Childcare Northeast TN & Substitute Teacher Pool
ChildcareNortheastTN.com
In 2021, First Tennessee Development District, in partnership with ETSU Center of Excellence for Early Childhood Learning and Development, started a childcare finder website based on Childcare Nashville, using the platform, Childcare Matters, hosted by Childcare Tennessee.
Childcare Northeast Tennessee, at childcarenortheasttn.com, our regional childcare finder website, was built to address issues of accessibility, for both regional families and licensed childcare providers, and staffing for childcare providers.
CNET allows families to do a customized search for regional licensed childcare providers at no cost. For childcare providers, the site offers free exposure on an attractive platform, the ability to post jobs for free on top job boards, and now, a substitute teacher pool for childcare providers to access qualified substitute teachers 24/7 through an online platform.
Substitute Teacher Pool
The substitute teacher pool, or the “sub pool”, was built to answer the growing need for childcare teachers and substitutes our regional licensed childcare centers have been facing. Through discussions with local providers, we learned that many of our childcare providers were short staffed. The sub pool was launched at the end of September is running a pilot program in Washington County and Sullivan County. Eventually, the sub pool will serve all eight counties in the region. The FTDD is working to ensure that the sub pool service will help support both families and childcare providers by recruiting, training and connecting qualified substitute teachers with our regional licensed childcare providers.
The project has been built with the helpful input of several of our Washington County childcare providers. Through discussion, they helped establish an accessible common wage for our sub pool teachers as well as determine accessible fees to help cover onboarding and operational expenses for the sub pool. Our local post-secondary partners, ETSU, Milligan University, and Northeast State Community College, have been key to finding qualified and enthusiastic substitute teacher candidates. ETSU's Little Bucs and Colonia Heights UNM Preschool have partnered with us to help provide the final steps in our training requirements for the subs and serve as our Mentor Centers for the area.
ChildcareNortheastTN.com began with a group of funders who are committed to ensuring families in northeast Tennessee are equipped with information in order to make the best decision possible regarding childcare for their family. These partners include:
If you are a childcare provider and want to learn more about joining the substitute teacher pool service, you can email us at childcare@ftdd.org or call (423)979-2582.
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