Susan J. Grey

Valley Falls Elementary School
Valley Falls USD 338
Valley Falls, Kansas
susan.grey@vfalls338.com

In her 18-year career as a principal, Susan J. Grey has served as a model of effective distributed leadership by engaging teachers and families as leaders and partners in the education process. In her current role leading Valley Falls Elementary School, she has contributed to both building and district-wide growth by establishing new leadership opportunities for teachers and streamlining PLC collaboration. Grey’s ability to stimulate professional dialogue has improved continuity in literacy instruction, including between preschool and kindergarten teams. This work builds on successes early in Grey’s administrative career, when she launched two preschool programs to deliver interventions targeting school-readiness. The programs have since merged and serve as the district’s Early Learning Center. Grey has also played an instrumental role in ensuring high rates of volunteer and family engagement at Valley Falls. With two decades as a classroom teacher, Grey strongly believes that the most important teaching and learning relationships in a student’s life are born at home, which is why Grey maintains diverse open channels of communication and engages parents as instructional partners to scaffold classroom learning at home. A testament to the efficacy of this relationship-centered approach, Valley Falls earned National Blue Ribbon School distinction in 2014. Grey holds an M.S. in Building Leadership from Emporia State University, an M.A. in Curriculum Design and Instruction from Texas Wesleyan University, and a B.A. of Education from Washburn University.