Bedford Business Spotlight: Building on Creative Pre-school Curriculum

Every local business has a story worth sharing with the community. The plan behind this series at Patch is to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.

This is as much about supporting local businesses as it is about celebrating the places and faces that make our community special. Click here to get to a simple form where local business owners can answer a few quick questions to be part of this ongoing feature.

Our spotlight today is on Susan Ross.

Business: The Bedford Learning Center
Owners: Susan Ross
Website: bedfordlearning.com
Address: 382 Cantitoe St. Bedford NY

How did you come up with the name?
It is quite simple. We are a part of the Bedford community and we all about providing a quality learning program where children are excited about making new discoveries and figuring out how things work!

Why choose that location? Why start a business in this town?
We are housed in St Matthews Parish Hall. The grounds of St Matthew’s are absolutely beautiful. The church building and grounds are not only picturesque, they are historic and date back to 1790’s. John Jay’s worshiped here and many of his decedents are buried here.

Briefly, what business are you in?
Preschool Enrichment Classes

What’s the most difficult moment or challenge you’ve faced as a business owner?
We have years where the enrollment is full to capacity and years that the enrollment threatens the programs survival.

Were there any challenges that made you second guess your decision to be an entrepreneur?
We strive to offer new and an exciting curriculum for preschoolers from year to year. We work on creating classes that interest children and adults. I haven’t second guessed my decision to create this program.

What’s been your favorite moment or proudest achievement since opening? We have grown from 3 afternoons to 5 afternoons and have expanded to the Pound Ridge community.

What’s the most innovative idea your employees or customers have had that you put into practice?
The parents have let us know what interests their children have and through word of mouth, our programs continue to grow.

How do you deal with difficult customers?
We listen to parents. We remind our educators that this is a parents pride and joy and we work to find an appropriate resolution.

How does your business give back or get involved in the community?
We donate to the St Matthew’s School Auction and we have given scholarships to families that need support or have financial strains. As part of giving back to the community, I have lead the restoration effort of St George’s/St Mark’s cemetery in Mt. Kisco. This was St Matthew’s original church/cemetery. The cemetery has revolutionary war hero’s buried there and many events of the revolution took place on the grounds. The sale of St George’s paid for the land that St Matthew’s acquired and the building of the church with additional funding from John Jay.