Episode Description
Are you building a legacy or just building your resume? Dr. Katie Lowry, Director of Special Education in Dahlonega, Georgia, hit a breaking point when she realized that all the accolades, recognition, and achievements she’d chased weren’t filling the void she felt—and worse, they weren’t creating lasting change in her district. In this honest, vulnerable conversation, she reveals how she shifted from seeking external validation to pursuing genuine impact.
About Our Guest
Dr. Katie Lowry serves as the Director of Special Education for Lumpkin County School District in Dahlonega, Georgia. With years of experience navigating the complex world of special education compliance, leadership, and reform, she’s learned hard lessons about what truly matters in educational leadership—and what doesn’t.
What You’ll Learn
In this episode, Dr. Lowry opens up about the lonely, crushing pressure of being the “party of one” in special education leadership—inheriting decades of compliance issues, lawsuits, and OCR complaints that had nothing to do with her, yet everything to do with her success. She explores the devastating question: When the work falls entirely on your shoulders, how do you build something sustainable? Most importantly, she shares the spiritual and professional reckoning that taught her that real impact isn’t measured in trophies or titles—it’s measured in changed systems and empowered people.
Key Takeaways
- The “Party of One” Problem: Why special education directors face chronic isolation and inherited crises—and what it costs districts when this role becomes unsustainable
- From Self-Centered Leadership to Systems-Centered Leadership: How to recognize when you’re building your legacy instead of building your district’s capacity
- The Spiritual Emptiness of Achievement: Why external validation will never fill internal voids—and how to redirect that ambition toward meaningful work
- Inherited Responsibility Without Inheritance: Practical wisdom for taking on compliance nightmares and turning them into opportunities for real change
- Sustainability Over Stardom: Building systems and developing people so the work continues long after you’re gone
Notable Quotes
“I am who He created me to be. I’ve tried to be a Mary and pondered on my heart and that is not who God created me to be… I had to embrace just being who I am and the gifts that I have.”
“It’s so much more and greater than a trophy or a plaque or a new title or a promotion… That’s a bucket with a bunch of holes in it and we’re just pouring water and pouring water and it’s never gonna fill up.”
“I didn’t build it for sustainability and capacity. I think I made it about me most of the time. But then when I’m not there, the work doesn’t keep going.”
If you lead special education, manage compliance crises, or feel the weight of inherited problems that aren’t yours to own, this episode is essential listening. Dr. Lowry’s journey from chasing awards to creating lasting impact will reframe how you think about your role.
Listen now and discover what happens when you stop building your resume and start building your legacy.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:00.888)
Hello everyone and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Dr. Katie Lowry. Katie is the director of special education at Lumpkin County school district in Dahlonega, Georgia. And I had the very special pleasure of getting to know Katie just this past year we were at GKs together. So Katie, it is great to have you on the show.
Dr. Katie Lowry (00:28.664)
Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:31.35)
So tell our listeners a little bit about you and how you became the director and a little bit about Lumpkin County.
Dr. Katie Lowry (00:39.565)
Okay.
So my name is Katie. went into special education in 2004 after graduating with a degree in psychology and the week before I graduated I went to my professor and I said my gosh I think God’s calling me to be a special ed teacher and he said I knew he’d tell you in his timing and I said I’m graduating in a week like it would have been nice to have known so so that that happened so I tried
Lighthouse Therapy (01:02.992)
wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:07.074)
Ha
Dr. Katie Lowry (01:10.632)
I’m married to a teacher, my mom’s a teacher, my grandparents were educators, everyone in my family, so I was not going into education. But the Lord had bigger plans for me, and so after I graduated, I ended up taking a year working for DFACS as a case manager and just kept feeling that tug. And so the first time I ever wrote a lesson plan or student taught was in my own EBD self-contained high school classroom in Telfair County, Georgia.
very rural and small district with 25 boys who were big bad and with probation officers and I fell in love. Those were my people and I knew that that’s where I needed to be. So I spent two years down in Telfair. I came home to Gwinnett County, the largest district in the state, worked at a high school there. While there, I became a department chair. I started an RTI intervention lab, was able to do that, had a great time there for eight years.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:47.751)
wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:57.322)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (02:10.298)
was called to be a special ed director in Raven County, which is where I was for four years. And then I left there in 2018 and came to Lumpkin County where I’ve been the special ed director for the last eight years. And Lumpkin is a smallish, we’re growing rural district about an hour north of Atlanta. We are known because we’ve had Hallmark movies filmed here. And most recently the Netflix series, and Hers was filmed here.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:24.255)
Nice, very nice.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:29.429)
of it.
Dr. Katie Lowry (02:40.448)
So yeah, that’s my new claim to fame. we have about 3,200 students and approximately 600 SWDs are students with disabilities. And we love it. It’s a small college town. And my husband and my three boys and myself have been here for the past eight years.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:40.885)
Wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:00.702)
Nice, very nice, amazing. I love that. I love your journey. You know, it’s like when God gets a hold of you, he gets a hold of you. whether it’s kind of like when, when he called me to start Lighthouse, he had been tapping on my shoulder for a couple of years. And I was like, Lord, no, I’m comfortable. I like my life. Let me be. I was doing teletherapy. was, I was working from home, you know, raising my kids, doing, we homeschooled for several years. Actually, I think we had
Dr. Katie Lowry (03:17.646)
I’m good.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:27.96)
almost we were almost done homeschooling because by the time my son went to eighth grade, he wanted to go back to public school. And I was like, that’s cool. He wanted to play football and he ended up being a wrestler. So there you go. But, know, it one of those things where it was like, I knew God had more for me, but I just didn’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear it. I’m good right here. Leave me alone. I’m good. And
Dr. Katie Lowry (03:45.57)
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. You know, can speed up the will of God and you can’t speed up the will of God and you can’t slow it down. So no matter how hard you run or how slow you walk, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:52.984)
Exactly.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:01.016)
Yeah, for sure. And that’s it. And here we are eight years later. Yeah. So you’ve been in Lumpkin eight years and Lighthouse will be eight years in July. So very cool. Very, very cool. So tell us a little bit. I know you had some very specific things that we wanted to talk about. I’d love to hear about your experiences and kind of where things are going in your life right now.
Dr. Katie Lowry (04:23.694)
Sure. So it was not funny. I call it a Godwink. The day that I was scheduled to speak with someone from your department to talk about what I wanted to talk about, I was given a list of these things that are just some ideas. And I was reading through them and I was like, okay, things I’m really proud of. And I was like, yeah, I don’t feel good about that. Or things my district does really well. Yeah, we do a lot of things really well, but I just don’t know about that. And my strengths as the leader, and I was like,
Lighthouse Therapy (04:39.618)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (04:53.648)
and it just kind of hit me that what I want to talk about was how my passions have evolved as a leader. I really am a, I’m an at a girl person. I like to be praised, I like to be cheered on, I like to be encouraged. I love those kinds of things and leadership when you get to this level is pretty lonely. And the higher up you go, the lonelier that it gets. And the less awards you get and the less pats on
Lighthouse Therapy (05:17.805)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (05:23.588)
the back that you get and less ribbons that you win. And so God had really spoken to me right before the day before this happened. I we have what’s called an ideal Indian, which is an award that we give out. You’re able to nominate your coworkers throughout our district. And it’s given once a month to people, to individuals at our Board of Education meeting. And it’s a it’s a great honor. And so I I had never gotten one. And so I was like, I want one of those. I want me an ideal Indian. And so, you know,
Lighthouse Therapy (05:46.844)
yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (05:53.44)
So here I sit, I’ve been here eight years and I’ve sat through, I did the math, again I married a math teacher so my kids would have a chance. So several years have gone, several months have gone through, several board meetings and I got one. And I came back and as I was doing my devotion the next morning I really just started journaling and I was like, you know, that’s great and I feel good about it but did it change anything? And the answer is no, it didn’t change anything.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:59.949)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:16.109)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:20.055)
Mm-mm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (06:23.344)
It was that momentary praise that I thought I so desperately needed. And then when I was given these questions and I was tasked with it, I started journaling on, what am I gonna talk about? And that’s when God spoke to me and he said, know, it’s not about that stuff, obviously. What to me, my new passion has been is to build that capacity and leadership in others. And so one of my coordinators, I’m incredibly blessed and spoiled.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:27.18)
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (06:53.264)
I will say that. I have a whole team of people that I get to work with, which is amazing. And the most fun I’ve had over the past eight years is being able to watch the people on my team grow into who they’re supposed to be as leaders. And it’s so fun to sit back in a meeting that I know five years ago, and one of my coordinators would probably not say much at all. And now she’s like, I got this. I’m like, yes, you do. You do you.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:01.335)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:20.663)
Nuh-uh.
Dr. Katie Lowry (07:23.184)
And so that’s kind what I wanted to just talk about was just that my vision for leadership has shifted from it being about me to being about others and about building that capacity and others because I might not be here tomorrow. And the fact is is that the impact that I make could just stop with me. And it did. I was at Tequila High School. I started that intervention lab and it was awesome. I was able to run data. I could statistically prove
Lighthouse Therapy (07:38.936)
All right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (07:53.296)
the significance of it and it was great and then
I left the district and that baby, my baby, it just kind of faded away because there wasn’t another Katie to take over it. And it was no fault of anyone but myself. I didn’t build it for sustainability and capacity. I think I made it about me most of the time. About look at what a great job I’m doing. But then when I’m not there, the work doesn’t keep going. And so I’ve really had to shift to say, okay, what does success look like? What’s that definition look like?
Lighthouse Therapy (08:07.896)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:18.776)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (08:29.136)
And it’s so much more and greater than a trophy or a plaque or a new title or a promotion. And that’s not what the world tells us that it is. And so that can be very wearing because the world is saying, you need all of this. But my spirit is saying, it’s not enough. It’s never enough. It’s a bucket with a bunch of holes in it and we’re just pouring water and pouring water and it’s never gonna fill up. It’s not capable of doing
Lighthouse Therapy (08:39.734)
Amen. Yeah, no, it’s definitely not.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (08:59.056)
that because it’s that’s not what what we were made to do and so um so yeah so that’s kind of sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:05.142)
And yet that’s what we chase after, right? I mean, it’s like you chase after that’s what, and I love that you said that because it’s like, we chase after those things. We’re taught that, you you want to get to the next promotion. You want to get to the next thing, you know, but God says that those things, if you are not blessing others and giving back of what I have given you, it’s an empty, empty place. And it’s an, it’s, it’s an empty blessing. It’s not something that
You don’t send it on forward. doesn’t get, you know, it doesn’t go anywhere. It’s just, it’s just a, well, gosh, you did that great, but it’s not going to sustain you. It’s not going to make, make anything any better. And so I’m totally there with you. I totally get it. Absolutely.
Dr. Katie Lowry (09:52.079)
Yeah, I think that especially for any other special Ed directors that are out there, you know, we’re a party of one in our districts. Typically there’s not, you know, I don’t get to talk to the other sped director in my in my district is just me. And so like I said, it’s it’s it’s pretty lonely. And so looking around trying to find ways to get to get petted and told I’m pretty and I’m doing a good job is just chasing my tail and I’m not. I’m not going to find it. It just looking around because the fact is by the time things land,
Lighthouse Therapy (09:58.263)
Yep.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:16.862)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (10:22.032)
my desk, it’s bad enough to have landed on my desk. Every formal complaint, every OCR complaint, every lawsuit I’ve ever been a part of, I didn’t know the kid before walking into the situation. I had nothing to do with it, but yet I’m the one responsible now and I’m the one that has to take the lead on it. And that’s just, it’s so much pressure and it can be so heavy. And it’s not something that you’re prepared to do alone. And I think that’s an important part too. Like we weren’t created to carry.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:33.08)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:49.506)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (10:51.972)
all that on our own. And if you try, will crush you. In the state of Georgia, every year we have about a third turnover. We have like 180, and I’m totally making this up, it’s somewhere close to this. We have lots of special ed directors. Let’s say we have 188 directors. And every year we’re looking at a new group of at least 50 new special education directors across the state, because it’s just not sustainable. And so you have to find ways to
Lighthouse Therapy (10:53.688)
Right?
Lighthouse Therapy (10:58.508)
Wear you down.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:09.058)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:20.044)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (11:22.112)
to get those wins and you have to find ways to build that capacity and you have to find ways like you said to fill yourself to be sustainable because it’s just a lot of hard work and it’s not getting any easier. But it’s definitely worth it.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:30.444)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:38.041)
Mm hmm. No, no. And but and so tell me how once you made that realization that, you know, hey, I it’s empty and I did this and it wasn’t I mean, and what you did wasn’t bad, you know, you it was successful at that moment, but it wasn’t sustainable. So how did you shift? What kinds of things did you start doing that?
Made you the incredible leader and the you’re an amazing person. I know that I’ve had time to spend with you and it’s just and so much fun. She’s so fun. She’s such a fun person. I love it. Yeah, it’s but it but but your team I mean I met some of your team while I was in Savannah and they they have such respect for you and you see it. I mean, you know when people are really good at their job and and you know when people
Dr. Katie Lowry (12:08.376)
Thank you.
Dr. Katie Lowry (12:12.866)
I’ll take that one. hope, yeah, entertaining. That’s what my goal is.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:32.33)
are not so good at their job. mean, it just people don’t people people are attracted to other people who care and to other leaders who care. so give us a little bit of insight on how how did you make that shift?
Dr. Katie Lowry (12:48.91)
You know, like I said, I have the personality and I’m unapologetically, God brought this to me, I’m unapologetically unapologetic. I am who He created me to be. I’ve tried to be a Mary and pondered on my heart and that is not who God created me to be. Anyone that knows me, that’s just not me. And so I had to embrace just being who I am and the gifts that I have. think that far too often people are searching for their calling and they think it’s a job and they think it’s an
Lighthouse Therapy (12:56.256)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:18.746)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (13:19.065)
and it’s I have natural God-given abilities. You have natural innate abilities that are given to you and the best way that we…
you know, the best way that we can can possibly use those things is to find an avenue and to use those gifts, whether I was in education or whether I was going to work out at stocking shelves at Walmart, which is a great job, too. Or I would love to go and work at Hobby Lobby. love Hobby Lobby, you know, but I would have to be, know, but but the purpose is that I have to use the gifts that I’ve been given and use them to the best of my abilities for a greater purpose. And I think that that’s one of the ways is that I
Lighthouse Therapy (13:45.592)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:49.196)
I do too.
Dr. Katie Lowry (14:00.832)
I had to learn that it wasn’t always about me and that my success couldn’t just be about what I did. Maybe it’s kind like when you’re a parent and when you were a kid and Christmas morning you woke up and it was all about you and you want to see what you got and your gifts. I will never forget the first Christmas when all three of my boys understood what it meant to unwrap a present instead of just playing with a box. I just sat back so excited for them to open their presents because I
Lighthouse Therapy (14:03.928)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:16.352)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (14:30.672)
had, you know, we had worked hard and picked things out that I knew they were gonna love and their excitement and that’s what fueled me as a parent. It had nothing to do with me at that point. I knew it was gonna bring them joy. And I think that so often in leadership we, and I fight it every day. Because like I said, I’m an all about me person most of the time. But being able to shift that perception and realize that it’s about building everybody up where they’re at and meeting them where they
are and having those authentic relationships, you have to know your team. You have to know that on this day when I see my coordinator, when I see this person, I go, they’re not in good place, so it’s not a good time to try and go, you know, we have to get this done now. To be able to read the room and get to know all those people that are around you. A huge part of your job as a special education director is dealing with parents. And parents are passionate and they should be. I thank parents for coming.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:05.59)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:17.634)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (15:30.522)
to the table. I think it’s important they understand their parental rights. I think it’s important that we give them a voice and that they advocate for their kids and they feel heard because if you really stop and think about it, if you’ve shown up at my desk, you’re scared. It comes off as anger, but it’s fear because you don’t know what else to do for your child. And I respect that. And so you have to just twist, change your mindset about it’s not about me. So if a parent comes to me angry, they’re not actually mad at me. I’m just the person that they’re getting angry.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:37.1)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:44.862)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:50.776)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (16:00.585)
because I represent that person and just kind of with, know, allowing it to just be about other people.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:02.966)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:10.422)
Yeah. And that’s, that’s servant leadership. That’s what servant leadership is all about, you know, and is about finding, everybody’s gifts that, that are, that come within your framework of education or whatever it is that you’re doing. I always tell people when I started Lighthouse, I did everything, you know, it was like, cause I was the
speech therapist and I was the CEO and I was the marketer and I was the recruiter and I was the biller, cetera, et cetera, et cetera. My daughter and my son, and when you met my daughter, were there. They started Lighthouse with me eight years ago. They still are with me. They still put up with me. It’s incredible. I did learn along the way that I’m mom first. I did learn that. Mom has to come before, especially when you have a family business.
Dr. Katie Lowry (16:34.83)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (16:46.254)
She’s wonderful, yes.
Dr. Katie Lowry (16:58.082)
Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:00.756)
But I always tell people I’m like, I used to be the I was like a juggler spinning plates. You know, you’ve got the plate that was wobbling was the one that got the, you know, got the attention. And that was what I did. And then God kept bringing the most amazing people, every single person that’s on my team at a management level. And so many of our other therapists, I just see God bringing people to me. I never actually have had to open a position. You know, it’s like I just
I need this person and there they were, you know, and then there’s so many stories of like that, but they are such incredible people and they know I’m a Christian and they know that faith is our center core value and that we love what we do and we love the kids and they have caught the vision and they, so they love what they’re doing and I let them do their job. And you know, I was, we were in a meeting just before this and I was like,
Dr. Katie Lowry (17:53.262)
Right, yes, yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:56.257)
Okay, we had this issue that came up and we’re supporting this therapist, this thing is happening and we were talking about contracts for next year and they were like, so we’re going to make this shift. And I was like, okay, what are we doing? Cause I’m not the one that does it. I mean, and they’ll come to me and they’ll be like, are you okay with this? And I’m like, yeah, that sounds great. Go with it. But I don’t always keep it all in my head because they don’t have to.
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:10.958)
I’ll you
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:18.627)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:22.252)
because I got all these amazing people that are doing all the things that all those plates that were wobbling. I don’t, I don’t have them anymore. I get to do this. I get to be the CEO. get to make decisions about finances and sign contracts and, and, but, and be a podcast host, but it’s amazing when you can, can be a leader and inspire people and tell them, Hey, you are so good at what you do. And I am so grateful, but they need, also
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:22.263)
Right. Yes.
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:29.26)
Right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:33.934)
you
Dr. Katie Lowry (18:38.062)
Pretty cool.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:50.176)
need to hear it. I love it. The beginning when you said you get to this this level and you’re not the one that gets the attaboys anymore. You know, you’re not the one that gets the rewards. You’re not the one I don’t I am. My team tells me how good I am and I’m and all of those things and it’s it’s it’s humbling to me most of the time. It’s like I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it. God did it. I just am captaining the ship. But it is sometimes, you know, it’s it’s it’s lonely at the top. It’s a hard
Dr. Katie Lowry (19:08.813)
Yes.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:18.956)
Position to be in sometimes so you have to find those things that give you joy
Dr. Katie Lowry (19:24.974)
And that’s it. And I think that for me…
I believe in hiring people that are smarter than me and that are better than me and that want my job. Those are the people I want to surround myself with. And again, that’s probably just growth and maturity that’s gotten me to that point that I go, I need people who are not, I don’t need another Katie. Good Lord, we get nothing done in this office if there was more than one of me. I’m a lot to handle, I’m very aware of that. So I need people that are not just like me to help support
Lighthouse Therapy (19:43.394)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:48.448)
Hahaha
you
Lighthouse Therapy (19:57.623)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (19:59.201)
the vision and where it is that we’re going. And you said something about, you know, I think playing off people’s strengths and I will give credit to Gwinnett County. When I went through their leadership program 12 years ago, we had a person there who kept telling us, you know, there are strengths and there are lesser strengths. And I believe that. I don’t want to waste my time on weaknesses because I can’t change that. I’m 5’1″. You’ve seen me. Like, I never played basketball. There are probably people who are 5’1” that are great about
Lighthouse Therapy (20:17.28)
Mmm, that’s good. I like that
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (20:29.104)
basketball, but that was just not in the deck of cards for me. And so instead of spending so much time and energy on something that I thought I’m not going to be good at, I’ve learned to shift and go, OK, what am I really good at and what can I make better? And I think that that’s another huge shift in leadership is that I’m not going to waste time on those things that are my lesser strengths if I can find someone who that is their strength. And each of my coordinators, Vicki and Ashley and and Beth and Melissa and my admin assistant, Christy, they are all my school.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:41.9)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:50.722)
Bye.
Dr. Katie Lowry (20:59.064)
like Steve, they all have their unique gifts and talents and I need them for those reasons. I need them to be able to be great at what they do because it makes my job easier. And I’ve been in a district where it was me and my admin assistant and every decision I had to make and it was very lonely and it was difficult and it was exhausting to have to do that. The cool thing about being the leader now is that I can go, right, let’s brainstorm. We have a whole sped suite is what we call it outside of the store.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:04.663)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:19.928)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (21:28.984)
go here’s the problem let’s talk about it and at the end of the day the decision rests with me whether it’s good or bad it rests with me because if it goes wrong I’m gonna take the fall for it if it goes well I’m gonna give everyone accolades for it because they helped they helped get me to that solution but to be blessed with a team that I can even have people to bounce those ideas off of is something that a lot of people in small districts I know for a fact because I’ve traveled the state and I’ve been in small districts they don’t have that as
Lighthouse Therapy (21:35.105)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:39.938)
You’re gonna be responsible, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Dr. Katie Lowry (21:58.817)
as an opportunity, as an option, and that’s why it is so important that you have things like in our state we have our G-case, which you came to the conference and you know my best friend and I have been best friends because we met through doing G-case 12 years ago and that’s all my, I talk to, text with those girls every day almost. Those are my best friends because they get it. It might be in a different part of the state, it might be in a different size, district, they get it and so you have to
Lighthouse Therapy (22:06.904)
Yep.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:20.152)
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (22:28.81)
those people in your corner too because it’s not easy and it is hard, it’s work, but anything that’s work is worth it.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:31.254)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:39.254)
Yeah, yeah. And you’re making a difference in the grand scheme of the world. know, every single child, every single parent that crosses your desk is somebody that needs your expertise, that needs your team, that needs to know that they have somebody in their corner. And I think that that is just a, it’s a beautiful thing to be in education and to be able to talk about the, this is such a valuable conversation because people need to know
that there are people out there that struggle with the same kinds of things, but have a solution, have an answer. And for you and I, we know that Jesus is the answer. We know that having somebody and knowing that there is a greater purpose for every single thing that we do is so critical and it is what fuels everything that we do. you can do that in education. It’s not wrong.
to be a Christian and be an education. And I love the fact that I have this platform that allows me to say that out loud. And there are people that won’t like that I say that, but that’s okay. You don’t have to, you don’t have to listen, right? And, and, and we love you anyway.
Dr. Katie Lowry (23:37.347)
Right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (23:47.597)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, that totally works. And I’ve been in districts where it was frowned upon that you didn’t have your Bible on your desk. You didn’t do those things. And I always said, well, if it’s not where God wants me to be, He’ll move me somewhere else. And I’m okay with that. And maybe that’s why I’ve been in four different places, because God can see the path that I need to go down even when I can’t see it. And that’s very freeing too.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:00.697)
you
Lighthouse Therapy (24:08.044)
Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:20.024)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (24:22.796)
that I don’t have to worry about those things because I have someone else who is. And that’s pretty freeing for sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:29.494)
Yeah, it is. It absolutely is. So Katie, tell everybody a little bit about how they, if they had questions about what you’ve talked about, how would they reach out to you or how would they, I’m assuming you guys have a website and I’m assuming you’re listed on there, but that’s an assumption and I don’t want to make that assumption.
Dr. Katie Lowry (24:50.734)
Sure.
Well, I mean, I’ll give out my personal email address. And so it’s Katie, K-A-T-I-E, Lowry, L-O-W-R-Y, the number 33 at gmail.com. Yeah, anyone that wants to just send some encouragement some days because I think every day in education is challenging. I think one of our biggest issues in education is that we are not promoting the good things that are
happening and we and the media and the world loves to point out those bad apples along the way and if you really think about how huge the public education system is, it’s like less than 0.00001 that are ruining it and the problem is because we as educators don’t feel like we have a voice at the table and we do.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:22.673)
Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:31.864)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:44.472)
Mm hmm. Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:51.96)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (25:52.257)
We deserve to be our biggest cheerleaders and that’s not coming from a place of, look at us, that’s coming from a place of, we are literally raising the future.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:02.412)
The next generation. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (26:03.862)
I mean, that’s huge. That’s a pretty big ask out of people, but a lot of incredible things are going on and have been happening in public ed. And the world just wants to focus on the negative. And so I think we need to get out there more often and say, public ed is doing amazing things. Everyone that’s in education, anyone that’s in this field, I don’t know who would do this for the wrong reason.
you don’t get paid enough. It’s not that fun. I’m just kidding. if your heart’s not in this, it is not sustainable.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:42.368)
It’ll eat you up. It’ll chew you up and spit you out. It absolutely will. Cause it’s a hard job.
Dr. Katie Lowry (26:46.976)
It is, it is not easy. And so our teachers are really the heroes. As a leader, I get to kind of sit back and see the cool things that they do. And my husband’s a teacher and he is phenomenal, don’t tell him I said that. he’s actually a really good math teacher and he changes kids’ lives every day. And sometimes I look at the teachers and I go, how cool that is. I remember those days of being able to have that kind of impact on kids. And you miss it because you
Lighthouse Therapy (27:01.752)
you
Lighthouse Therapy (27:12.344)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Katie Lowry (27:16.96)
go into this to make big bucks and to have parades in your name and to have you your face on a stamp. It’s and so staying the course I think is important remembering your why, remembering your why every day, remembering to use the gifts that you have been God has given you that are just innate in you and that’s what’s gonna plug up some of those holes in your bucket as the water tries to keep pouring out. Surround yourself with good people.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:30.616)
Mm.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:44.525)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I 1000 % agree. And I’ll tell you, brighter together is exactly one of the places that you can have that voice. And so if you’re a superintendent or a special education director, because those are the two leadership roles kind of that we have identified here, because they play such a big part in what Lighthouse does as well. you know, because we partner with schools, that’s what we do.
and we’ve partnered with you. I love that. yay. And, but it is one of those things where it’s like there, there, you do have a voice and you do, you need to, you need to speak up. need to, we need to talk about the amazing things that are happening in education because that, cause of exactly what you said. So many, so many, and they want to, they want to pigeonhole us into you’re bad because you know,
Dr. Katie Lowry (28:38.67)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (28:39.4)
And you’re bad because of test scores. You’re bad because you don’t manage your money well. Well, give us some money so that we can do our jobs for goodness sake, you know? And there’s a million others. you know, and those are things that are really, really hard to fix, but we can talk about the amazing things that we’ve done and about our teams and about the, and it is a huge country and we want, and so, you know, for me as an organization that can
get out there and say, okay, we have a podcast. We have a way that we can give educators a voice. Let’s give that voice. So I do. So brighter, brighter together was born and we, and we give it back and you know, we do these and we publish them and then we don’t copyright them because we give them back to the schools. We want you to be able to use it for whatever it is that you need. Cause the more people and the more we talk about it,
Dr. Katie Lowry (29:16.002)
I love that. I love that.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:32.31)
the more that it’s going to be heard and then it needs to be heard. And I’m really prayerful that more people will have podcasts and talk about it because we have, it’s not like before where you had to get on the news or whatever newspaper, we have a voice and we have an ability to get it right out there and get it out on social media and get it out on the internet and all the things that people say are bad. This is a way that we can use social media for a positive impact. So keep doing it.
Dr. Katie Lowry (29:47.341)
Right.
Dr. Katie Lowry (29:51.704)
Absolutely.
Dr. Katie Lowry (29:57.357)
Right.
really good for sure for sure
Lighthouse Therapy (30:01.96)
You keep doing it. So thank you, Katie, for coming and being on the show. Thank you for your passion and your love of the kids and your team. just keep doing it. Keep it up.
Dr. Katie Lowry (30:13.422)
Absolutely, well I appreciate y’all so much.
what a fun group you brought to GKs for me to even get to know you and your daughter. And of course, you know, I love Dawn. But I love the positivity behind the concept of your business. that’s not always out there. If you’ve worked with a lot of related service providers, the intent is not always pure, I feel like. And I think that’s done education of bad to service, too. So kudos to you guys.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:24.684)
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Lowry (30:46.926)
for having the right reason and the right heart behind everything that you do. And that’s, we all, it takes a village. And so right now in our world it’s hard, but great things are happening and great things will continue to happen. So I appreciate it. You too.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:01.657)
Yeah, absolutely. God bless you. Enjoy the rest. It’s March 12th, but we’ll be hearing this probably in May. So I pray that you have a great rest of the semester and look forward to serving you guys more in the future. Thank you. Beautiful.
Dr. Katie Lowry (31:14.389)
Awesome. Thank you so much. Alrighty. Bye.
First 9 Weeks Report Card Comments: 100+ Examples