Navigating the Early Childhood System

Navigating the Early Childhood System

Last January I began the journey that has taken me out of comfort of my kindergarten classroom into the early childhood system.  Initially,  I learned that Maine has a variety of organizations in place such as Child Development Services, Head Start, Educare, Maine Children's Alliance, Maine's Children's Growth Council and a governance  Interagency Work Group between the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. As I began my research, I noticed that some of the leaders in the field were people that I knew. Actually, I had taught their children in kindergarten many years ago. Aah... destiny.

I meet with Laurie Lachance who once was the CEO at Maine Development Foundation and is currently the president of Thomas College in Waterville, Maine.  She connected me with Kathy Colfer who is the director of Educare also located in Waterville, Maine.  I felt so blessed to have connected with these dedicated woman once again for it had been well over a decade since I worked with their children. This was the first door that opened on my journey of understanding that there are many systems behind young children.

I intend to create three goals to support my understanding of the system that is designed to support and protect our little ones.  The first goal I have is to better understand what systems are currently in place to support children,  and how they are or are not inter connected and how the system supports  development and learning.  My second goal is to create more dialogue and discussion about developing a stronger early childhood system  or even philosophy within my school district, and my third goal is play an active role in one of these systems as a board member, volunteer, or advocate.
Robin