Yello Corner School • Cedar Park

Yello Corner School • Cedar Park

Written by Mark Collins Friday, 18 July 2008

Chances are good you or someone you know attended Yello Corner School, Cedar Park’s first daycare, which has been in business for 37 years.

“When I first called to check on it and found I was buying an institution, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh — pressure!’” said current owner Jacki Spillman, who bought Yello Corner 14 years ago. “For the first six months, I thought this place could not exist without me. I had to be here. Not that I was so important, but there was so much responsibility.”

Spillman and her husband, Jack, wanted to retire to Austin from Dallas and were seeking to purchase an existing business.

After visiting daycares from Dripping Springs to Georgetown, the couple settled on Yello Corner.

“When I went downstairs and saw the cafeteria and what we could do with it, we went up and made an offer. I just had that feeling,” Spillman said.

Yello Corner School provides daycare and after-school care for children from 18 months to the summer after they finish fifth grade.

“It’s a structured environment. They’re exposed to basically what they’re going to be given in kindergarten,” Spillman said. “Our goal for preschoolers is to get them to the point that when they go into the public school system, they go in with the least amount of stress.”

The low student-to-teacher ratio helps students reach those goals. Each staff member at Yello Corner knows each child and parent by name. Enrollment is capped at 106, well below the state’s limiting capacity of 206.

“I had enrollment up to 150 when I first started, and it was just too much,” Spillman said. “We keep our ratios low from what we could have them because less stress on the teachers [means] less stress on the students.”

Some of Spillman’s practices may seem old fashioned; she does not have a giant playscape because she wants children to use their imagination.

But those practices also result in old- fashioned manners from her students. Responses are always, “Yes, ma’am,” and “No, ma’am.”

“We’re very big on manners and sharing to give a positive attitude about life, family and friends,” Spillman said.

The staff at Yello Corner has had zero turnover for the past four years and includes Spillman’s daughter, Chrislyn Adkins, and her two grandsons, Glenn and Thomas Adkins, making it a true family-run organization.

“We are a mom and pop organization. There’s not another branch of us; we’re not a franchise or anything like that,” Jackie said. “We’re very family oriented, and we try to make everyone comfortable and warm.”

The History of Yello Corner

There is little mystery in how Yello Corner got its name.

“It was on the corner, and it was yellow,” said founder Mary Bible. The “w” was left off the end “just for a catchy thing.”

Bible started her business in the small, yellow building in the summer of 1973 with five students. When enrollment grew to more than 200 students in the 1980s, Bible’s husband and son built the building that is still used today.

“I think it is good for the community. It was a good school and is still a good school.”

Yello Corner School, 751 S. Bell Blvd., 258-3351

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 6:30 a.m.-6:15 p.m. Cost varies by program