Kay Thomson

Kay Thomson has over 30 years of experience in education, specializing in coaching educators and parents, curriculum implementation, classroom management strategies and parenting successes. She began her career in a self-contained program for gang-involved high school students in Chicago, subsequently moved to Colorado and remained teaching and working with severe emotionally disturbed and probation youth for the next 21 years; both in and out of public schools. Kay has fostered nearly 40 teenagers! She co-authored an emancipation program which allowed teens to successfully transition to independent, productive young adults. She ran a 22 bed residential treatment center for adolescents before taking on the task of creating a “probation school” for adjudicated youth. She remained there for 10 years, and the program was so successful, she was asked to present at the International Conference for Behavioral Disorders in Aspen, Co. In 2003, 2010, and again in 2013 she gained approval to be a Supplemental Educational Services (SES) provider for the State of Colorado. In 2011, she became a state approved school Turnaround provider. She was instrumental in helping a school district in Nebraska receive the highest reading scores on the first ever state-wide reading test in 2009-2010. Similarly, in NV, her efforts resulted in helping a school progress from having never made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), to becoming the highest achieving Title 1 school in all of Washoe County. Her formal education includes a B.S. in Special Education, an M.A. in Agency Counseling, and master level licensure in Special Education with an emphasis in severe emotional needs.