Learning academy is nursery nirvana

By BRIAN NEILL

bneill@bradenton.com

PALMA SOLA --

About two and a half years ago, Kurt Zeppi went around polling at least 75 parents about what they felt the ideal preschool would be.

The result was the nursery nirvana that is Palma Sola Early Learning Academy.

"What we've done is take a very holistic approach to children," Zeppi says. "We're not trying to create Einsteins. We're trying to create balanced children."

The immaculate 5,000-square-foot facility at 7315 First Ave. W. has its own separate art room, a fully outfitted playground, and a garden in which children get to follow the process of cultivation from seed to table.

"They grow tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli," Zeppi says. "And while they're growing a tomato, we teach them the nutritional value of tomato."

The school also serves only organic food to the children, Zeppi says.

Children at Palma Sola Early Learning Academy learn Spanish, sign language and engage in physical fitness routines.

Zeppi also keeps classes small, with seven to eight children per teacher.

"I know that in order for you to have quality, you have to have low (student-teacher) ratios," Zeppi says.

Though on this morning the kids are the emblem of good behavior, playing quietly in groups and interacting with teachers, Zeppi assures it isn't always that way.

Some kids have their temperamental moments, but Zeppi encourages his teachers to work that much harder during those times.

The academy also has access to a therapist who is available to work with children with behavioral issues, Zeppi says.

Enrollment in Palma Sola Early Learning Academy is $6,000 a year. Payment plans are offered.

However, the academy is at its capacity of 50 children and has a waiting list, Zeppi says.

Zeppi has taken his dream of providing a nurturing place for children and made it profitable.

When he and his wife, Tess, opened the academy in the fall of 2005 after spending four months renovating it, there were only four children enrolled - one of them, the Zeppis' daughter.

At the time, the academy had annual revenues of $18,000. Today those revenues are in the $340,000 range annually, Kurt Zeppi says.

Kurt Zeppi spent about 20 years as a licensed clinician and administrator in child and adolescent psychiatric hospitals. He also founded an adoption agency in Bradenton called Family Creations.

The administrative work at hospitals took Kurt Zeppi further away from his true love: working closely with children and fostering a nurturing environment for them.

That's why he and his wife decided to start the academy.

Amy Bayard's 3-year-old daughter, Elaina, currently attends Palma Sola Early Learning Academy, as did her 6-year-old, Gus, now in kindergarten.

Bayard had tried several different nursery schools but none had the one-on-one attention that the Palma Sola Early Learning Academy offers, she says.

"I loved that they had a focus in their program that sounded a bit like a curriculum," Bayard says. "There was a plan that included academics, but also some art, and some physical education and some science. The garden out there is great. It gets them involved in earth sciences."

The academy may try to expand in the future, Kurt Zeppi says.

But the overall goal is clear cut.

"We're trying to establish ourselves as the premier preschool of all Manatee County," he says.

Location: 7315 First Ave. W., Palma Sola

Founded: 2005

Employees: 10

Hours: Doors open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Contact: 795-0788