THE AALE STORY

AALE Founder: Candace Marie Mayr

 

Where it all began... Candace Mayr began teaching in Early Childhood Education in 1987 at Sauganash School for Young Years. She worked there for six years as a head teacher and administrator. During that time, she also worked in the evenings as a retail manager. Taking on two full time jobs was difficult at times, but her drive and desire to open up her own school was at the heart of it all. After looking at numerous facilities and trying to pinpoint the very location that would be acceptable for her school vision, she finally came across 4008 West Rosemont! This was, of course, not an easy task as the building was owned by the government, and a bidding war was eminent. As her grandmother always told her, "some things are just meant to be." When she won the bid in 1992 and became the owner of the facility, she was elated. She used that year to renovate and prepare the building to become a school.

 

The doors of All Aboard...Learning Express, Inc. were officially opened in 1993, with three classrooms and an office. At that time, we offered one full day care room, a part time program, and a very small group of ten in our kindergarten program. Parents were a big part of the school and were very actively involved. They expressed a need for expansion, and within three years an addition was put on the building. The addition allowed for a fourth classroom, and she was then able to increase the size of the kindergarten program.

 

Currently, our building is 6,000 square feet. It consists of four spacious classrooms, a wide open office, and a large playground sectioned into four parts to allow for various types of play. We offer a full time junior-kindergarten and pre-kindergarten room with a capacity of 20 students, a preschool room that allows for full or part-time access with 20 students, a toddler room with a capacity of 15 students and an introduction to preschool room that allows for full or part-time access with 16 students.

 

We have fifteen staff members! Some staff members have been with AALE for almost twenty years!  The longevity of the staff has been a wonderful reflection of what a small "family" feel she has created for her staff. She has had the joys of watching her staff grow, marry, start families, and then send their own children through the program. Additionally, alumni students have returned and started their careers in the very facility they started their education.

 

Miss Candi worked day in and day out to establish the type of program she and her family can be proud of. The foundation she has set created an exceptional Early Childhood program for students to flourish in for years to come.

 

After caring for many children and their families throughout the years, she knew starting a family of her own was very important to her and her husband. They were blessed with boy and girl twins in 2003. Her son and daughter, now alumni students of AALE, are excelling in school. She and her husband have been enjoying being actively involved in their academics, extracurricular, and sporting events. Although she is very involved and actively engaged with her children, she is in constant communication with the school and AALE is never far from her heart.