Tracye Fortin
Chief Operating Officer, KVCAP Child & Family Services/Educare Central Maine
Tracye Fortin has spent her career in the field of early care and education, committed to quality and systems change with a team approach. Her nearly 40 years of service have fueled her passion for collaboration through a multitude of public and private partnerships at the local, state and national levels. Joining in the Educare Learning Network’s mission since 2010, Tracye developed a team to lead the vision of Educare Central Maine and its work Beyond-the-Walls.
Tracye holds a master’s degree in Human Development and Social Justice, is a higher education instructor, and her forward thinking is instrumental in building initiatives to create opportunities for children, families, educators, and programs. Tracye stewards high quality services tailored to community needs to positively impact the future of young children and their families.
Rhonda Kaiser
Educare Central Maine School Director
In her 35 years in early childhood education, Rhonda Kaiser has been privileged to work as a professor, coach, and trainer of early childhood professionals. She energizes and inspires those she works with to learn from their everyday practices to guide their decision making process.
She holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, and is currently the Educare Central Maine School Director. Leading a school of over 60 staff, she believes that a positive and healthy school culture and climate is the foundation of a high-quality learning environment that creates the conditions for effective teaching and learning to occur.
She is the founder of the Maine State Parent Ambassador Program. Her passion to engage families as partners is essential in promoting positive child outcomes and influencing state and national early childhood policies.
Rhonda sits on a variety of state and national advisory boards and holds a 282 teaching certification. She lives in Winthrop with her husband and has two grown daughters.
Erica Palmer
Educare Central Maine Education Manager
Erica Palmer holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maine at Farmington and has been working in the field of early childhood for more than 12 years. Her experience in the field consists of direct service with infants and toddlers as a teacher, an early childhood coach, and supervision of comprehensive education services for children ages birth-5 years. Currently she works with KVCAP Child & Family Services as Education Manager for Educare Central Maine where she supports a program of 60 staff dedicated to providing an integrated approach to early childhood programming and parent, family, and community engagement.
Erica has delivered numerous professional development trainings to Educare staff and providers Beyond-the-Walls at local, state and national levels. She has previously co-presented at the National Head Start Conference with Start Early and The Educare Learning Network on The Essential Practices of Educare as well as Engaging Rural Families. Erica is trained in facilitating professional development offerings that include Touchpoints training, Data Utilization, High Quality Teaching Practices, Reflective Practice, Nature Based Education and more.
Katlyn Butler
KVCAP C&FS Early Childhood Coordintor
Katlyn Butler is a KVCAP Child & Family Services Early Childhood Coordinator at the North Elementary and Canaan Preschool locations. She started her career with KVCAP in 2010 at Educare Central Maine as a full-time, full year assistant teacher. She then moved into a supervising lead teacher role at Educare and completed her bachelor’s degree from University of Maine at Farmington. In February of 2020, Katlyn moved into her current role at North Elementary Preschool as part of the Educare Beyond-the-Walls approach with KVCAP.
Nicole Chaplin
KVCAP C&FS Program Director, Early Childhood
Nicole Chaplin has been in the field of Early Childhood Education for more than 20 years. Currently, Nicole works with KVCAP Child & Family Services in collaboration with Somerset County public schools to coordinate and provide preschool programming to more than 200 children and an Early Head Start program for 16 children. Her work includes advocacy for early childhood programming, Educare Beyond-the-Walls efforts, community education and participation on several committees that are working to enhance services to children and families. Her collaboration with MSAD 54 currently also encompasses planning for and designing the first school in Maine that will house children from birth through fifth grade under one roof (opening in the Fall of 2025). Nicole holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, a master’s degree in 21st Century Leadership and an Infant/Toddler certificate from the Erikson Institute. She is also a graduate of the UCLA Head Start Management Fellowship program and has experience in training related to Adverse Childhood Experiences. Nicole is dedicated and passionate about her work and involvement in Somerset communities to enhance the foundation of learning for children and their families.
Tammie Davis
KVCAP C&FS Early Childhood Education Supervisor
Tammie works as a KVCAP Child & Family Services Early Childhood Education Supervisor at Educare Central Maine. She has a passion for her work and is dedicated to supporting classroom staff as they provide high quality care and education to children and families. She holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maine at Farmington and is working toward completing her credential in Training & Technical Assistance Approaches through Maine Roads to Quality. The vision and mission of KVCAP and Head Start programming are near and dear to Tammie’s heart. Her personal experience as a former Head Start parent solidified her plan to spend her career in the field of early care and education. She began as a substitute teacher and over time grew professionally, obtaining her current role.
Julie Elias
KVCAP C&FS Early Childhood Education Supervisor
Julie Elias is a KVCAP Child & Family Services Early Childhood Education Supervisor for infant/toddler classrooms at Educare Central Maine. Prior to joining the Educare staff, Julie provided family child care for more than 20 years. She taught in an infant/toddler classroom for 10 years before moving to her current position where she enjoys the opportunity to share her experiences and passion for early childhood education with the teachers she supervises.
Brittany Foss
KVCAP C&FS Early Childhood Education Supervisor
Brittany is a KVCAP Child & Family Services Early Childhood Education Supervisor at Educare Central Maine. She started out as a teacher in an infant and toddler classroom working on her bachelor’s degree. After earning a master’s degree, Brittany moved into the coach and supervisor role for infant and toddler classrooms. Brittany also is an adjunct faculty at KVCC and is a Maine Roads to Quality certified trainer. Her passion lies with the youngest children and she wholeheartedly believes that the first three years are imperative to how the rest of their lives will be.
Sarah Lavallee
KVCAP C&FS Program Director, Early Head Start
Sarah Lavallee has been with KVCAP Child & Family Services for more than 20 years. She began with C&FS as a teacher in a site designed to support teen parents as they attended high school and is currently the KVCAP C&FS Early Head Start Program Director. In this role, Sarah oversees the HomeBased option and the program’s Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grants and Beyond-the-Walls efforts with the HomeStart partnership model. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Child Development and Family Relations with a minor in Elementary Education from UMaine Orono and a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the Erikson Institute. She also holds an Infant-Toddler master’s certificate from the Erikson Institute and a Head Start Family Services Credential. Sarah has a passion for working with infants and toddlers and enjoys supporting parents, providers and staff in their role. [/one-third-first]
Joni Sprague
KVCAP C&FS Parent Ambassador Coordinator
Joni Sprague is the Parent Ambassador Coordinator for the Maine State Parent Ambassadors program through KVCAP Child & Family Services. Prior to this position, Joni was the family services supervisor at Educare Central Maine and a preschool teacher for many years. She holds a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Maine at Orono. She was also a Head Start parent from the time her children were 10 weeks old until they went to Kindergarten. Joni is passionate about working with families and encouraging them to share their experiences and advocate for early care and education throughout Maine.
Sara Wilkes
KVCAP C&FS Early Childhood Education Supervisor
Sara Wilkes is a KVCAP Child & Family Services Early Childhood Education Supervisor for the part-day/ part-year preschool program at Educare Central Maine. She began her career at Educare in 2012 as a practicum II student with KVCC. During her practicum, she was hired as a substitute, and then hired as a full-time assistant teacher in December of 2012. Sara transitioned to a lead preschool teacher in 2015 once she completed her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from University of Maine at Farmington, and in 2019 she entered her current role as a coach/supervisor. Sara’s favorite part of her position is supporting preschool staff throughout the agency with professional development opportunities within the PreK for ME curriculum. Sara is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education.