Michelle Bishop has spent much of the past 27 years serving in various early education roles around Vermont. 

She’s now bringing that experience into a new endeavor, opening a childcare and preschool program in the Addison Community Center (the former elementary school building on Route 17). 

The program is called The Growing Tree and offers full-day, center-based childcare to children ages 32 months to five years. The Growing Tree opened its doors to the community on Aug. 4. 

“Currently, it’s just getting in and establishing some good routines and rituals so that the program day is really smooth running for children,” Bishop said an interview last week. “So far, the last few days have been pretty amazing.” 

Bishop has spent the majority of her career working in early education. She most recently worked for Vermont Head Start, first serving in the classroom and later as a home visitor. Through the home visiting program, family educators work with parents and their children in the home each week. 

“Being a home visitor, I was able to really get a sense from families that I worked with that finding full-day programming or any programming was somewhat of a challenge,” Bishop recalled. 

She wanted to develop a program that would accommodate parents’ schedules and that could help meet the needs of families in the Vergennes area. 

“At that time, I had all these ideas, and there was nowhere to be able to open up a program,” Bishop said. “I sort of put it on the back burner and enjoyed what I was doing, and then when I heard this space was opening up and there was the possibility of opening up a center, that was when I decided that I should move forward with it.”

Addison Northwest School District voters closed Addison Central school in 2020 because of declining enrollment. Addison students now attend elementary school in Vergennes. The town of Addison purchased the building from the district for a dollar and has been looking for ways to use the space in a way that helps the community.

Once Bishop identified the ACS building as a spot for her early education program, she spent 18 months working with town officials on a lease, checking off licensing requirements and securing funding to support the effort. That funding includes grants from Building Bright Futures and First Children’s Finance Make Way for Kids. First Children’s Finance also helped provide support through advising and coaching. 

She also worked to install new playground equipment at the site, an effort supported by Middlebury Fence staff. 

Bishop’s efforts came to fruition last week, when the program welcomed its first families. The Growing Tree’s programming runs from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and the center will operate year-round with some school breaks. 

The operation is working to become a Universal Pre-K partner program, which would enable children to receive specialized services like speech language services at The Growing Tree. Bishop noted those services are provided by a child’s local school district. A child living in the Vergennes-area Addison Northwest School District, for example, would receive services in that district, and The Growing Tree could provide another qualified program to do so at. 

The childcare program currently has a team of three individuals, including Bishop, who serves as director. She noted the staff is expected to grow to five people when the program reaches full capacity. 

The Growing Tree is licensed to serve up to 20 children, and as of last week still had a couple of spots available. 

Bishop noted the program could expand further to serve more families in the future, after it’s had a chance to establish itself.  There are more open rooms in the building that haven’t been leased.

“I would love to consider the idea of opening a toddler room,” she said. “It’s a thought to have maybe next year; to get settled first and then see what the process is to open a second classroom.” 

More information about The Growing Tree can be found on the program’s Facebook page.