(Left to right) Dennis Maple Chairman and CEO of Goddard Systems, LLC, Leisa Byars, Del McSpadden, Byars’ husband and business partner, Jacqueline Burls, chief school support services officer and Tim Dwyer, chief financial officer.
Goddard School franchisee Leisa Byars is proud of keeping her education staff happy.
Like Lightbridge Academy and other early childhood education concepts, staffing has been the big challenge in recent years. High staff turnover has been the norm, and Byars has been hard at work making sure that her staff are happy in the roles.
“Staffing has not just been an issue for the childcare industry, it’s everywhere,” said Byars. “For us it’s been, first and foremost, we really do treat our teachers like professionals.”
Leisa Byars, Goddard franchisee, will be bringing five schools to Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Related: Lightbridge Academy Tackles Staffing Challenges as It Expands to New Markets
This includes offering competitive wages, retirement accounts, three to four weeks of vacation time, on top of 15 paid holidays and paying 50 percent of their health insurance.
Now, Byars is looking to add more locations to the Nashville, Tennessee, area. With three locations and 13 years already under her belt, she’s using her experiences to choose where and when to grow.
Founded in 1983, Goddard has grown to 600 locations, the most recent of which was opened by Byars, across 37 states. The concept prides itself on bringing experiential learning to infants, toddlers and preschoolers. In June 2022, private equity firm Sycamore Partners bought the brand.
“I’m very risk averse, and I was really attracted to the fact that it was a proven model,” said Byars.
Byars was drawn to Goddard in 2010 when she was looking for a change in her career. She was looking for the freedom of being an owner as well as opening a business that is community oriented. Goddard checked all her boxes.
Since opening her first location, Byars found success by meeting her customers’ wants. Making sure the education was up to standard, bringing in passionate staff, treating them “like the professionals they are” and building a community with the parents were all the building blocks for Byars’ success with the concept.
Byars has a new Nashville metro area location already on the way, with plans to open it by September in Brentwood, Tennessee. The big project, though, is Downtown Nashville, where she is planning to open five schools in the area.
When it comes to choosing when to grow, waiting lists are the key for Byars.
Goddard recently celebrated the opening of their 600th location, opened by Leisa Byars.
“When I had my very first school, it was that I had an extensive wait list, about 70 or so families,” she said. “When that happened, we did an addition on our first location and doubled in size.”
Knowing that Goddard is supporting her throughout the process of finding and opening a new location also gives Byars the confidence that the time is right.
Keeping her staff happy isn’t the only success Byars is proud of. In the effort of making everyone “part of one big Goddard family,” her locations are very engaged in their local communities. They conduct food and book drives for the children’s hospital, for example.
Byars wants to grow with confidence and purpose, meaning that new locations will have owners and staff ready upon opening. She estimates opening another three to five locations beyond the five already in the works before she stops.
“It really feels like a community of support, and I think that has helped me become successful,” said Byars. “Collectively, I’ve grown, but the market’s grown too. It’s because of that franchisee and Goddard support, and it really does make a difference in the quality of services that I can provide.”