Where Life-long
Learning Begins

Welcome to Southwest Learning Centers!

“I am humbled every time a family chooses to leave their child in our care.” Debra Rinell, owner of Southwest Learning Centers, was on track to earn her teaching degree to work in public school, when a marriage proposal prompted thoughts of having children and the question of who would watch them while she was working. When asked to substitute for a Kindergarten class in a daycare, Debra’s first question was “What’s a daycare?”

Debra’s mother was a stay-at-home mom until she was in the 5th grade. “I couldn’t imagine leaving my children with people I didn’t know.” Accepting the teaching role at Learning Tree, Debra saw a path to being able to work and have her children with her at the same time. “It has never been lost on me what parents are asking of us, to care for their child just as they would; to give them that peace of mind that they can work to give their family a good life, and not have to worry about their child’s well-being.”

Debra knows had she not had the opportunity to own a childcare, she would have been the very definition of a high maintenance parent “I would have phoned the center every 10 minutes to check on my children!” In a disappointing turn of fate, Debra learned shortly after opening Southwest Learning Center more than 30 years ago that she was unable to have any children of her own. “It hurt deeply, but it also convinced me that I was where I was supposed to be; helping ensure the care of the most important person in a parent’s life.”

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