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By reopening the Above and Beyond Child Care Center, Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth hopes to not only restore its synagogue to where it was before a devastating fire, but take its presence in the community to new heights.

In August 2006, an electrical fire in HPCT-CAE's basement destroyed the sanctuary, the auditorium, and the entire Above and Beyond center, which had been in existence for 20 years. Longtime synagogue members Justin and Gittel Footerman, co-chairs of the center for one year before the fire, have volunteered their time to bring back Above and Beyond, which will hold an open house Sunday, Jan. 31 and officially re-open Monday, Feb. 15.

Formerly one large room (with potty seats, not bathrooms) broken up into three rooms, Above and Beyond's new 4,000-square-foot facility will have four rooms capable of accommodating 48 kids, separate bathrooms for children and adults, refrigerators and microwaves, security cameras in each room, and large windows that make the center "bright" and "airy" for kids, the Footermans said.

Gittel said the point of HPT-CAE's "Livnot" rebuilding campaign has been "to rebuild everything we had before, and [make it] better." The childcare center, to be open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays for children ages 6 weeks to 2-and-a-half years, is also "bigger and better" than it used to be, she said.

"The fire created a void -- a void for the temple being able to service families with infants and toddlers, and we are now able to fill that void again," Justin said.

The center, situated where the synagogue's former chapel and library were, has the stated goal of providing "nurturing childcare enriched by Jewish values." The Footermans headed a 13-member committee, including an occupational therapist, recreation therapist, and several teachers and psychologists, charged over the past year with restoring Above and Beyond, which has its own operating budget but is owned by HPCT-CAE. Gittel is a speech pathologist, and Justin's background is in social work and management.

"We have people who are very involved, we are not just a group of volunteers," Gittel said.

The center's return also marks a return to Central Jersey for Dr. Lauren Shapiro, Above and Beyond's new director. Shapiro received her doctorate in developmental psychology from Rutgers University in 1990, and while living in Highland Park was the head teacher at Creative Nursery School.

After graduating Rutgers, Shapiro's career brought her to South Carolina, Florida, post-doctoral work at the University of North Carolina, an early childhood education and psychology position at a preschool in Buffalo, N.Y., and most recently faculty positions at Emporia State University in Kansas and North Dakota State University.

With boys ages 3, 7, and 10, it was time to head back east, Shapiro said.

"I wanted my children to have the same kind of experience I had growing up on the East Coast, surrounded by Jewish children," she said.

Shapiro said she is still close with Dr. Judith Hudson, who oversees the Douglass Campus preschool at Rutgers, and has other friends at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, giving her connections in this area that will enhance her ability to draw clients to Above and Beyond.

"I think that the accumulation of my experiences will make the center a very positive learning experience for the children who will be there," she said.

The Footermans stressed that Above and Beyond will meet the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) requirement of having no more than 12 kids in any one room of the center at a time, as well as having at least one caregiver for every four infants. The center will even exceed DYFS standards with a minimum of two teachers per classroom, no matter how many children are there at any given time, they said.

When the fire occurred, parents had to move their children to other centers on "immediate notice" and in many cases were unhappy with the quality of care at other locations, Gittel said. At Above and Beyond, parents "knew they could talk to the staff and say 'so what was my baby's day like'," she said.

The Footermans, members of HPCT-CAE since 1968, initially worked for the center before the fire because the synagogue asked Gittel what it could do to make Above and Beyond better. Since their grandson, who is now 21, used to attend Above and Beyond, "we had that personal connection to it" as well, Gittel said.

Before the fire, the center served kids ranging from Orthodox Jews to non-Jews, and parents from Highland Park but also those who lived elsewhere and brought their kids to Above and Beyond on the way to work at places like Robert Wood Johnson or the Colgate research facility in Piscataway, Justin said.

Besides for child care, Justin said the center had -- and now plans to have -- seminars for parents on topics like getting children acquainted with books, CPR, organizing affordable birthday parties, and helping children develop language and fine motor skills.

Shapiro said she has learned that "literacy begins with changing your child's diaper," meaning that it's important to talk to your child anytime you can. Being able to shape an environment for children to learn is "not work, it's fun" for Shapiro, she said.

"For me, children are our future," Shapiro said. "If we don't put the time in now, then where is our society going to go?"

Above and Beyond's open house on Sunday, Jan. 31 will be held from 1-5 p.m. at 201 South Third Ave., Highland Park. Feb. 15 marks the grand opening of the center's infant program for kids 6 weeks to 1 year, with the goal of being able to accommodate toddlers (1-3 years old) by the summer.

Rates for full day care (7 a.m.-6 p.m.) are $260/week for five days ($250 HPCT-CAE members), $240 for four days ($230 members), $215 for three days ($205 members), and $180 for two days ($175 members). Half-day care (7 a.m. to noon or 1-6 p.m.) is $210 for five days ($200 members), $195 for four days ($185 members), $175 for three days ($165 members), and $140 for two days ($135 members). For those who enroll no later than Monday, Feb. 1, rates are the same for synagogue members and non-members.

For more information on the center, call (732) 545-KIDS (5437), email info@AboveAndBeyondKids.com, or visit www.AboveAndBeyondKids.com.