The childcare industry faces a relentless challenge: maintaining rigorous compliance and safeguarding standards across multiple locations while empowering regional managers who simply can’t be everywhere at once.

For Lightbridge Academy, a growing franchise operation, this challenge was amplified by paper-based systems, scattered data, and an ever-increasing administrative burden on directors and regional teams alike. Every Friday brought photocopying rituals. Every week brought piles of completed checklists to review and file. Every licensing inquiry meant hoping documentation could be found quickly enough.

We spoke with three leaders who’ve lived this transformation firsthand: Regina Silverii and Jessica Cervone, both Regional Managers overseeing multiple locations, and Angie Reifsnyder, a Director transitioning into a regional role. Their experiences reveal what becomes possible when compliance, documentation, and visibility come together in one platform.

This is their story—from paper-based processes to operational confidence.

The Paper Problem: “Years Upon Years of Checklists”

Before digital transformation, the administrative burden was tangible. Literally.
“We had years upon years of cleaning checklists stored somewhere,” recalls Angie Reifsnyder, who has worked at Lightbridge Academy’s Allentown location for seven years. “Papers everywhere.”
The weekly routine was exhausting: teachers making photocopies every Friday for the following week’s checklists, then handing piles of completed forms to administrative teams to review, file, and store. Broken classroom equipment? A slip of paper. Maintenance needs? Another piece of paper to track down later.

“We had years upon years of cleaning checklists stored somewhere. Papers everywhere.”
— Angie Reifsnyder, Director → Regional Manager

For regional managers like Jessica Cervone, who has been with Lightbridge for 24 years, the paper problem created an even bigger challenge: fragmented decision-making.
“When the data lives here, and some of it here, and some of it here, it’s very difficult to make informed, data-driven decisions,” Jessica explains. “In such a busy role, pulling all of that together was challenging before.”

Q: Angie, what was the biggest challenge with paper-based systems?

I think it’s just the volume. Every week, teachers would be handing us piles of papers that we had to go through and look at, and then find a place to store those. It was years upon years of cleaning checklists that we had. Even if they needed something fixed—a toilet not working, something broken in a classroom—they’d give us a slip of paper. It was just papers everywhere.

Q: Jessica, how did scattered data affect your role as Regional Manager?

The challenge was not having operational consistency. When information lives in different places, it prevents you from making data-driven decisions. You’re so busy trying to pull everything together that you can’t focus on what actually matters—helping your teams excel and ensuring every location maintains the highest standards.

The Remote Manager’s Dilemma: “I Can’t Be in Every Location Every Day”

Jessica Cervone manages multiple Lightbridge Academy locations for one franchisee. Regina Silverii oversees four locations in Pennsylvania. Both face the same fundamental challenge: physical presence is impossible, but accountability is non-negotiable.

“I can’t be in every location every day, although I try my best,” Jessica admits.

Health and safety is the foundation of everything in childcare. Opening checklists. Midday safety walks. Sleep checks. Name-to-face accountability. Hazard identification. These aren’t optional—they’re regulatory requirements and the baseline for protecting children.

But when you manage multiple locations remotely, how do you know it’s being done?

“Before, it was center-based documentation,” Jessica explains. “Are you keeping it here? In a file on your desk? Where exactly?”

“I can’t be in every location every day, although I try my best.”
— Jessica Cervone, Regional Manager, 24 years with Lightbridge Academy

Now, Jessica has real-time visibility. “At opening and at midday every single day, I’m checking in. All alarms have been checked, all sleep checks have been checked, all name-to-face has been accounted for. There’s no hazards in the building, outside of the building. I know that the administrators have physically walked through that twice a day.”

The safety checklist has become her favorite feature. “It provides me peace of mind. Health and safety is the foundation of what we do in childcare. We cannot add any more layers on unless we’re sure that is operating well, exceeding expectation.”

Q: Jessica, you mentioned the safety checklist is your favorite feature. Why?

Because it’s the foundation. Before, that was a check on a binder kept in the center. In my role, working remotely, I couldn’t see it. Now it gives me the ability to check, and health and safety is the very foundation of what we do in childcare and preschool. We cannot add any more layers on unless we’re sure that is operating well, exceeding expectation. It provides me peace of mind.

Q: What does that daily check-in look like for you?

At opening and midday every single day, I’m checking. All alarms have been checked. All sleep checks have been checked. All name-to-face has been accounted for. There’s no hazards in the building, outside of the building. I know the administrators have physically walked through that twice a day and completed that checklist. Our team is amazing—I’ll get a ticket raised with a photo of a paint chip on the wall. Everything is top priority. It’s safety.

The Daily Documentation Reality: “Almost Every Day”

“Almost every day, I need to show documentation for licensing complaints or unemployment inquiries,” says Regina Silverii, Regional Manager for four Lightbridge Academy locations in Pennsylvania.

Almost every day isn’t an exaggeration—it’s the operational reality for regional managers handling compliance across multiple sites.

Before digital documentation, the process was exhausting: create a paper report, transfer it to digital, email it to licensing, then hope you could find it again later if needed.

“We had to do a paper report, then a digital report, then email it out to the right person, then to licensing,” Regina recalls. “It’s just much easier to do one report, especially with health and safety in mind where we have to act quickly.”

“We have documentation of every single step leading up to the big picture. It’s an open book test—we know exactly what licensing is looking for.”
— Regina Silverii, Regional Manager, 4 locations

Now, when inquiries arrive, Regina has instant retrieval. “We can look and say, ‘Oh, this was a Class Two disgruntled employee on this date. This was incident number X.’ And then we could just add that documentation in. It really is helpful to have it there, especially for the health and safety incident reports.”

The confidence is tangible. “We have documentation of every single step leading up to the big picture,” Regina explains. “It’s like when you’re in college and there’s a final exam—this is an open book test. You know exactly what we’re looking for. We know what licensing is looking for.”

Q: Regina, you mentioned needing to show documentation “almost every day.” What does that look like?

Almost every day. Whenever we get a licensing complaint or an unemployment inquiry, we can look and say, ‘This was a Class Two disgruntled employee on this date. This was incident number X.’ Then we can just add that documentation in. It really is helpful to have it there, especially for health and safety incident reports.

Q: How does having that instant documentation change how you manage compliance?

It does feel like things are better in the operations perspective because we have documentation of every single step leading up to the big picture. It’s like when you’re in college and there’s a final exam—this is an open book test. You know exactly what we’re looking for. We know what licensing is looking for. I’m OCD, so I need to make sure every task is done. If I see something climbing—that overdue number climbing on any of the checklists—right away, that’s a red flag to me. Like, oh, we need to look at why. Why is this happening? What are we missing?

The Implementation Journey: What They Learned

When corporate first introduced a new system, the reaction was predictable.

“Yeah, another system. Something else,” Angie laughs, remembering. “In the beginning, it’s always kind of like, ‘All right, another step, another system for us to use.'”

Regina had a similar initial reaction. “It came around for us right after the big Covid pandemic. We had many, many systems on both the corporate side and the franchise side. The main thing I was working on was to reduce those systems—to make it just less things to do and for everything to be in one place.”

The key to successful adoption? A phased, gradual approach.

“We started with the health and safety piece of it, then moved into the cleaning checklists and daily checklists, and then the quality assurance audits,” Regina explains. “One thing built upon the others. The most important thing was first—anything you’re putting in there that’s documentation that protects your business and all of the children and staff in your care.”

“It didn’t add extra challenges. It removed them.”
— Angie Reifsnyder

Jessica agrees: “We rolled out—I think first was the cleaning and sanitizing checklist with our teaching team and administrative teams. It very quickly then moved to the safety checklist. Then it kind of sped up a little bit. There were center visits, and now our franchise audits are housed there. Our classroom observations are now there. It was a one-step-at-a-time process, which I think worked really well for us.”

Looking back, would they do anything differently?

“I probably would have done it backwards,” Regina admits. “Ground-up introduction rather than top-down. Starting with the nitty-gritty, with the people who are on the ground—the teachers—would have been more helpful.”

Q: Angie, what was the team’s initial reaction to implementing a new system?

In the beginning, it’s always kind of like, ‘All right, another step, another system for us to use.’ But then you realize, oh, okay, this is actually incorporating a couple of different systems into one. Yes, in the beginning it’s learning something new, but it takes away from other stuff and keeps us all together. It’s one place we can all go, and we all know that everything is there that we need—whether it’s home office, myself, or my owner.

Q: Jessica, how did your teams adapt to the new system?

Initially, I think with any team, there’s that sigh—’Okay, there’s another new system.’ But I don’t remember any hiccups while training. Probably more with teachers than administrators—the hiccups of ‘I forgot my login’ or ‘I’m not used to logging into this new app.’ But administrators? I was getting very little calls, which tells you they got it. I think the training system was easy to use and figure out.

Life After: Three Perspectives on Peace of Mind

Regina: “OCD-Level Confidence”

For Regina, managing four locations means constant vigilance. The red flag system has become essential.

“If I see something climbing—that overdue number climbing on any of the checklists—right away, that’s a red flag to me,” she explains. “We need to look at why. Why is this happening? What are we missing?”

The daily operational rhythm has changed. “It does feel like things are better in the operations perspective. I’m not feeling like I’m falling behind at all because I need to make sure every task is done.”

Jessica: “Peace of Mind Through Visibility”

Twenty-four years in childcare means Jessica has seen systems come and go. This one stuck.

“Our team is amazing,” she shares. “I’ll get a ticket raised—it’s our team taking photos of a paint chip on the wall. Everything is top priority. It’s safety. We have to get this fixed right away so we know everybody is safe.”

The remote oversight capability has been transformative. “It allows me to make sure every single day I’m checking in, even though I can’t physically be there.”

Angie: “Career Scalability Built In”

Angie is transitioning from Director to Regional Manager—a move that’s being enabled by the same platform that simplified her center operations.

“I’m helping out with a school in Tennessee right now,” she explains. “They put in that something was broken. I get an email that says I’m added to this work order, so I can follow up. Even though I’m in a different state, I can follow and say, ‘Hey, what’s happening with that work order? Do we get it fixed yet?'”

The promise of career growth is built into the system. “It’s going to be nice that I can actually log in and help other schools and see what’s going on at other locations and still be involved in what’s happening at their schools while I’m out of state.”

Q: Angie, you’re transitioning from Director to Regional Manager. How does the platform support that career move?

It’s going to be nice that I can actually log in and help other schools and see what’s going on at the other locations and still be involved in what’s happening at their schools while I’m out of state or things like that. Like right now, I’m helping out with a school in Tennessee. They put in that something was broken. I get an email that says I’m added to this work order, so I can follow up. Even though I’m in a different state, I can follow and say, ‘Hey, what’s happening with that work order?’

The Transformation: From “I Think” to “I Know”

Three leaders. Multiple locations. One consistent theme: the shift from uncertainty to confidence.
“It really does do everything we need it to do right now,” Regina reflects. “And it’s all in one place—that’s what we’re going for.”

Jessica sums it up: “While it’s still growing, I believe there’s probably more to the platform that’s going to be coming. It was a slow—maybe not slow, I would say one-step-at-a-time process—which I think worked really well for us.”

For Angie, the conclusion is simple: “Once you get into that routine, it’s nice that it’s just all right there for you. Everything is in one nice place, all accessible together. Not papers everywhere.”

From paper-based processes to operational confidence. From scattered data to centralized visibility. From hoping documentation exists to knowing exactly where it is.
That’s the transformation.

See How 1Place Can Transform Your Multi-Location Operations

Regina, Jessica, and Angie’s experience demonstrates what’s possible when compliance, documentation, and visibility come together in one platform purpose-built for childcare.