The Lafayette Parish School System is pleased to announce that Ms. Emmy Thibodeaux has been appointed as the next Director of Early Childhood. Thibodeaux replaces Ms. Christine Duay who recently retired.
In her prior role as Early Childhood Network Supervisor, Thibodeaux established an early childhood network that increased comprehensive support for children under age 5. As supervisor of Lafayette Ready Start, she created partnerships with many early learning centers in Lafayette to launch a birth to 3 seats pilot program creating over 250 infant and toddler seats at no cost to families. She pioneered many grant funded initiatives that support children and families with diverse needs. Through her experience, she has developed strong relationships with the early childhood industry which supports high quality experiences for students in the parish.
“Ms. Thibodeaux has years of experience in the field of early childhood education that will be beneficial to the advancement of our work with our youngest learners. I look forward to our early childhood programs continuing to grow under her leadership and direction.” states Superintendent Trosclair.
Prior to her role as supervisor, Thibodeaux worked as a coach and trainer for both nonprofit and district based Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&R) which diversified her experience of working with adult learners and gaining knowledge in early childhood research based best practices. In addition, Thibodeaux has served on several committees and boards in local and state capacities. With almost 10 years of service in early childhood based programs, she brings a variety of experience to the work which offers new opportunities to all young learners and future students of LPSS.
Thibodeaux earned a bachelor’s degree in child and family studies from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Concordia University at St. Paul.