The Team Helping You Pivot From Overwhelmed to Equipped

You opened, built, or stepped into early childhood leadership with a vision.

A vision to serve children well.
A vision to support families.
A vision to build a strong team.
A vision to create a program where excellence is visible every day.

But when the daily weight becomes real. Staffing, licensing, enrollment, parent communication, classroom quality, facilities, operations, and culture. That vision can start to feel heavy.

The ECE PIVOT™ team is here to help early childhood leaders identify what is keeping their program stuck, strengthen the systems behind the work, and build toward excellence with practical tools, real experience, and grounded support.

We are not here to offer generic advice.

We are here to help you PIVOT.

DeEtte M. Thomas

Founder, The ECE PIVOT™

Early Childhood Leadership Strategist, Coach, Trainer, Program Builder

DeEtte M. Thomas is the Founder of The ECE PIVOT™ and brings more than 30 years of experience in early childhood education, leadership development, school operations, coaching, training, and program building.

Her experience spans the classroom to multi-site leadership, including serving as a teacher, director, coach, trainer, district leader, regional leader, and founder/operator of educational and performing arts programs.

DeEtte understands what it feels like to carry the full weight of a program — enrollment, staffing, licensing, family communication, facilities, culture, classroom quality, and team morale — all at the same time.

Through The ECE PIVOT™, she helps early childhood owners, directors, assistant directors, and emerging leaders identify the bottlenecks that are keeping their programs stuck and begin building practical systems that support excellence.

Her work centers on helping leaders move from crisis mode to clarity in action — with structure, strategy, compassion, accountability, and sustainable leadership.

DeEtte believes that excellent leaders build excellent programs — and excellent programs are where children thrive.

Jimmy Thomas

Co-Founder, The ECE PIVOT™

Facilities, Safety Compliance, and School Security Support

Jimmy Thomas brings more than 10 years of experience in facilities, safety compliance, and school security across early childhood education centers and elementary, middle, and high school environments.

His background gives The ECE PIVOT™ a practical lens around one of the most visible and important parts of program excellence: the physical environment.

Families notice the environment.
Staff notice the environment.
Licensing specialists notice the environment.
Children experience the environment every single day.

Jimmy supports the work of safety, facility awareness, environment readiness, school security practices, and operational follow-through. His experience helps leaders look beyond the classroom and pay attention to the spaces, systems, and safety standards that protect children and strengthen family confidence.

Within The ECE PIVOT™, Jimmy helps reinforce one of our core beliefs: the environment is not decoration. It is safety, compliance, brand, and care in visible form.

Jasmine 

Curriculum, Classroom Excellence, and Teaching Coach

Jasmine brings 10 years of experience in early childhood and elementary education, with expertise in classroom instruction, curriculum implementation, teacher coaching, and learning environment support.

She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree and has served as a teacher, center director, and ECE trainer.

Jasmine understands that program excellence is not only built in the office. It is built in the classroom. In the way teachers plan, engage, observe, respond, communicate, and create meaningful learning experiences for children.

Within The ECE PIVOT™, Jasmine supports curriculum, classroom excellence, teaching practices, teacher development, and instructional coaching. Her work helps leaders and educators strengthen classroom quality, improve teaching practices, and create intentional environments where children can thrive.

She helps leaders move beyond simply “having classrooms open” and toward building classrooms that reflect purpose, quality, consistency, and care.