ALGONQUIN – Primrose Schools President and CEO Jo Kirchner talked about the importance of school readiness, the state of education across the country and in Illinois, and why the Primrose model of childhood education works during a special visit Thursday night.

Kirchner, who took the company’s top leadership role in the late 1980s and has grown the company from four Atlanta schools to nearly 250 in 17 states, stood at the head of a class and spoke to parents, teachers and administrators of the Primrose School of Algonquin.

Laura and Kurt Daniel opened the Algonquin location early this year. They also own the Primrose School of South Elgin, which opened about a year ago. The two schools are the only Primrose locations in the Chicago area, with a third under construction in Naperville.