The One Thing Alternative Schools Know About Burned-Out Teachers
Are your best teachers leaving because they’re emotionally drained? What if the secret to preventing educator burnout lies in a fundamental shift in how we interpret student behavior? In this episode, we discover why alternative schools are keeping their teachers engaged and effective—even with the most challenging students—by understanding one critical principle that changes everything.
About Our Guest
Juliene Haskins is the Principal and Special Education Supervisor at North Point Alternative Learning Center, part of North Point Educational Service Center. With deep expertise in serving students with complex behavioral and emotional needs, Juliene has pioneered approaches that simultaneously protect teacher wellbeing and transform student outcomes.
What You’ll Learn
Educator burnout doesn’t just happen—it’s often accelerated when teachers feel ineffective or personally attacked by student behavior. In this conversation, Juliene reveals how alternative schools approach student relationships differently, and why that approach is exactly what burned-out teachers in traditional settings need to hear. You’ll discover practical, immediately applicable strategies for depersonalizing challenging behavior, connecting authentically with resistant students, and—most importantly—protecting your own emotional resilience.
Whether you’re a building administrator watching good teachers leave, a teacher questioning whether you’re cut out for this work, or an instructional leader searching for sustainable approaches to student discipline, this episode offers a refreshing perspective rooted in both compassion and practicality.
Key Takeaways
- Deescalate before you set expectations. The order matters, and most burned-out teachers have it backward
- Student resistance isn’t personal rejection. Understanding this distinction is the antidote to taking difficult behavior home emotionally
- Every student arrives carrying hidden pressures. When teachers remember this, burnout decreases and connection increases
- Relationship is the intervention. Students won’t care what you know until they know that you care—and finding what “lights them up” is how you prove it
- Your emotional boundary is your most important tool. Protecting it isn’t selfish; it’s sustainable teaching
Hear These Powerful Insights
“Every student is a miracle waiting to unfold.”
“It’s not about you, even when you’ve given them a button to push and they are pushing it and pushing it and pushing it—it’s a distraction.”
“If we can get to know them and find what lights them up, so that they can feel ‘you really do care about me,’ everything changes.”
Don’t let another talented educator leave your school due to burnout. Listen now to discover the one thing alternative schools understand that could transform your school culture and keep your best teachers engaged and thriving.
Subscribe to stay connected with proven strategies for sustainable, effective leadership in today’s schools.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:00.558)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Brighter Together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Julene Haskins. Julene is the principal and special education supervisor at North Point Alternative Learning Center and that’s in Sandusky, Ohio, which there’s a, isn’t there a, there’s a big, my goodness, amusement park in Sandusky. Isn’t there an amusement park in?
Juliene Haskins (00:18.117)
Yes.
Juliene Haskins (00:26.542)
Cedar Point, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:27.5)
Cedar Point, thank you. I’m like, I’ve been there. I’ve been there. I was there when I was like three, I think there’s pictures of me with my dad in one of those little cars when I was three. my gosh, that’s 55 years ago. And then when my kids were in high school, we went back and yeah. So I knew knew Sandusky for something, but didn’t make that connection.
Juliene Haskins (00:38.384)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (00:42.281)
the-
Yeah, the best times are when my husband and I go and just eat our meal plan food and then find a place to sit. People watch, play wordle.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:55.694)
fun. Yeah, fun. So anyway, sorry, that was totally, totally random came out, but there you go. Anyway. So tell us a little bit, Julene, about your experiences as how did you become a principal and a special education supervisor and all the other hats I’m sure you wore. And then tell us a little bit about the alternative learning center that you work at.
Juliene Haskins (00:58.417)
So.
I’ll get it.
Juliene Haskins (01:18.083)
Okay, I like to go backwards. kind of sometimes I read things backwards, but that’s okay, right? So right now I am at the Alternative Learning Center as the principal, special needs supervisor, and then I wear all the hats, right? I’m supporting with everything that needs done. And anyone out there who runs a small unit understands that you just, you wear all the hats.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:24.43)
Like, uh-huh.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:38.35)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (01:46.885)
The year before this, I did the same thing in a different building called Graytown, and that learning center is also connected to our parent facility, which is an educational service center. And so I recently started working for educational service centers, and now I’m with North Point.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:02.424)
Okay.
Juliene Haskins (02:09.777)
I love working for an ESC. The supports that I get here are absolutely incredible and the professional development is amazing for all of our people. So I do love that. Both these buildings are a facility where we serve kids in a
an environment that becomes their least restrictive environment. So they didn’t have the successes that they could have where they were in their homeschool. And we work with them to give them the skills that they need socially, emotionally, behaviorally. And I think what’s a little bit different about the homeschool they came from is that although we work with standards,
Lighthouse Therapy (02:36.814)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (03:03.757)
and we present curriculum at their level, we also scaffold down, meet them where they are. A lot of students, they all have a behavior IEP, a behavior goal on their IEP, and many of them also have academic goals. So we try to meet them where they are. But what’s different, what I started to say, we can stop on a dime and support the needs in the moment with a lot of trauma-informed training.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:03.949)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:27.534)
you
Juliene Haskins (03:30.801)
I did start here two years ago as school counselor and only did that for a year and then we switched things up a little bit. We used to have two directors and it just didn’t make sense anymore. We all came together, felt that the needs could be met.
better for the students and their families to have someone directing each building. So I was at Grey Town first and then I came over here to the ALC. The year before that I had great success with being a teacher coach, an instructional coach.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:01.902)
Gotcha. Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:13.454)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (04:14.737)
very proud moment was with a teacher who had a ton of probably the most in the district discipline referrals. And so we just worked really hard on taking her love for data and finding all the good, finding the good, finding the good. And she was awarded Teacher of the Year that year. So.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:37.409)
Awesome, wow.
Juliene Haskins (04:38.587)
pretty cool, but I was born too. don’t, you everybody who sees it goes, really, were you? Yes, I was. I wanted maybe more keys to things and more responsibility because prior to that, I was also a principal for a behavior unit with emotional disturbances and…
Lighthouse Therapy (04:41.12)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (05:00.961)
IEPs for everyone and that was through another ESC, the Southern Ohio ESC. And that was a great experience too. I started as an intervention specialist and then for four years was principal there. Prior to that, I taught English and I tended to have the kids who struggled. I really liked that. Throughout my career in different places, I would develop programs that would help the kids who were the neediest and weren’t, weren’t
passing their classes necessarily. They want to be in my study hall because I checked your grades, know, that kind of thing. But I think when I started everything, I began to get my master’s degree for principalship. And when it came up, it was a matter of I had been intervention specialist there for a year.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:32.526)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (05:56.257)
and the principal let us know that she was leaving and I was like my gosh I want to do this. It’s very different being in that role than teaching. So I guess a couple of important things for me were the fact that
Lighthouse Therapy (06:00.483)
yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (06:13.465)
I had a really good custodial staff person say to me when I started getting my license, he just said, please don’t forget where you came from. Sometimes leaders forget where they came from. And so that’s always stuck with me. And when someone’s struggling, try to go, I struggled too. I would not go back to teaching right now.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:22.59)
mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:31.906)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (06:35.981)
where I am and what I’m doing and what we can do together. So I’ve been having a good time. I’ve been at it a long time. I tell everyone a hundred years I think.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:39.735)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:43.798)
Yeah. Yep, yep, a long time, a long time. You sound like me, you like love managing people and making systems better and making things better for the kids because of what you’re doing. So that’s really cool. So all of this, you know, it sounds like you’ve really, you’re in an area that some people go, nope, not me, I’m out, I’m out. When it comes to the hard, hard, hard kids.
Juliene Haskins (06:53.841)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:12.152)
How do you keep yourself from banging your head against the wall sometimes and taking care of you when this is tough job and it doesn’t even necessarily just have to be because of your because you’re an alternative learning. But how do you care? How do you make sure that you’re OK? How did that self care? Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (07:28.389)
Right. That’s a very good question. think that you surround yourself with really smart people who can do the things that need done, lot of delegating and a lot of trust. And I’ve been fortunate to be in situations where the people around me are brilliant and they know what they’re doing. And then the kind of family atmosphere
Lighthouse Therapy (07:44.61)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (07:56.977)
in the school is super important so that we can look out for each other. I used to just take my work home all the time and I got to a point where I realized I’m just packing up to take it home to look at one thing and I decided okay just take one thing take one thing so that if you feel like you have to keep working you can keep working plus on our phones the work is always there.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:12.813)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:19.35)
Yeah, it’s with you anyway. Yeah, yeah. I know.
Juliene Haskins (08:20.849)
all the emails and I think for me addressing them at night and when they come in is helpful so that I don’t I don’t like to have a whole lot on my plate first thing in the morning. I like to just kind of get through it as I go. Doesn’t always work but sometimes it does and I and I think just looking at things from a kind of a happiness perspective is very helpful.
so that you can see the good when it doesn’t look like it’s as good as it could be. See the good and want that and move toward that always. I think that that’s helpful for me. And family allowing me to do this work. This work is a lot. It’s intense. And I’ve been very supported all the way around.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:08.429)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (09:16.325)
that gets me through. So I try to be that support for people who might not have as much. And I find that that’s challenging and important work to do too. So.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:29.07)
I always tell people here at Lighthouse, know, you start as an entrepreneur and you have all of these, I’ve said this a million times on the show, I think, but all of these spinning plates that you’re trying to manage all the different departments and all the things and, you know, a plate wobbles and that’s the one that’s get the attention. I got to do HR, I got to do hiring, I got to do…
whatever contracts, whatever it is, pay the bills, whatever, you know, and then as, as we’ve grown, I’ve been able to give all of those plates away, but God always brings me the right person, you know, and then you end up with all of these amazing people. And like you said, you trust them to do their job and you end up with such an incredible team. And it does have a family atmosphere because they know that, that I trust them to do their job and they want, they want us to be successful.
Juliene Haskins (09:59.761)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:18.442)
So they do an amazing job and they want me to be proud of them. And it’s like, I’m already proud of you because you’re amazing. But, you know, it just it’s and it’s such an amazing it’s such a great work environment. And and we don’t live in the same place because we’re all over the United States. But, you know, we come into these meetings because we’re virtual. So, you know, I started in Michigan. So I got a ton of people in Michigan that I absolutely love and that are family to me. And then I’m in South Texas now and I’ve.
Juliene Haskins (10:25.403)
Nate?
Lighthouse Therapy (10:46.552)
gathered. I always tell people it’s like I’m like a hand gathering or chicks together because I just love the people that I work with. And then there’s people that I’ve hired that are in Utah and people in Florida and people one of our our therapists are assist or she’s a regional director who’s was my first hire. She’s an OT. She has she had surgery today. So I’ve been praying for her all day because it’s just like but she I mean it’s just like she’s been with me sit for eight years now. You know it just is it matters. So
Juliene Haskins (11:02.811)
something.
Juliene Haskins (11:13.318)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:15.726)
So you take care of those people, right?
Juliene Haskins (11:16.163)
yeah. Yeah, the group of people really matters and I know that there’s bumps in the road, there’s ups and downs and I think it’s so important for me to continue to learn.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:20.066)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (11:31.375)
to keep growing in the profession. I’m expecting my staff to do that, to renew their licenses and so on. And I want to give them professional development that is significant and matters and is important to their careers.
I want to, a couple of things, I want to put us out of business, right? Because we want to have these kids all do so well that when they bring it back to their homeschools, they are spreading all of that. And unfortunately, we probably never will. There’s always going to be kids with intense needs. There’s trauma in the world and so on. But the other thing I want to do is really help staff.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:54.574)
Mm.
Juliene Haskins (12:15.993)
to be the people they want to be. And I am honest about knowing they’re not necessarily going to be here forever. Although I have some who are like, yes, I am. I love the ALC. I’m staying here forever. And that’s fantastic too. So same with kids. We have kids who say, well, we really like it here. We’re not ready. We don’t want to transition back. We do better because we’re here. And those things are okay too.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:24.643)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:32.27)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:39.042)
Mm-hmm. yeah.
Juliene Haskins (12:45.907)
empowerment and making sure that everybody, adults and kids, all know that they can do more if they want to do more. And I encourage that always. I’m all about personal growth and so on. like one thing I just learned, I thought this was funny and maybe it’s a takeaway. When I was a teacher, I used to have a big, I always have art and such.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:04.003)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (13:14.289)
and I had a big sign that just said why. And the reason was to encourage them in English class, for example, to expand on their thinking, go deeper, tell me more. Now I discourage why in terms of where I am and where we are as a staff.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:36.619)
Mmm.
Juliene Haskins (13:39.179)
saying why to someone who’s presented something in an escalated mood or in a behavior situation or after something traumatic. If we say, why do you feel that way? It’s almost comes across like a challenge. Prove it, prove it. Instead, yeah, we come at it from the lens of what happened to you or thank you for trusting me, tell me more.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:56.204)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that makes it worse. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (14:06.339)
It just changes everything and it’s those little things like that as we learn them together and we share them, it improves our practice overall. And that is very meaningful when we’re getting those things from one another through the course of our day and constantly debriefing and just.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:27.276)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (14:28.357)
doing everything that we can to make improvements for not only the kids, their families, us, how we support one another, and the home districts because they’re still a part of these kids’ lives.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:41.454)
You have to have a lot of empathy, a lot of empathy in your position to be able to do what you do. So what are some ways, and you’ve given me a little bit of it, but there’s a child that’s just, no matter what you do, no matter how much you try to help them, no matter what, they keep returning, they’re, difficult child, it’s like,
How do you love on them? How do you help them? What kinds of things can you give? Because every teacher’s got that one, can we just get that one kid out of my class? What kind of advice would you give to them?
Juliene Haskins (15:17.329)
Hmm?
some advice that, that I give is to either pretend they’re my kid if you have to, right? Or just think about them. Sometimes you can think about them as your own child. And I do have a lot of staff who look at these kids like almost as their own. And, know, you just really, you care so much and it can, sometimes that backfires because it can get really get to you.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:27.468)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:38.808)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:46.701)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (15:47.109)
And I think if you remember ultimately that it’s not about you, even when you’ve given them a button to push and they are pushing it and pushing it and pushing it, it’s a distraction. There’s so much underlying pressures on these kids coming from different places, some very, very deep that if we can remember it’s not about me, even though they said this or that or the other and they knew it would bother me.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:55.263)
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Juliene Haskins (16:16.325)
That ultimately is not it. If we can get to know them and find their, what lights them up so that they can, you really do care about me. And I like that we have the opportunity here to just say, okay, let’s stop curriculum right now. Let’s just deal. Let’s.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:30.7)
Now.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:40.494)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (16:41.605)
deescalate always before deescalation before expectation. And there’s a whole lot of ways to say that, but I think we’re really recognizing that when a kid is here and we’re trying to get them back to math or whatever, that’s not necessarily effective.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:58.752)
Right, right. Sometimes school is not, you’re just not gonna get there. You’re just not, yeah.
Juliene Haskins (17:02.713)
No, and if we don’t get school with them for two days, great. Let’s get the other components in place.
We’re moving forward. Student Council just had some ideas today about, hey, they had a couple things they wanted to do. I found it very profound that these kids came together and said, here’s something we want to develop. We want activities that we can share with kids for times that we are going to be away from each other. Spring break, summer, and we want to teach each other things that we can do, whether it’s coping skills,
or just games to play with your family, things like that. And I was like, that’s amazing. The other one that they worked on today was getting to know each other better. And what are some things we can do to get to know each other better? And this one’s the coolest. I had a student on student council who had been in a mediation with another student. Turned out beautiful because they both
were shocked to see how much they had in common. This kid came to the student council meeting when that was the topic was, how do we get to know each other even better? And he said, why don’t you do mediations with random kids? Like there’s not a problem, but we talked about what our common goals are. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:11.822)
I don’t
Lighthouse Therapy (18:26.286)
Wow. Mm-hmm. Cut it off at the pass? Right. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (18:32.303)
What our common goals are, part of the process is what their common goals are and what do they have in common and what would be some win-win solutions for them to get to what they want to see in the classroom, for example. And I was like, high five, buddy, that’s amazing. That’s so great that that’s what you want. But even the kids on student council, they can have a day.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:47.958)
Yeah, that is amazing.
Juliene Haskins (18:59.225)
And you just have to remember it’s going to come back around. It will be.
It’ll be okay. And we tell our kids that and then sometimes we forget our advice. You know, we say, you are going to be okay. And it’s good to tell kids that because I think in the moment they don’t even believe that. And then we forget that they’re going to be okay. And we get frustrated too. We forget that we’re gonna be okay. We might’ve…
Lighthouse Therapy (19:07.928)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:14.141)
yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:23.182)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (19:33.059)
stepped out bounds, lost our cool, instead of tapping out and getting support from another colleague, but we’re going to be okay. We’re going to get past that too. Giving kids and adults opportunities to shine and show what they’re proficient at already helps with that lovable feeling too.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:44.781)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (20:00.013)
If we’re struggling and we can see them in a moment of success, it helps everybody.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:07.34)
Yeah, and they don’t get a lot of that because they’re they’re always in trouble and they’re always they’ve they’ve they’ve come to you because they’ve had horrible experiences and giving them the opportunity. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful that you can do that and that they that you’re you’re taking them to a place. I love that. I talked to a gentleman in Michigan who they started doing alternative schools and now they have
Juliene Haskins (20:10.213)
known.
Juliene Haskins (20:18.287)
Mm-hmm, I think so too.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:35.246)
tons of them and and you know just his passion and and love for the kids and wanting high school kids to get a diploma you know that’s part of what they do and it just is it’s so it they I don’t know it’s just not enough words to go to have somebody who wants them to be successful in their life is just a beautiful thing.
Juliene Haskins (20:43.537)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (20:58.275)
It is, and we’re really lucky. We have so many fabulous parents and they are trying their best. And so together with us trying our best and them trying their best and getting more people on teams, some are on even a wraparound team with more community members supporting and bringing to the table things that someone else has never thought of, we’re lucky that way. And…
Lighthouse Therapy (21:06.2)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (21:26.551)
Some of our kids are older and they come to us older. And so the way that they’ve been doing things is the way they’ve been doing things. And it works for them, but it doesn’t necessarily work out there in society or in the mainstream. And so we’re trying to…
Lighthouse Therapy (21:36.782)
Mmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:42.72)
Right. Man.
Juliene Haskins (21:46.745)
not reprogram, just help them see there’s other ways I can do this and it will also work for me. so together.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:51.682)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (21:57.539)
A lot of times we come up with some pretty good solutions and then we celebrate when the kids transition back to their home school and the whole school gives them a clap out and everything’s very exciting. But we also celebrate when they come in the door. Yeah, you’re here. This is awesome. And you know, when they’re getting character awards and such, it’s it’s nice to let them feel.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:03.768)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:11.798)
Yeah. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (22:21.891)
what we see when we see greatness. So we put it in writing and we put it on a piece of paper and we get them their picture. And so we have fun too and I think that it’s important because school is school.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:25.134)
Mm-hmm. Awesome.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:35.415)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:40.3)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (22:41.073)
You know, you don’t like school, you don’t like school. You don’t have to have a behavior IEP to say, I don’t like school. School’s tough. It’s not for everybody. So we are fortunate to have, you know, 13 different districts filtering in. And right now we have 44 kids, small. And so we can all come together. Like one of the things we do every Friday is fun Friday. And if you are in…
Lighthouse Therapy (22:48.374)
Right? Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (23:11.107)
a separate room, you are in trouble, you haven’t done any work all day, you’re still invited. You’re part of the family. So you come and kids know it. I had a kid in here the other day, Friday, and he said, I know we’re talking about a lot of things. Are we doing Fun Friday though? I’m like, yeah, shoot, it is. Let’s get out there. And so I think that giving everybody something to look forward to
Lighthouse Therapy (23:16.873)
right.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:30.922)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (23:41.359)
And you know, get times when I’m like, I’m not doing enough of that. I swear I’m working every minute that I possibly can, but I always want to do more. I do. And so letting people help me do more is my way to give as much as I can. And I think that that’s important. It depends.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:42.274)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:50.867)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:00.918)
Right. What grade are they when they come to you? Like, are you only high school or do you do? Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (24:06.321)
Nope, we are K through transition and transition is, know, after high school. So it just depends. We might have kids who tried, you know, they had a functional behavior assessment, they went on a behavior intervention plan at their home school, they went through a bunch of channels to try to make change. And sometimes when we work together,
Lighthouse Therapy (24:13.389)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (24:32.785)
The kid never needs to come. We figure it out. They don’t need to come. Um, when they do, then we just do a process of going over and seeing them there, seeing so we can see what’s happening and then having them come here for a visit and a tour. And, um, almost always the kids are like, can I start tomorrow? I mean, it’s just, it’s just a different opportunity. Um,
Lighthouse Therapy (24:46.595)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:57.904)
huh. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (25:03.117)
and some of them just need change right now. Sometimes we get to the point with a kid here, they’re not necessarily ready, but they need a change or it’s going to go backwards. so we recognize those things too, which is good. So we get them at all ages. And I know there’s a lot of schools like this and there’s a lot of units within a regular district kind of off on the side. And
Lighthouse Therapy (25:13.612)
Right.
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:29.656)
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (25:31.907)
It has been beneficial for kids to see that there are other kids who struggle, whatever it is, whatever sets them off or makes them accelerate their behavior a little bit. They’re not alone. Other people experience it so we can have these conversations where they might feel singled out because they’re the only one struggling like that in a particular larger classroom.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:40.568)
Right.
Juliene Haskins (25:59.601)
sometimes it’s a problem. You know, they’ll feed off each other and and we have a moment and then we have to have a whole class meeting and and go through what do we really want here, you know. So that kids have seen a lot of success and families know that they can reach out. We can work together. We can get more people involved and we can do all the things and we still can struggle.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:03.357)
Mm, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:14.382)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:29.646)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (26:29.937)
But we’re a team, so we’ll struggle together and we’ll figure it out together. And we’re not going to quit and stop trying.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:40.899)
Yeah. Well, that’s the beauty of it for them is that you’re not going to give up on them and they know that you’re not going to give up on them and they may not know that when they start, but as they get to know you and trust you, you know, that’s wow. Yeah. Yeah. So do the, some of them graduate from the alternative learning center? So you do have kids that just stay and then they graduate with and go.
Juliene Haskins (26:57.699)
I know.
Juliene Haskins (27:04.165)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yep, we had a graduation mid-year this year. She was able to knock it out in the first semester. And so now some of our older high schoolers are kind of reined in a little bit. Right? They’re like, wait, I want to be able to do that next year. I’m only a junior. I’m a sophomore, and I want to get out at the end of my junior year, you think? So we can work with them. What we want is for them to have a diploma.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:12.603)
nice.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:24.034)
Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:28.558)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (27:34.993)
Some kids go back and then they earn it. Their diploma will read their homeschool because we’re an extension of the homeschool. So it’s gonna come from where they come from. And they still can do all the activities and everything that they wanna do at their homeschool as long as they’re eligible. So that also encourages good grades and hard work. Yeah. So.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:41.752)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (27:51.982)
Mm hmm. Great. Yeah. Good grades. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Well, Julene has been an incredible conversation. Obviously you’re very passionate. The kids win because of your passion and because of what you’re doing and because of the people that you have around you. And I love that for them. And I love that for Sandusky. And I love that for those 44 kids and all of the kids that come before them and all of the kids that are kind of come after because
Juliene Haskins (28:18.865)
Thank
Lighthouse Therapy (28:20.782)
It isn’t just 44 kids. a, it’s a whole line of students that you’ve touched. And that’s the beauty of education, isn’t it? Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (28:28.675)
It is, it is. It’s hard when they go, because you wonder, how are they doing? What’s going on? That’s probably the hardest part of education. That’s the other wellness piece. You’ve got to let go when you need to let go, and you just hold on tight when you need to do that also. And then the kids come around. They really do. It really is so…
Lighthouse Therapy (28:33.742)
Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (28:49.154)
Sounds like sounds like parenting too, doesn’t it?
Juliene Haskins (28:53.733)
parallel and I always said that I’m a better mother because I’m an educator and I’m a better educator because I’m a mother and even even if you’re not and you’re in education you are getting a taste of what parenting is all about for sure without question but it’s been a journey and it’s been a lot of a lot of fun and a lot of continued learning
Lighthouse Therapy (28:54.648)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (28:58.573)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:11.187)
Mm for sure. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (29:21.137)
and I’ve just really been enjoying it and I’m in a good place. So the kids and the families, I hope they feel like they’re in a good place too. It’s really important and the staff and everyone so.
Lighthouse Therapy (29:30.838)
Yeah, yeah. So where do people go if they want to learn a little bit more or maybe they have a question that they think that you might be able to answer for them?
Juliene Haskins (29:41.115)
They could look up North Point Educational Service Center online and there is a website there. My email is jhaskins, H-A-S-K-I-N-S, at npesc.org for northpointeducationalservicecenter.org. And I’m a schoolie at heart, so I’m always working.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:03.926)
Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear you. Well, thank you. It has been an absolute pleasure. I know there are so many nuggets that of wisdom that we’ve gotten from this. I’m excited to see how they because you know, they take the whole thing and then we give you the audio and then we get to the video. But then they break it up and they give you like nuggets that you can use. And I’m just always fascinated with how they do that. My editing team, I don’t do that part. I got I got really smart people on that on the back end that do all of that stuff. I don’t do that stuff.
Juliene Haskins (30:27.353)
I know, that’s cool. That’s cool.
Juliene Haskins (30:32.689)
Can I tell you one thing that I heard in one of your podcasts that I thought, I don’t know, I want to see how she feels about this other flip philosophy. So you had said something, you were in a conversation about, you know, doing all the, you know, response to intervention work and the multi-tiered systems of support.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:35.022)
That’s it.
Lighthouse Therapy (30:56.18)
Uh-huh. MTSS, uh-huh.
Juliene Haskins (30:58.199)
that hopefully you get through those things and then a child doesn’t have to go on an IEP. And it’s funny because in my heart I was like, the ideal world everyone would be on an IEP and they would all have specialized individualized education and like right away I was like, but…
Lighthouse Therapy (31:04.739)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:11.761)
yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:20.598)
Yeah. So the point I think of the, of the conversation was not into special education, right? So getting fine, identifying a child when they’re little and, going, we can do this thing that will help them. We can give them this six week intervention that will bring them up. I had that for myself. It wasn’t called MTSS.
Juliene Haskins (31:25.989)
Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (31:31.023)
early.
Lighthouse Therapy (31:44.462)
45 years ago 50 years ago, whatever it was I was probably more like 50 years ago because I couldn’t read I was I went from second grade to third grade and I wasn’t reading well and I Spent I went to summer school. I was the stupid kid that had to go to summer school You know and that that’s what it felt like for me at that time But that intervention changed my life, right? It changed my educational path I hated school and then I got to the place where I could read and it was fun and I loved school again
Juliene Haskins (31:44.611)
No, right?
Juliene Haskins (31:58.671)
to them respond.
Juliene Haskins (32:07.524)
Absolutely.
Lighthouse Therapy (32:13.46)
And so giving them that ability to be able to function and not have to have extra support because there is a stigma that comes with being on an IEP that kids do, you know, you know, there I wish there, I wish there wasn’t either, but yeah. And I agree with you every child. And I’ve talked about this on the show before too.
Juliene Haskins (32:28.485)
I wish there wasn’t. I wish that’s my problem. Yeah. I wish there wasn’t a stigma.
Lighthouse Therapy (32:38.326)
There is definitely a movement in the United States and in education that I’ve seen and I love it because we’re finally looking at each child and going, this is how this child learns. This is the things that this child loves. These are the things that he wants or she wants to do in the future. So let’s tailor that education and that, and their program to them, individualized education on a all child level, not in just special education.
but in every single child that comes through. Yeah, beautiful, wouldn’t it be? And I think that there is, I think there’s movement towards that, but I think AI is gonna make movement towards that so much easier because it’s going to allow for more looking at, you know, looking at the child’s and looking at not just the data, but it can take that data and it can take the information about that child and.
Juliene Haskins (33:08.849)
Tier one. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (33:33.44)
all these other crazy things that we do as educators and boil it down in two seconds. Yeah. And then go, Hey, this is probably a pathway that would be really great for this child. And maybe there’s, maybe there’s people that put it in and maybe there’s a parent question here. I don’t know. I’m not the, I’m not the AI expert, but I know that it is something that’s coming and having the ability to first of all, identify kids that are struggling before they get too far along is amazing and give them that MTSS support.
Juliene Haskins (33:35.215)
Yeah, that quickly. Uh-huh. Exciting.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:02.466)
but also taking all children and going, hey, you’re gonna be really amazing at this thing. Let’s give you the tools to do that thing. And if you don’t like it, so what? We can pivot. Like you were talking about, let’s pivot on a dime. When you have that ability, you can, you absolutely can. And I love to see that in education because it’s education in the 21st century. And that’s really where an education needs to be. And people are doing it, I know they are.
Juliene Haskins (34:07.055)
you need.
Juliene Haskins (34:16.817)
gonna do it.
Mm-hmm.
Juliene Haskins (34:27.409)
Absolutely.
Juliene Haskins (34:31.887)
Whoa, yeah. Yeah, I thought about that and I like that. And I think everything you were saying about giving them exactly what they need, that’s part of being able to love the tough kid. Once you give them everything they need, it all becomes easier. It really, really does.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:32.27)
So thanks for asking me that question. That’s a great question.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:45.804)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (34:49.26)
Yeah, yeah. And when you tailor it to how they learn and to, I’ve said before too, no child intends to be bad. I know there’s things that kids do that it looks like they’re just trying to be bad, but there’s always underlying stuff that’s going on with them, whether they can express it or not. Sometimes you have to be the detective to figure it out, right? And that’s what you do a lot. kids aren’t inherently bad, they’re not.
That’s why I love the fact that there are programs like what you’re doing because it’s a tough job, but the kids are learning and loved because of it. So keep up the good work. Yeah. Yeah.
Juliene Haskins (35:25.306)
Yeah, yeah.
Juliene Haskins (35:29.873)
Good. I’m glad. Thank you so much. I’m happy to have spoken to you and keep up the things that you are doing, putting it out there, giving us all an avenue to explore other people’s experiences and maybe get a little something out of it. I think that that’s great.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:41.912)
Thanks.
Lighthouse Therapy (35:51.054)
Yeah, I’m telling you God is using this show in ways I can’t even imagine. He’s, you know this about me. I’m just, I’m a Christian and God has been so incredibly faithful with everything that I do because I just keep, I keep giving it back to him because ultimately, you know, we can’t take any of it with us, but we can take the love that we give to others with us. And that’s the part, you know, we’re putting that forward. We’re moving that forward.
Juliene Haskins (36:19.971)
yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (36:21.406)
Sending it on ahead send the love on ahead. I love that and that and that’s why I love education and service so much too You know just you keep there’s no price tag you can put on that no price tag. So Yeah All right. Well, god bless you. It’s been great to have you on the show I can’t wait to see the reels and see what they do. It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be great So have and have a great rest of it’s for those of you that are listening to this when it comes out today is February 25th, so
Juliene Haskins (36:24.529)
Absolutely.
Juliene Haskins (36:28.945)
paying it forward. Nope, not at all.
Juliene Haskins (36:39.02)
I know, we’re fun.
Lighthouse Therapy (36:49.56)
Have a
Juliene Haskins (36:52.087)
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much. Bye.
