Toni Tossi-Tabone, owner of The Cookie Corner, accepts her award at the Best of Greater Pittston awards reception.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
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The Cookie Corner owner Toni Tossi-Tabone aids preschool students in making shapes with paint.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
WEST WYOMING — The Cookie Corner pre-school has been a staple on West Eighth Street for 43 years, and there’s no sign of it slowing down. Owner Toni Tossi-Tabone said the school is busier than ever, and she’s very grateful — grateful to all the families for trusting her and her staff with their children.
This past week, The Cookie Corner received the Best of Greater Pittston’s Best Childcare award.
“It’s such an honor with all these families and all the other facilities out there, it’s great,” Tossi-Tabone said. “We all work so hard and it’s not just be, it’s the staff. The staff is impeccable that we have, and I’m so fortunate to have this staff.”
Students travel to West Wyoming as far as Dallas, Mountain Top, Wilkes-Barre, and of course Greater Pittston, for daycare.
Tossi-Tabone, 48, a Wyoming Area graduate, received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a certificate in early childhood education from King’s College before accepting a teaching job at The Cookie Corner right out of college. She just celebrated her 25th year with The Cookie Corner.
In 2018, Tossi-Tabone purchased the school from Donna Begliomini-Brenner, the creator of Cookie Corner along with her sister, Sandie Charney.
“Being here … has been wonderful, but I’m a teacher first,” Tossi-Tabone said. “Being in the office is hard for me, so I make myself available to cover in the classrooms. That’s my passion — teaching.”
The pre-school is open all year, closing only for 10 official federal holidays, snow days not included. They offer toddler programs, nursery school, pre-school daycare program and kindercamp.
“We are lucky with the families we service,” Tossi-Tabone said. “Right now we help about 100 families.”