The Goddard School to open 3 new Long Island locations, including in former Staples space in Manhasset

The Goddard School will expand on Long Island with three more of its daycare and early-childhood education centers, including one planned for a former Staples space in Manhasset. 

Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, The Goddard School is a franchised chain with more than 680 locations in the United States, including two on Long Island — in Stony Brook and North Bellmore.

Laura Kulkarni, of New Jersey, is the franchisee for the three schools opening on Long Island — in Manhasset, Roslyn and Garden City. She has three Goddard schools in New Jersey, the first of which opened in 2018. 

One "reason I’m opening schools on Long Island is because I have a mission … which is to help our children become excellent communicators who thrive in diverse communities,” she said.

The school in Manhasset, which will be at 1410 Northern Blvd., is taking most of the space that was vacated by a Staples office supply store in March. The school is leasing about 14,000 square feet of the 20,000-square-foot space, said Melissa Sievwright, a spokeswoman for Levin Management Corp., the Plainfield, New Jersey-based real estate firm that manages leasing for the property. 

The Goddard School in Roslyn will be in leased space at 275 Warner Ave., in a building that formerly housed the Growing Tree North of Roslyn, a nursery school. The building is 11,000 square feet and it is being expanded by 2,000 square feet for The Goddard School, Kulkarni said.

Construction on the Manhasset and Roslyn schools is expected to begin this fall, and both facilities will open in fall 2027, she said.

She declined to disclose where the Garden City school will be located, but said it should open in the first quarter of 2028.

The Manhasset and Garden City schools will each have about 200 students and approximately 50 faculty members, she said.

The Roslyn school will have about 164 students, and approximately 40 faculty members, she said.

It’s possible that kindergarten will be offered at her Long Island schools, she said.

Her school franchises operate under her company, Kulkarni Education, of which she is the chief executive officer.

A former teacher, she was approached by The Goddard School’s corporate office about opening schools on Long Island because of the success of her three New Jersey schools, she said.  Her first three schools have enrollment, high quality assurance scores in health and safety from Goddard Systems, and strong parental satisfaction, she said.

The Goddard School, which serves children 6 weeks to 6 years old, focuses on pre-kindergarten and developmental learning programs, said Joseph Markle, a Goddard spokesman.

Founded in 1988, Goddard offers an exclusive education program called Wonder of Learning.

The program “is supported by expert knowledge, data-driven insight and a deep understanding of child development. And it helps children build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while inspiring a lifelong love of learning,” Markle said.

Newsday's Angelina Livigni contributed to this story.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.