East Cobb Biz Scene: Celebree School a chance ‘to give back’

Aloke Devalia and Farwa Khan are not unlike a number of East Cobb married couples who’ve taken the plunge into running a local business.

Devalia, a corporate revenue manager with Delta Air Lines, is continuing in his position. After working at a Marietta private preschool, Khan had a dream to start one of their own.

They’ve been in East Cobb for the last decade and are raising their children here (and who attend Dodgen MS and Timber Ridge ES).

For the last 15 years, Devalia said, he and his wife have looked at a variety of franchise options, and began saving and planning.

Together, the couple decided to invest in an early childhood education franchise location that’s among the first in the metro Atlanta area.

The Celebree School is set to open in the fall for infants through the pre-kindergarten age, at a former CVS store (1099 Johnson Ferry Road). A groundbreaking was held last Thursday, as work crews continue finishing interior renovations and as Khan provides tours to prospective families.

Another Celebree School is opening in the Smyrna area, as a 31-year-old company based in the Middle Atlantic states is reaching into the Southeast.

“This one is owned by the founder,” Devalia said of the Celebree School, which has locations in 24 states. “It’s an investment for us, but we’re doing it for the children in this community.”

He said that a number of children whose parents have signed them up thus far “are literally living in our neighborhood.”

Khan, who’s been accredited in the early childhood field for 15 years, said a family-focused opportunity was a major factor in getting started.

“We want to create a place,” she said, “that’s just like home.”

For the last two years, she and her husband have been searching for space in East Cobb for such a venture, but they found a dearth of suitable commercial real estate.

They had even been looling in nearby areas of metro Atlanta when the former CVS site became available for lease.

Since March, renovations have been underway to convert 10,000 square feet of what had been open retail space into a facility with nine classrooms and common areas.

The school’s objective is to “encourage curiosity, creativity, and exploration, along with a new, inclusive playground designed to engage children in physical activity and imaginative play.”

Khan said that the building will be ready later in July, with tentative opening in August or September. Each room has a window—those had to be cut out of the brick walls of the former pharmacy—and in the back a playground is being constructed that can’t be seen from Johnson Ferry Road.

The couple’s children are active in youth sports and other activities in the East Cobb area, as the family has settled in like many others who have come here for the same reasons.

“Community, faith and family,” Devalia says, “those are big values for us. This is kind of an opportunity for us to give back.”

Celebree School is accepting enrollment. For information, call 770-574-4867 or visit its website.

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