The Table | The Deans' Roundtable Podcast Series

Bridget Johnson
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Dive into the world of K-12 education leadership with The Table Podcast Series. Host Bridget Johnson, a veteran educator with 20+ years of experience, brings you insightful conversations on innovation and best practices in student life. Each episode features thought-provoking discussions with top educators, administrators, and industry experts. We tackle pressing challenges in modern education, from crisis management to building inclusive communities, offering strategies that shape the future of learning. Whether you're a seasoned administrator or an aspiring leader, you'll gain: -Practical advice for navigating complex educational environments -Innovative approaches to student life management -Insights on creating impactful, resilient learning spaces Join us as we explore cutting-edge ideas and time-tested wisdom to help you excel in your educational leadership journey. Subscribe now and transform your approach to K-12 education! #EducationLeadership #K12Innovation #StudentLife

  1. Student Support as Infrastructure: Hidden Leadership | Sherann Alkins

    9h ago

    Student Support as Infrastructure: Hidden Leadership | Sherann Alkins

    Student Support as Infrastructure: Hidden Leadership | Sherann Alkins What if your counseling team isn't a service sitting next to the school, but the infrastructure the whole school depends on? In this episode, Bridget Johnson talks with Sherann Alkins, LICSW, CAGS, founder of Counselor and Concierge and a 20-plus-year school counselor, assistant principal, and principal, about treating student support as central infrastructure rather than a department or program. Sherann names the hidden leadership of these teams as two things, visibility and capacity, and explains why their data has to connect to achievement instead of staying siloed. Bridget and Sherann, who share a restorative-practices foundation, get specific about building trust across adults, giving counselors a seat at the leadership table, designing with people rather than doing things to them, and making advisory a true psychosocial space. They close on the harder questions Sherann now researches about AI, student voice, and student mental health. It's a conversation for anyone building strong student life systems and tired of doing it alone. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why student support is central school infrastructure, not a standalone service What "hidden leadership" means, and how visibility and capacity unlock a counseling team How to make student support data translate to achievement, not just attendance Why counselors and deans belong on the leadership team, and how to claim that seat What "design with you, not for you" protects, and what breaks when schools skip the "with" Why advisory falls short, and what makes it a real psychosocial space What ethical AI integration demands when student voice and mental health are at stake Featured Guest: Sherann Alkins, LICSW, CAGS, is the founder of Counselor and Concierge and a former school counselor, assistant principal, and principal with more than two decades in student support, school culture, and leadership. A Doctor of Social Work candidate at USC, she researches school counseling leadership, trust and belonging, and the ethical integration of AI into student-centered practice. Connect with Sherann: @counselorandconcierge across all platforms Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org Community: https://bit.ly/drt-community-profile LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: bridget@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K-12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    42 min
  2. Advisory Done Right: Why "Fine" Isn't Good Enough | Alan Brown

    Jun 8

    Advisory Done Right: Why "Fine" Isn't Good Enough | Alan Brown

    **Sign up for the Advisory Alignment Collective Program! Advisory Done Right: Why "Fine" Isn't Good Enough | Alan Brown What if your advisory program isn't failing because of your advisors, but because of how it was designed? Most schools have advisory. Far fewer have an advisory that works. In this episode of The Table, Bridget Johnson and her business partner, educator and former dean of students Alan Brown, pull back the curtain on the Advisory Alignment Collective, the program they built to help schools move advisory from a vague good idea to a meaningful student experience. Bridget and Alan name what so often goes unsaid: being an advisor is a real professional skill, and the presenting problem (advisors who "aren't cut out for it") is rarely the actual problem. More often it lives in the container, unclear purpose, no job description, design decisions that quietly pull advisory away from connection. Their answer is a two-phase model: an advisory audit for administrators and an advisory playbook for advisors, grounded in the difference between how to do advisory and how to be an advisor. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why "we have advisory" and "we have an advisory that works" are two very different things Why a strong teacher is not automatically a strong advisor, and which skills actually transfer How structural design decisions shape whether advisory builds connection or erodes it Why advisors so often feel lonely, and what alignment, connection, and support look like in practice How a clear purpose and job description reduce guesswork and stabilize a program Why uneven advisor experience creates real inequity for students What the Advisory Alignment Collective's two-phase audit and playbook involve Featured Guest Alan Brown is an educator, coach, and former dean of students, and co-founder with Bridget Johnson of the Advisory Alignment Collective. He brings mindfulness, positive psychology, and nervous-system-informed practices to his work helping schools build cultures of belonging, wellbeing, and connection. Resources Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org Community: https://bit.ly/drt-community-profile LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: bridget@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K-12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    47 min
  3. Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek

    Jun 1

    Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek

    Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek You wouldn't smell it on a student—and you won't find it in a backpack. So how do you spot the addiction that's quietly reaching your hallways? Host Bridget Johnson talks with Saul Malek, professional speaker and America's emerging voice on the modern gambling landscape, about youth gambling as an overlooked student wellness issue. Saul's addiction began with a single $10 bet in college and grew into a $20,000+ spiral that cost him relationships, sleep, and nearly his life before he entered recovery in 2019. Drawing on his work in schools nationwide, Saul explains why gambling is a "subtle and progressive" addiction that online access has accelerated, how it's now reaching students through video games and microtransactions, and what student life leaders can actually do about it—from screening questions to handbook policy to parent education. In this episode, you'll learn: Why gambling addiction is so easy to hide—and which warning signs actually matter How a small first bet escalates into a full-blown addiction Why online access has sped up how fast students get hooked How gambling is reaching middle schoolers through gaming and loot boxes How schools can balance accountability with treatment and protect students who ask for help Featured Guest: Saul Malek is a professional speaker and founder of Saul Malek Speaking LLC who has been in recovery from gambling addiction since 2019. He delivers assemblies, workshops, and parent and faculty sessions on youth gambling for schools nationwide, with his story featured by the New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Dr. Phil Primetime. Recommended Resources:  Connect with Saul Malek — Website: https://www.saulmalek.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulmalek/ | Instagram: @SaulMalekSpeaking Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: info@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K–12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    1 hr
  4. Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek

    Jun 1

    Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek

    Youth Sports Betting: The Hidden Addiction in Schools | Saul Malek You wouldn't smell it on a student—and you won't find it in a backpack. So how do you spot the addiction that's quietly reaching your hallways? Host Bridget Johnson talks with Saul Malek, professional speaker and America's emerging voice on the modern gambling landscape, about youth gambling as an overlooked student wellness issue. Saul's addiction began with a single $10 bet in college and grew into a $20,000+ spiral that cost him relationships, sleep, and nearly his life before he entered recovery in 2019. Drawing on his work in schools nationwide, Saul explains why gambling is a "subtle and progressive" addiction that online access has accelerated, how it's now reaching students through video games and microtransactions, and what student life leaders can actually do about it—from screening questions to handbook policy to parent education. In this episode, you'll learn: Why gambling addiction is so easy to hide—and which warning signs actually matter How a small first bet escalates into a full-blown addiction Why online access has sped up how fast students get hooked How gambling is reaching middle schoolers through gaming and loot boxes How schools can balance accountability with treatment and protect students who ask for help Featured Guest: Saul Malek is a professional speaker and founder of Saul Malek Speaking LLC who has been in recovery from gambling addiction since 2019. He delivers assemblies, workshops, and parent and faculty sessions on youth gambling for schools nationwide, with his story featured by the New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Dr. Phil Primetime. Recommended Resources:  Connect with Saul Malek — Website: https://www.saulmalek.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulmalek/ | Instagram: @SaulMalekSpeaking Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: info@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K–12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    59 min
  5. Beyond Spreadsheets: Fixing Student Support with August Schools

    May 26

    Beyond Spreadsheets: Fixing Student Support with August Schools

    Beyond Spreadsheets: Fixing Student Support with August Schools Your school has a counselor, a nurse, a dean, a learning specialist, and a dozen advisors — but are they actually working with the same picture of each student? For most independent schools, the honest answer is no. Student support data lives in spiral notebooks, unsecured Google Docs, disconnected email threads, and the memory of whoever happened to be in the room. That's not a technology problem. It's a student care problem. In this episode, Bridget Johnson sits down with Pete Russell, co-founder of August Schools, and Victoria Bush, product manager at August Schools, to explore what a truly connected student support system looks like — and what it costs schools when they don't have one. From continuity of care to behavior management, from documentation and legal risk to the potential of AI-informed workflows, this conversation gives school leaders a framework for thinking about student support infrastructure in a new way. What you'll hear isn't a product pitch. It's a practitioner-level conversation about why students are slipping through the cracks, what data schools are sitting on but not using, and why the nurse's office is often the first place student distress shows up — and the last place that information travels.     In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why disconnected support systems create gaps in student care — and how schools can start closing them How continuity of care breaks down at school transitions, and what that costs students and institutions What role-based data access looks like in practice — protecting privacy while giving leaders the context they need Why proper documentation isn't just good practice; it's a school's best legal protection How one school's data revealed an 80/20 gender split in counseling visits — and what they did about it What attendance patterns actually signal about student belonging and disengagement How AI-informed student support tools may reshape school workflows in the next five years     Featured Guests: Pete Russell is co-founder of August Schools, a platform built for student health, wellbeing, and support in K–12 independent schools. He holds an MBA from Yale and spent over a decade in strategy and product development before founding August in 2021 in response to the collapse of school support systems during the pandemic. Victoria Bush is a Product Manager at August Schools who works directly with school counselors, nurses, learning specialists, and deans to build tools that reflect how schools actually support students. She holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and brings a background in product marketing and health tech.     Recommended Resources: August Schools: https://augustschools.com     Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: info@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K–12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    48 min
  6. Nature as the Classroom: Healing Teen Isolation | Manny Almonte

    May 18

    Nature as the Classroom: Healing Teen Isolation | Manny Almonte

    Nature as the Classroom: Healing Teen Isolation | Manny Almonte What if the most isolated young men in your community aren't missing a mentor program—they're missing a campfire? Teen social isolation has been declared a national epidemic, and young men of color are carrying a particular kind of loneliness that schools and traditional mentorship programs often fail to reach. In this episode, Bridget Johnson speaks with Manny Almonte—founder of Mastermind Connect and the nonprofit Camping to Connect—about what happens when you take young men out of the environment that's failing them and bring them into nature with no phones, no performance, and no competition. Manny shares how a men's accountability circle became the blueprint for a youth outdoor program now operating in New York, Colorado, and Los Angeles. He walks through what a first camping trip looks like for a teenager who has never left his neighborhood, what fear of the quiet reveals about trauma, and why he says "healing happens through connection." This is a conversation for every educator who senses their students are lonelier than they can name. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why teen social isolation is a systemic issue that goes beyond screens and social media How competition and emotional masking among young men is conditioned from childhood—and how to interrupt it Why nature is uniquely powerful for social-emotional learning with young men who distrust traditional institutions What "fear of the dark" and "fear of quiet" can tell you about a student's trauma history How Camping to Connect creates conditions for authentic vulnerability without coercion Why young men of color often can't trust school counselors—and what actually earns it How schools can partner with programs like Camping to Connect to extend their student support reach Featured Guest: Manny Almonte is the founder of Mastermind Connect and Camping to Connect, a BIPOC-led nonprofit confronting teen social isolation through outdoor experiences grounded in social-emotional learning, mentorship, and brotherhood. His work has been recognized by the NYC Department of Education, the Brooklyn Borough President, and the National Recreation Foundation (2023 Robert W. Crawford Achievement Prize). His award-winning short film Wood Hood has been featured on NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. 🌐 campingtoconnect.org | mastermindconnect.com     Recommended Resources: Wood Hood (short film documentary): Search "Wood Hood film" or visit campingtoconnect.org Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (referenced in episode re: mastermind concept)     Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deans-roundtable Email: bridget@deansroundtable.org The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K–12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    1h 5m
  7. The Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline: What Every Educator Needs to Know

    May 7

    The Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline: What Every Educator Needs to Know

    The Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline: What Every Educator Needs to Know What if the student disrupting your classroom isn't defiant—but dysregulated? In this episode of The Table Podcast Series, Bridget Johnson sits down with Dr. Dana Ainsworth to explore the trauma-to-prison pipeline and what it means for schools today. Drawing from her doctoral research, Dr. Ainsworth explains how childhood adversity, toxic stress, and systemic policies shape student behavior—and why traditional discipline approaches often make things worse. This conversation reframes behavior as communication and challenges educators to respond with curiosity, not punishment. It also offers practical, science-backed strategies that schools can begin implementing immediately. In this episode, you'll learn: How childhood adversity impacts brain development and behavior Why exclusionary discipline escalates rather than resolves dysregulation What is happening in a student's nervous system during a meltdown The role of supportive relationships in buffering stress and building resilience Why "regulation-first" classrooms improve both behavior and learning Simple, low-cost tools to support student regulation in everyday practice Why adult co-regulation is critical to student success Featured Guest: Dr. Dana Ainsworth holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Justice and focuses her research on the trauma-to-prison pipeline. With over 15 years in education, she now leads Tomorrow House, supporting schools in building trauma-informed, regulation-centered environments. Resources: Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org Community Profile: https://bit.ly/drt-community-profile LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-johnson510/ Email: info@deansroundtable.org Tomorrow House: https://tomorrowhouse.co The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    46 min
  8. Faculty Onboarding Done Right: Retention Starts Here | Meera Shah

    May 4

    Faculty Onboarding Done Right: Retention Starts Here | Meera Shah

    Faculty Onboarding Done Right: Retention Starts Here | Meera Shah What if your school's biggest retention strategy isn't compensation—but onboarding? In this episode of The Table Podcast Series, Bridget Johnson sits down with Meera Shah, founder of Tray Education, to explore what faculty onboarding should actually look like in independent schools—and why most programs fall short. Meera reframes onboarding as a full journey: from the moment a candidate first encounters your school, through hiring, summer communication, orientation, mentorship, and into year two and beyond. Together, they unpack how schools can move from transactional onboarding to relationship-centered induction that builds belonging, clarity, and long-term success. In this episode, you'll learn: Why onboarding begins before a contract is signed—and how to use that time intentionally The hidden costs of weak onboarding: burnout, misalignment, and turnover The three purposes of mentorship programs—and why most schools get them wrong How department chairs can anchor instructional onboarding within their teams What years two and three should look like—and how to support faculty beyond survival mode How onboarding connects to your broader professional development culture Featured Guest: Meera Shah is the founder and lead consultant of Tray Education, with over 20 years of experience in independent schools as a teacher, department chair, academic dean, and assistant head for teaching and learning. She specializes in faculty onboarding, mentorship program design, and leadership development for middle leaders. Resources: Visit the Deans' Roundtable: https://deansroundtable.org Community: https://bit.ly/drt-community-profile LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-johnson510/ Email: info@deansroundtable.org Tray Education: https://www.treyeducation.com Contact Meera: meera@treyeducation.com The Table Podcast Series: Where student life professionals and K–12 educational leaders connect, learn, share, and grow together.

    48 min
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

Dive into the world of K-12 education leadership with The Table Podcast Series. Host Bridget Johnson, a veteran educator with 20+ years of experience, brings you insightful conversations on innovation and best practices in student life. Each episode features thought-provoking discussions with top educators, administrators, and industry experts. We tackle pressing challenges in modern education, from crisis management to building inclusive communities, offering strategies that shape the future of learning. Whether you're a seasoned administrator or an aspiring leader, you'll gain: -Practical advice for navigating complex educational environments -Innovative approaches to student life management -Insights on creating impactful, resilient learning spaces Join us as we explore cutting-edge ideas and time-tested wisdom to help you excel in your educational leadership journey. Subscribe now and transform your approach to K-12 education! #EducationLeadership #K12Innovation #StudentLife

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