Nurturing Nook to Replace Columbia St. Mary’s Child Care Center in January

Fox Point won't be losing one of the few remaining child care centers left in the village when Columbia St. Mary's leaves in January, because Nurturing Nook will fill its place.

The Village Board approved plans for The Nurturing Nook child care services to take over the building currently occupied by , 8647 N. Port Washington Road.

“We’re just taking over the Columbia St. Mary’s operation because they were going to close,” said Nurturing Nook co-owner Therese Ciofani. “We will be providing child care services just like they are with the same clients and the same staff.”

The Nurturing Nook has been around since 1989 with a child care services center at 575 West River Woods Parkway in Glendale. That center will remain open as Ciofani and her partners, Jill Niebler and Mary Pick, take over the new RiverPoint location.

Currently, the Columbia St. Mary’s center has 25 teachers and 55 children. It also offers flexible scheduling, a feature that will be retained when The Nurturing Nook takes over. The Nurturing Nook also offers an in-home nanny program and Nannies for Seniors, a home eldercare service.

“They currently have flexible scheduling and we won’t be changing that so parents can choose the days that they need, use those days and it could be different days week to week depending on their work schedules,” said Ciofani. “We can’t do that at our location in Glendale. We’re a full service child care center and the hours at The Nurturing Nook at the RiverPoint Shopping Center will stay the same for their clients (weekdays from 6:15 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.).”

Columbia St. Mary’s has a K-4 program that will be kept and the new owners will also seek accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). However, they won’t be able to apply for that accreditation until the new center’s been open for at least one year.

The RiverPoint location has been especially popular because of its proximity to the Highway I-43 freeway.

“It’s easy on, easy off the freeway so people living even in the north suburbs can get off on Brown Deer Road and get right back on and go all the way to downtown Milwaukee,” said Ciofani. “It’s very conveniently located for families and for the local businesses around the area.”

“I would expect that they would continue to have people interested in bringing their children there for day care, particularly with it being in the business area,” said village manager Susan Robertson. “It’s convenient for residents to look to them for day care service.”