ABOUT US
Our Story
Curtains for Classrooms began in 2019 as an act of love and admiration for the early childhood classroom and an act of service for teachers. As a Georgia Pre-K Lead Teacher, Karla saw the need to beautify the classrooms in the childcare program where she worked. Though her positional influence was limited and the program was unable to part with resources , Karla pondered what she could do to help.
Karla Hollis, Chief Education Officer
Over time, Karla remembered how teachers, parents, administrators, and support staff praised her classroom decor, room arrangement, organization, structure, and interaction with children. However, upon entrance, stakeholders always paid close attention to the curtains hanging on the classroom wall. It was then that Karla decided to sew curtains for each classroom to cover the existing windows and storage shelves, and to make the rooms more appealing to children. After working with individual teachers to determine their likes, dislikes, and desired themes for the classrooms, Karla carefully chose each fabric design to fit their individual needs.
Karla continued working with teachers on room arrangement and organization of materials. During the summer, center management expressed concern for the condition of the neighboring classroom next and asked Karla for help. Karla volunteered to transform the classroom and prepare the classroom to receive a new teacher. From her own experience with teacher turnover, Karla developed the belief, backed by a proven framework, system and strategy, that the level of quality the program provides should remain the same regardless of the teacher and should be consistent throughout all the classrooms.
Karla began by decluttering the classroom, organizing the materials, and then adding a touch of classroom decor. While transforming the neighboring classroom, Karla realized that most classrooms were missing something that she had and wanted to share that with others.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
After spending several more years in the classroom, Karla took on the role of Early Care and Education Specialist at a local CCR&R agency. In this position, Karla helped childcare programs earn or maintain their star rating through Georgia's Quality Rating Improvement System. Karla assisted program staff and provided technical assistance in the ERS Scales, specifically, ITERS-3 (Infant Toddler Environmental Rating Scale, Third Edition) and ECERS-3. (Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, Third Edition)
While working within the organization and coaching administrators and teachers, Karla noticed that there were misconceptions about early childhood education and learning gaps in the existing trainings provided to early learning professionals. Karla sought to assist programs and teachers who desired to learn in a greater capacity. Karla incorporated Curtains for Classrooms in 2023.