The Northeast Texas Community College Continuing Education department held its fourth annual Northeast Texas Childcare Providers Conference on the NTCC campus on Saturday, Nov. 9. They hosted 110 attendees.
The purpose of the conference is to provide professional development for area childcare providers as required by the state of Texas. The conference provides current trends in early childhood education from state and national levels as well as offers endless networking opportunities. The providers left rejuvenated and armed with fresh and innovative ideas ready to be incorporated at their own centers.
The conference started out with a keynote address and then moves to twenty three breakout sessions that last from 10:00 am until 2:30 pm. The keynote this year was Ms. Callena Fitzpatrick from Denison, Texas. She is an author, speaker, and child development consultant, and the owner of C.F. Training, where she specializes in training early childhood educators. Ms. Fitzpatrick has written several books and her most recent “Silent Secrets Broken,” is her own true story of how she survived an abusive childhood and relates how teachers in her early years made a difference in her life.
Breakout sessions included early childhood subject matter experts from Dallas, Frisco, Texarkana, Paris, Sulphur Springs and several from our immediate area.
The committee that assists with planning the conference and getting the very best presenters available includes: Marla Moon and Holly Zacharias with Workforce Solutions of Northeast Texas, Jamee Mars with Texas Department of Health and Human Services - Licensing Division, Lou Ann Rollins with Texas AgriLife, Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center, Kristie Hawkins and Melanie Tidwell with Region VIII Service Center, Dr. Karyn Skaar professor of psychology at NTCC, and Dakota Finney, owner of two local childcare centers.
