers were consistent. When children feel safe, their minds are ready to learn. When they have that relationship with their teacher, they are best able to learn by playing, which helps their social and emotional development. In doing our research (before the age of AI!), we found them to have a good reputation, and parents and teachers had positive impressions of the company.
Their approach seemed so straightforward and obvious, and it really resonated with us, having recently learned more about how ACE (adverse childhood experiences) negatively impede personal growth through my experiences in the non-profit space, especially the Tulsa Area United Way. Jennifer saw it firsthand in her experiences as a Spanish teacher in a local public school. It felt natural for both of us that by investing in teachers’ growth, you create the right safe environment to enable education and nurturing. We saw through Celebree that we could have childcare centers in Tulsa where we could help prepare children going to kindergarten in public or private schools, and that, in turn, could help them get ready for 3rd-grade reading tests that have been demonstrated to be a significant early indicator of long-term outcomes for children as they mature.
After signing in February 2023, we were fortunate to find the perfect home for our school in KingsPointe Village. From the very first call with Sharon King Davis, we felt supported in our vision to bring something meaningful to Tulsa. Today, we’re honored to partner with more than 70 families across 27 zip codes—and we’re just getting started. And while it’s not technically Midtown (as many friends remind me!), we like to think we’ve brought a small piece of Maryland’s best early learning practices right into the heart of Tulsa. And we couldn’t be more grateful for the trust our community has placed in us.
Written by Karl Neumaier, Owner of Celebree School of Tulsa
