Hello! My name is Kaylee (Griffiths) Strong and I am in my first year as the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Coordinator with CPS. For the past 11 years, I have been an ECSE teacher here. I live between Monroe and Platte Center with my husband Tyler, our dog Hailey, and our cat Mango. I attended Wayne State College for both my B.S. in Early Childhood Education Unified Birth-3rd Grade and my M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction - Instructional Leadership & Early Childhood Education. I like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite. Here at Kramer, I get to work with students from birth all the way until the end of their preschool year before they transition into Kindergarten.
For children referred for special education support between the ages of 3 and 5, I am usually more behind the scenes with their referral. I support the district with the paperwork portion of the evaluation and get the student set up with another Early Childhood Special Education teacher and/or related service providers (such as the School Psychologist, SLP, OT, PT, Hearing or Vision Teachers, etc) who will work together with the classroom teacher to complete their evaluation. I may help serve as the school district representative at MDT or IEP meetings.
It has been rewarding for me to use my leadership skills in a new way on our team this year. I enjoy working with a mix of students, families, teachers, and other colleagues and community members - every day is different! I am passionate about family involvement within the school and showing staff appreciation! Helping organize projects such as our first Kramer parent volunteer sign-up for providing our teachers with food during evening conferences really filled my bucket. 😊
The thing I love most about Kramer is the people. All of the people from the kids, their families, and especially the colleagues I get to connect with and learn from every day. Working with our littlest learners is a challenge in so many ways and not every day is smiles and waves, but the hard days bring out the compassion and caring nature of all the people I work with and I know that I have the support to get through those rough days. That helps me to appreciate the days with smiles and waves that much more!