Bright Beginnings celebrates new facility

Sparta — Last Saturday, Bright Beginnings had their grand re-opening. After four locations, Pam Wareheim’s school for early education finally has a permanent home. Wareheim relived her businesses story in her speech before the ribbon cutting, in which she thanked all the teachers, parents and children who helped her along her journey. Twelve years ago, Pam Wareheim opened her home and took in 5 children to care for while their parents went off to work. After five years, Wareheim felt she was ready to go back to work full time. She also felt the need to teach on a larger scale. She told parents in June 2000 that she would not be open come September. One parent had given Wareheim a gift certificate to a local spa, which she used to have a massage. While chatting with the masseuse about closing her business, the masseuse mentioned that St. Mary’s was looking for someone to rent out space in their church. With new hope and excitement of the prospect of teaching on a larger scale, Wareheim called and spoke with Father Bagay at St. Mary’s. “This was like a dream come true and I was ecstatic to be there.” The dream came a quick halt, though, when after only two months of residing at the church, Wareheim received notice from the tax assessor saying she would owe $42,000. The ridiculously large amount was derived from an old tax law that required businesses renting space from a church to pay taxes based on the total amount of square footage of the entire church. They were told they had till December to pay the total sum or they would have to close up shop. Neither the church nor Wareheim could afford such a price tag. After consulting a lawyer, Wareheim learned the only thing she could do was involve the media. And that she did. Bright Beginnings was featured on WABC-TV news, cable stations, radio stations and newspapers across all of New Jersey. As it turned out, churches and businesses all over the state would now be affected by this antiquated law. While Wareheim worked on all the publicity, her husband, Duane, and Larry Ostuni from St. Mary’s chipped in by calling area politicians. With all this effort on the Wareheims’ and St. Mary’s part and help from the media and politicians, enough attention was drawn to the issue that allowed the politicians to fast track a bill through the legislation “saying businesses renting space from churches need only to pay taxes based on the amount of space utilized. As a result, our bill went down to $4,200 a year, allowing us to stay at St. Mary’s,” said Wareheim in her speech at the grand re-opening. Bright Beginnings stayed at St. Mary’s for five very happy years, until they had outgrown the space, leaving St. Mary’s with no space to use during the daytime. The church asked them to leave by June 2005, giving Wareheim a year to find a new home. “After frantically searching for a new location, we luckily found Andy Smetano and he said our building would be ready by September 2005.” Come September, though, the building wasn’t ready. They were allowed to stay at St. Mary’s till December, but the building still wasn’t ready. Move number two put the Bright Beginnings staff and children into the Old Firehouse. There they stayed until the September 2006, when they moved a thirdd time into their new state of the art facility which had it’s grand re-opening last weekend. To celebrate their success, the staff of the school had organized a carnival for the public and the families attending. There was a different activity in each classroom- a bean bag toss, an obstacle course and balance beam in the gym, face painting, sand art, magnetic fishing, and a fossil dig. There was food to enjoy as well. Two parent helpers were running a cotton candy machine, while others were handing out hot dogs. Even WSUS’ Maria Lake was there to help hand out popcorn. Kristin Jackson, a preschool teacher, was playing with children at the fishing pond. She’s been with Wareheim for over 5 years. “It’s a really fun job. Each teacher brings their personality to their classroom. I’m a photographer, so I have lot of photos of the kids around the room. Another teacher is into theatre, so her classroom is set up like a theatre.” Mitchell went on to praise Wareheim as a leader. “She’s such a pleasure to work for. She genuinely cares for us and our families.” In these past 12 years, Wareheim’s visions for her business have encountered many obstacles, but she never wavered from her goals. “It’s been a nice journey. We made the best of where ever we were,” said Jackson. Wareheim and her school’s journey will be featured on Rachel Ray’s new talk show this Monday, November 13. For more information, call Pam Wareheim at 973-729-1695.