The Flagstone School was founded by a sister-brother team in 1990.
JoAnn Barney, has been in early childhood education since 1965. She holds a B.S. from the University of Delaware in early education/child development. She received her M.ed. from Loyola College in Baltimore, MD. Ms. Barney taught Kindergarten for many years before turning to the administrative side of Preschool. She has worked for both large and small corporate child care companies as a center director, regional Manager, and staff training specialist. JoAnn was trained in the very first NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) program to become a validator for the national academy of accreditation for child care centers in 1985. She has validated centers for NAEYC on the West and East coast as well as in Germany. Ms. Barney is also the author of "Color their World Print Rich" a training manual to assist staff in developing early literacy skills in preschool age children.
Concerned, that too often child care in America was focusing on corporate profits, than creative programs where small groups of children could interact with highly trained educators in developmentally appropriate activities, she joined forces with her brother Patrick to form Flagstone Associates..schools for young children.
Patrick Barney is the other half of the corporate team. Patrick, an educator himself, has a BA in English & a MA in Education. He taught for many years on the High School level before turning to the business world and focusing on the running of better human relations departments for such corporations as ITT and Coke. In 1990, while teaching part-time at Northern Virginia Community College, he teamed up with his sister to open the first Flagstone School. While holding down the operational end of the Flagstonee business Patrick lives in Nevada, where he and his wife pursue an independent filming company.-
The administration staff of Flagstone are dedicated to provide meaningful educational experiences for each child in a safe, nurturing environment. Welcome to The Flagstone family.
