A Legacy of Innovative Learning Experiences
Gingerbread School’s inception sounds like one of those typical entrepreneurial success stories we have all heard about… A person with relentless dedication and passion turns an idea into reality! Well, this is one of them! Her name is Lorraine Pelosi, and to say that she understood the needs and stress of working parents would be an understatement!
In the late 60s, Lorraine was a young mother with three children. Sadly, her husband passed away from cancer. To secure a future for herself and her children, she went back to school and got a job. To make everything work, she needed to secure childcare. At that time, it was common for child care centers to be more like babysitting, a safe, friendly place where a child would play and be looked after.
While earning her degree in education, she began learning about brain development and its importance during the early childhood period of a person’s life. A newborn baby has all of the brain cells (neurons) that they’ll have for the rest of their life, but it’s the connections between these cells that really make the brain work. Brain connections enable us to move, think, communicate, and do just about everything. The early childhood years are crucial for making these connections. At least one million new neural connections (synapses) are made every second, more than at any other time in life.
Through her studies of the theories of Maria Montessori, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget, she became interested in the process of learning and the stages of development. This was when she began her dream of someday opening a preschool based on these principles.
Several years later, she remarried, and she and her husband, Andrew, said goodbye to the cold winters up north and moved their family to Florida. In 1974, armed with a passion for education, her husband’s support, and an entrepreneurial spirit, Mrs. Pelosi opened her first preschool.
The school was a success and stood out from the other childcare centers in Pinellas County. The parents of the children attending the school urged her to expand, and she began opening additional locations throughout Pinellas County.
Knowing that parents entrust us with their most prized and valuable possession – their child, the school continues to offer progressive educational experiences for the children in our care. As we celebrate our 49th year, it is clear that we continue to meet the commitments of our founder’s vision. We continue to grow, like the children in our program, and implement new practices as research on child development and early learning advances.
Mrs. Pelosi is officially retired, but her legacy continues to thrive as the talented and dedicated staff at Gingerbread provide an inspired version of her original program. Her two daughters, Susan Baraybar and Gina White, ensure that the school’s sacred values and mission remain intact.
At Gingerbread School, our commitment to excellence and innovation remains unwavering. We invite you to join us on this remarkable journey, where your child's potential is nurtured, their curiosity ignited, and their love for learning fostered. Together, let us build a foundation for a lifetime of success and happiness.
