Sandcastles Ride the Wave of Change

Cohasset Mariner
By Samantha Brown

After 10-plus years at the helm of Sandcastles Child Care Center, co-owners Lynn Durkin and Anne Sexton have passed the torch to Cohasset resident Sara Sullivan.

With enthusiasm for the job and boundless creativity, Sullivan is working with Durkin and Sexton to make sure the transition is a smooth one. Sullivan became the sole owner of the business Feb. 15, and is now enjoying making the business her own, while continuing the mission and educational goals set by her predecessors.

Sullivan has lived on the South Shore for seven years, and in Cohasset for three. The Forest Avenue resident and mother of two had been working in the corporate world since last May, but after some soul-searching decided the time was right for her to pursue a new, more “mommy-friendly” career.

“I wanted to do something I cared about, and Sandcastles kept coming into my mind,” she said, adding it is a business she has come to know very well over the past seven years. Her oldest son Sam, who is now in first grade, was in Sandcastles from infancy through kindergarten. Her youngest son Jake is currently in the Sandcastles pre-kindergarten program. “We’ve been raising my children together all these years, it just seemed like a natural fit,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan decided to approach Durkin and Sexton and let them know that whether it was now, or 10 years from now, if they were ever interested in selling their share or a portion of their share of the business, she would be very interested. Coincidentally, Sexton, who has been the director at Sandcastles for the past 10 years, had recently begun thinking about retiring within the next year or two.

“We had been approached by a couple of people a few years ago, but it wasn’t the right time,” said Durkin. However, once Sexton began talking about her retirement, Durkin began contemplating buying out Sexton’s share and running the business on her own. But with her own CPA practice and five children at home, Durkin ultimately decided running the business herself might be too much to take on at this time, and seriously began considering Sullivan’s offer.

The papers were signed Feb. 15 and all three women say everything has worked out for the best. Sexton said there comes a time when a business needs to have an injection of new energy, and Sullivan is providing that new spark. “She’s like Tigger, all bouncing with enthusiasm and I’m kind of like Pooh Bear,” she quipped. Durkin and Sexton will help with the transition, and Sexton will stay on as director for the next nine months.

Sullivan said she has many ideas for ways to increase the offerings at Sandcastles to meet the needs of families in the area. Sandcastles services families from many South Shore towns, and Sullivan’s ultimate goal is to send every child off to elementary school with the tools they need to succeed. She said she will be working with the local schools to ensure the lessons taught at Sandcastles mesh with the curriculum provided at local schools, and children enter into kindergarten or the first grade at the level where they are expected to be.

Continuing the success of the Sandcastles full-day kindergarten program is also a goal of Sullivan’s. Currently, the ratio of teachers to students is 11 to 2, which Sullivan said is a very educationally nurturing environment for children. She hopes to be able to expand the full-day program to offer Spanish classes, more art, music, and dance.

Sullivan also has plans to expand the summer program at Sandcastles. Children attend Sandcastles year-round, but the curriculum changes during the summer months to allow children to have some “down time” and enjoy their summer, while continuing their educational experience. Children already participate in swimming lessons, take trips to the beach and the South Shore Music Circus, and explore at the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell. Sullivan would also like to expand the Sandcastles winter programming and begin offering indoor gym classes to help keep children active when it’s too cold to play outside.

Above all, Sullivan said she will work hard to retain the excellent staff at Sandcastles and help attract more staff like them with the same level of enthusiasm and dedication. She said Durkin and Sexton “have done an outstanding job attracting and retaining an incredible staff. They understood the importance of continuity in childcare and have gone to great lengths to keep the staff happy. The result has been a very stable and nurturing environment, run by a staff that seems more like a family,” she said, which is exactly what drew her to bring her eldest son there seven years ago.

Durkin and Sexton said everyone at Sandcastles is behind the change 100 percent. She said while many parents were skeptical when they heard the business would be changing ownership, once they heard Sullivan was taking over, all fears were allayed. “I feel proud to hand over the legacy we’ve created. I know it’s going to be in capable hands,” said Durkin.