Our Mission
Teachers Aligned's mission is to empower educators with tools and information related to mindfulness, trauma-informed practices, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, yoga, self-care, neuroscience, psychology, and teacher wellness.
Our Values
1. All teachers deserve to work in an environment where they feel supported, respected, and treated as the professionals they are.
2. All teachers deserve to be mentally and physically well and should be given the time and resources to take care of themselves.
3. Teacher workdays should generally be no longer than eight hours. Teachers should be provided at least ninety minutes of self-directed time each day to plan, grade, rest, walk, meditate, pray, collaborate, eat, read, etc.
4. Teachers should be given a reasonable amount of work to complete. Unnecessary meetings, paperwork, and tasks should be eliminated. Anything that can be included in an e-mail should not be presented in a faculty meeting.
5. Teachers have the right to a vibrant life outside of school. They should be afforded quality time to spend with their families and friends and pursue hobbies and interests.
6. The current "test and punish" culture that overemphasizes standardized testing has caused significant damage to teachers and the students they serve. We must work to dismantle a system that values data more than humanity and build a new one that truly serves the whole child and allows educators greater autonomy and creativity. We must rethink accountability, broadening the scope of our definition of success rather than continuing our myopic obsession with narrow, incomplete, and unreliable measures of student achievement.
7. Teachers should have significant input on the professional development they receive. Professional development should be relevant, interesting, and as interactive as possible.
8. Teacher stress is currently an epidemic. It is a moral duty for education leaders to address stressful working conditions and provide support to teachers who are struggling mentally and physically.
9. Teachers should have the time to exercise and be encouraged to develop healthy habits.
10. Schools should provide healthy lunch choices for all teachers.
11. The heart and passion teachers have for their students should not be exploited in ways that leave them burned out and unhealthy.
12. We do not accept attempts to gaslight educators when they assume the role of advocate by implying that they are not putting their "students first." We categorically reject attempts by anyone to manipulate teachers by making them feel guilty for standing up for themselves and their profession.
2. All teachers deserve to be mentally and physically well and should be given the time and resources to take care of themselves.
3. Teacher workdays should generally be no longer than eight hours. Teachers should be provided at least ninety minutes of self-directed time each day to plan, grade, rest, walk, meditate, pray, collaborate, eat, read, etc.
4. Teachers should be given a reasonable amount of work to complete. Unnecessary meetings, paperwork, and tasks should be eliminated. Anything that can be included in an e-mail should not be presented in a faculty meeting.
5. Teachers have the right to a vibrant life outside of school. They should be afforded quality time to spend with their families and friends and pursue hobbies and interests.
6. The current "test and punish" culture that overemphasizes standardized testing has caused significant damage to teachers and the students they serve. We must work to dismantle a system that values data more than humanity and build a new one that truly serves the whole child and allows educators greater autonomy and creativity. We must rethink accountability, broadening the scope of our definition of success rather than continuing our myopic obsession with narrow, incomplete, and unreliable measures of student achievement.
7. Teachers should have significant input on the professional development they receive. Professional development should be relevant, interesting, and as interactive as possible.
8. Teacher stress is currently an epidemic. It is a moral duty for education leaders to address stressful working conditions and provide support to teachers who are struggling mentally and physically.
9. Teachers should have the time to exercise and be encouraged to develop healthy habits.
10. Schools should provide healthy lunch choices for all teachers.
11. The heart and passion teachers have for their students should not be exploited in ways that leave them burned out and unhealthy.
12. We do not accept attempts to gaslight educators when they assume the role of advocate by implying that they are not putting their "students first." We categorically reject attempts by anyone to manipulate teachers by making them feel guilty for standing up for themselves and their profession.
Our People
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Dr. Ram Bhagat
Dr. Bhagat received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from VCU, where he specialized in a regional approach to school diversity. His post-doctoral work is in the areas of Restorative Justice in Education, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience, Social Emotional Learning, and Culturally Responsive Mindfulness practices. He fulfilled the requirements for his MEd in School and Community Counseling from Virginia State University, where he concentrated in group counseling, with a keen focus on African American males affected by gun violence. Ram received Bachelor of Science degrees in Microbiology from Virginia State University and Science Education from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Bhagat is currently serving as Manager of School Climate and Culture Strategy for Richmond Public Schools. His primary role is to envision, design, and connect trauma informed practices and restorative practices to schools and communities throughout the district. He intends to help lead RPS and its partners in the creation of a sustainable and transformative paradigm of equitable and just learning environments for all students.
Dr. Bhagat is an adjunct faculty member at Eastern Mennonite University’s Graduate Teacher Education program and certified trainer of Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Dr. Bhagat’s unique approach to Trauma Sensitive Restorative Practices, called Massive Resilience, is rooted in the science of yoga and de-colonized mindfulness practices.
Dr. Bhagat is actively involved in healing the effects of racial trauma within communities of color, as a leader of Emotional Emancipation Circles in Virginia.
In the early 1990s, Ram co-founded Drums No Guns (DNG) world percussion ensemble to engage youth in “healing community with rhythm.” More than two decades later, the Drums No Guns, Foundation continues to work around the country with youth traumatized by gun violence, using drumming, dance, drama, and culturally responsive contemplative practices.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Dr. Bhagat, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Jed Dearybury
Jed Dearybury began his education career in 2001. During his 13 year early childhood classroom tenure, Jed received numerous awards. He was featured in GQ Magazine as Male Leader of the Year, met President Obama as the SC winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and was named as a top 5 finalist for South Carolina Teacher of the Year because of his passion, love, and success in education. Since 2015, he has become an educational leader by providing quality, hands-on, engaging learning experiences for students and teachers across the country.
His goal: Equip, Encourage, Empower!
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Jed, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Jordanna Egan
Jordanna Egan began her education career in 2006. She is currently working for Broward County Public Schools as a second grade teacher at Tropical Elementary. She is a teacher leader in her district. Her instruction is very energetic, hands-on, and engaging. The last few years she has concentrated on Social Emotional Learning in the classroom. She finds that developing these skills is pivotal for success. She believes in the power of relationships. As a DonorsChoose Ambassador, she loves to assist teachers in obtaining resources for their students, especially when they are aligned to our mission! Jordanna is the Director or Social Media at Teachers Aligned.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Jordanna, you can e-mail her at [email protected]
Lisa Ellis
Lisa Ellis is the founder of SC for Ed, a teacher advocacy group whose goal is to place an extraordinary teacher in every classroom in South Carolina. Born and raised in South Carolina, Lisa Ellis’ path follows the quote “Not all who wander are lost.” Lisa earned a bachelor’s degree in English from College of Charleston, a master’s in Forest Resources Management from Clemson University, and another master’s in Organizational Leadership from Columbia College. During her educational career, she has taught English, Leadership, been a Director of Student Activities, and an Instructional Coach in 4 schools and 3 school districts. She will enter her 19th year of teaching as a journalism teacher at Blythewood High School. Lisa created the SC for Ed Facebook closed group as a community for SC educators to create a collective voice.
For more information on SC for Ed visit, https://www.scfored.org/.
You can also connect with them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/scfored/.
Mike Fanning
Senator Mike Fanning represents District 17 in South Carolina which includes Chester, Fairfield and York Counties. A military veteran and former high school social studies teacher, Senator Fanning has been a strong advocate for public education in South Carolina. In this episode, he discusses the importance of educators being involved in politics and provides valuable insights on current legislation that will impact the lives of teachers and their students.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Senator Fanning, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Kara Foster-Lee
Kara Foster-Lee is a veteran early childhood educator who currently serves as the Training Coordinator for the Child Protection Training Center at USC-Upstate in Spartanburg, SC. Kara incorporated mindfulness in her classroom for several years and completed the certification program offered through Mindful Schools. She has facilitated a number of trainings across the state related to trauma-informed and mindfulness practices, as well as the importance of self-care and how to create a positive classroom environment. She enjoys reading, yoga, and spending time with her dog Weezy. She looks forward to the day that heart smarts are as treasured as brain smarts.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Kara, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Erin Fox
Erin Fox is originally from Murphy, North Carolina, and she received her BSED in Secondary English Education from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. She earned her master’s degree in Gifted and Talented Education several years later from Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Fox was initially hired at Gaffney High School to be an English II teacher. During her seventeen years at Gaffney High she has taught Advanced Drama, Drama I, Introduction to Drama, Theatrical Movement, Academic Assistance, English I, English II, and English III. She loves working with students in a variety of ways, but most especially through the Fit2gether committee, the Miss Cherokeean Pageant, and the Homecoming Committee. Fox serves as the CCSD Employee Wellness Coordinator and creates and leads twice weekly workouts with faculty and staff members and their families across the district. She is married to her best friend, Danny Fox, and they have two children: a twelve-year old son, Jack, and an eight-year old daughter, Scout.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Erin, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Dr. Tish Jennings
Dr. Tish Jennings is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education. Her research places a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom, as articulated in her highly cited theoretical article "The Prosocial Classroom."
She recently led the team that developed CARE, a mindfulness-based professional development program shown to significantly improve teacher well-being, classroom interactions and student engagement in the largest randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based intervention designed specifically to address teacher occupational stress.
Earlier in her career, she spent more than 22 years as a teacher, school director and teacher educator. She is the author numerous Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom, The Trauma-Sensitive School: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching, and Mindfulness in the Pre-K-5 Classroom: Helping Students Stress Less and Learn More.
Currently, she is a professor of education at the University of Virginia. She is also leading the development of the Compassionate Schools Project curriculum, an integrated health and physical education program designed to align with state and national health and physical education standards, and is co-Investigator on a large randomized controlled trial being conducted in Louisville, KY, to evaluate the curriculum’s efficacy.
Debbie Lancaster
Debbie Hammond Lancaster, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, graduated with honors from Clemson University with a BA in Secondary Education and from Winthrop University with an MEd in Education Administration. She earned letters in two sports – basketball and volleyball – while on scholarship at Clemson, during a time when Title IX legislation was opening doors for female athletes. She is a 35-year veteran educator who has served as teacher, coach, and/or administrator on the college level and in elementary, middle, and high school settings.
As the 2018 District Teacher of the Year, Debbie currently teaches sixth grade language arts in a high poverty, award-winning school district. Her lifelong interest in human potential has led her to develop a mindful awareness practice which she applies in the classroom to assist students with focus, emotion regulation, and academic performance. She presents workshops for fellow teachers in her school district and throughout South Carolina on her published research “CALLM – Celebrating and Activating Leadership and Learning via Mindfulness.” She has expanded her research to include the effects of digital media and screen time addiction on learning and the brain for which mindfulness is one anti-dote. Her workshop, “Irresistible: How Digital Media and Devices Affect Learning and the Brain” is a favorite of parents of young learners.
Debbie enjoys competing in sprint triathlons, traveling, spending time with family, reading and writing in a variety of genres, and publishing or exhibiting her poetry. She and her husband David, recent empty-nesters, raised their two sons and two daughters in York, South Carolina. Their children are graduates or current students of Western Carolina University, Duke University, Emory University, Smith College, and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Their growing family includes two daughters-n-law, one son-in-law, and two precious grandchildren.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Debbie, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Lucy MacGregor
Lucy MacGregor holds space in which the vitality, authenticity and wisdom inherent within each person and organization becomes known to itself, grows and transforms in relationship with others, and catalyzes transformative learning and action around a common purpose.
During programs, participants connect with themselves through mindful reflection, social-emotional practices, and creative inquiry, they strengthen relationships in their family, community, or organization through collaborative processes including circle work, relating games, and other forms of process facilitation, and they formulate means to action around collective goals.
Lucy partners with youth programs, families, schools, and community organizations.
Lucy is the founder of Adventure Within Circle for Girls and co-founder of Design to Connect, LLC. You can find her facilitating at any of her programs, in her classroom at Rainbow Community School, or in her roles as Mindfulness Consultant at Rainbow Institute and online course guide for both Mindful Schools and Millennium Forum. Her contact information can be found at her website, www.designtoconnect.net. She is available for program design and facilitation as well as consulting.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Lucy, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Dr. Frank Morgan
Dr. Frank Morgan retired in 2018 after 43 years working in public education in Virginia and South Carolina.
He holds degrees from The College of Wooster in Ohio, Virginia Commonwealth University, and The College of William and Mary.
During his career, Dr. Morgan served as a teacher, coach, department chair, Director of Instruction, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent. His last position was Superintendent of the Kershaw County School District here in South Carolina from 2007-2018.
Dr. Morgan’s wife, Jean, is a retired teacher an his son, Mike, is a special education teacher in Lancaster County.
Dr. Morgan’s strongest belief about education is that all students can learn at a high level given adequate time and resources.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Dr. Morgan, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Jelena Popovic
Jelena is a school psychologist by training, a wanderer by choice and peacebuilder by heart. As a mom and Teaching Peace in Schools Leadership Council Lead for The Peace Alliance, Jelena aspires to educate, advocate and mobilize others in co-creating a culture of peace. She finds humility and mindfulness practices to be foundational building blocks in peace co-creation.
Her passion is facilitating dialogs that are grounded in mindful awareness and empathy thus she spends most of her time in the circle with educators, parents, and students.
Besides serving on the training team for Mindful Schools, Jelena facilitates virtual cross-cultural exchange dialogs through Soliya, guides Millenium Forum an online well-being circle for educators, is one of the advisors for the Cities4Peace, facilitated retreats for educators, leads international At Home In the World family mindfulness retreats, and is co-founder of Design to Connect LLC, an educational consulting organization, that assists schools in their efforts in skillful, integrated and sustainable whole-school implementation of mindfulness and peace education practices. She believes in the power of storytelling, playfulness and the importance of cultivating compassionate communities.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Jelena, you can e-mail her at [email protected]
TJ Rumler
TJ Rumler grew up in West Greenville, SC, seeing first-hand the impacts of poverty, addiction, and racism in his community. Two weeks after 9/11, he enlisted in the US Army. Deploying to Iraq allowed TJ to experience how difficult combat is on soldiers and their families, as well as many failures along the military’s journey towards successful treatment of PTSD. With encouragement from friends and family, TJ left a successful sales career and went back to complete a Master’s Degree in Social Work. Since entering the social work field, he has served fellow Veterans, individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, individuals with HIV/AIDS, children with behavioral and mental health struggles, and currently serves the students and families of Greenville County through his role as Trauma Informed Social Worker with Greenville County Schools. When his social work cape is in the closet, TJ enjoys traveling, writing, cycling, yoga, and chasing concerts. He believes in the saying, “life is short—buy the tickets.”
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with TJ, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Dr. Amy Saltzman
Dr. Amy Saltzman is a holistic physician, mindfulness coach, long-time athlete, devoted student of transformation, wife, mother and occasional poet. Her passion is supporting people of all ages in achieving peak performance and finding flow. She is recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer in the field of mindfulness for athletes, coaches, and other high performers, as well as for kids, teens, and parents. She offers individual holistic medical care, and both individual and team mindfulness coaching, in person and online, to athletes, coaches, children, adolescents, parents, teachers, therapists, allied professionals, and high tech executives and employees.
She is the author of A Still Quiet Place: A Mindfulness Program for Teaching Children and Adolescents to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions, A Still Quiet Place for Athletes: Mindfulness Skills for Achieving Peak Performance and Finding Flow in Sports and in Life, A Still Quiet Place for Teens: A Mindfulness Workbook to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions, and Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens.
You can read more about her work at http://www.stillquietplace.com/.
If you would like to sign up for her online training, go to http://www.stillquietplace.com/sqp-10-week-online-training/. Ask for CERRA or Teachers Aligned 10% off.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Dr. Saltzman, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
6
Todd Scholl
Todd spent 25 years in public education, retiring in 2020. He spent over fifteen years in the classroom and served as Coordinator of Communications and Program Development at South Carolina's Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA).
Todd has led over 100 sessions on mindfulness in education to schools and businesses across the state. He has also helped facilitate three teacher retreats. He is the founder of Teachers Aligned with the goal of connecting educators across the state who are interested in mindfulness, trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, social-emotional learning, yoga, neuroscience, psychology, and teacher wellness
Todd was born in Syracuse, NY. His father, Thomas, spent most of his career teaching special education. His mother, Nancy, was an elementary school teacher early in her career and later taught high school math. In 1986, Todd's family moved to Conway, SC and graduated from Conway High School in 1989. Four years later, he graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Journalism. Todd worked in the radio industry through college and thought that would be his career path. He eventually decided to follow his parents' footsteps into education. Todd lives in Myrtle Beach with his three children, Madison (20), Colin (16), and Sophia (11).
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Todd, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Todd Scholl
Todd spent 25 years in public education, retiring in 2020. He spent over fifteen years in the classroom and served as Coordinator of Communications and Program Development at South Carolina's Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA).
Todd has led over 100 sessions on mindfulness in education to schools and businesses across the state. He has also helped facilitate three teacher retreats. He is the founder of Teachers Aligned with the goal of connecting educators across the state who are interested in mindfulness, trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, social-emotional learning, yoga, neuroscience, psychology, and teacher wellness
Todd was born in Syracuse, NY. His father, Thomas, spent most of his career teaching special education. His mother, Nancy, was an elementary school teacher early in her career and later taught high school math. In 1986, Todd's family moved to Conway, SC and graduated from Conway High School in 1989. Four years later, he graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Journalism. Todd worked in the radio industry through college and thought that would be his career path. He eventually decided to follow his parents' footsteps into education. Todd lives in Myrtle Beach with his three children, Madison (20), Colin (16), and Sophia (11).
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Todd, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Techa Smalls-Brown
Techa Smalls-Brown is an artist in every sense of the word. Using her gifts to add beauty wherever she goes, Techa has been an educator for 20+ years with the Charleston County School District. As a teacher she has taught exceptional children, African-American studies at the secondary level, and Elementary Montessori. She is also endorsed as a Gifted and Talented Teacher and has recently completed the Omega Institute’s Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) program under the direction of Meena Srinivasan, Daniel Rechtschaffen and Linda Lantieri. As a result of this work, she is equipped to integrate mindfulness-based social-emotional techniques in academics as well as focusing on equity and ethical learning in schools and school systems. Techa is a true visionary. Currently she is working on an M. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Trauma and Resilience in educational settings through Concordia University, Portland. With this degree, Techa seeks to transform the lives of students and educators across the state teaching them about trauma, resilience, self-care as well as how to support students social, emotional, and academic development in education. Techa is married to her soul mate, Michael J. Brown who has been a part of her life for over 23 years. Techa is meditation teacher with Still Soul Studio in Charleston.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Techa, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Meena Srinivisan
Meena Srinivasan, MA, National Board Certified Teacher, is the Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) and prior to this role she spent five years working in partnership with the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) to implement SEL system-wide in the Oakland Unified School District. She is the author of Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom and SEL Every Day: Integrating SEL with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms. meenasrinivasan.com
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Meena, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Vikas Srivastava
Vikas P. Srivastava holds an MA in Education from Harvard (HGSE) in Education and a BA from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in Sociology. Vikas specializes in integrating mindfulness, nonviolence, creative confidence and an entrepreneurial mindset in educational design.
Vikas is currently serving as a full time Director of Mindfulness at Legacy Early College k-12 Charter School since 2018. His impact includes every grade level from kindergarten through high school, every department from teachers to counselors to HR to transportation, as well as parent workshops.
Vikas has worked as a professional educator since 1997. His roles have included counselor, teacher, administrator, consultant and public speaker. He has worked with the extremes of affluent and poor communities, as well as high and low achieving students (including special education). His experience ranges from outdoor classrooms, preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school and college. School sites include district, charter and private schools.
Vikas first presented Mindfulness based school design in 1999. However, it was a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in 2004 that served as the inspiration to commit to the practice and path of Mindfulness. As a full time classroom teacher from 2005 to 2013, he integrated Mindfulness into the culture of his classes. In 2013, he accepted a position as a school administrator and began integrating mindfulness schoolwide including administration, culture and curriculum. A breakthrough experience in 2016 at a Vippassana retreat in the spirit of S.N. Goenka significantly impacted his practice and framework in addition to the continued influence of Thich Naht Hanh.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Vikas, you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Danna Thomas
Danna Thomas is a former Baltimore City Public School teacher turned founder of a global initiative to support the mental health and wellness of educators. Her organization, Happy Teacher Revolution, is on a mission to increase teacher happiness, retention, and professional sustainability by providing educators with the time and space to heal, deal, and be real about the social-emotional demands they face on the job. Danna served as the national spokeswoman for the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Maryland and the “Music for Mental Health” campaign. She is the recipient of the 2019 Johns Hopkins Community Hero Award and the 2019 Winner of the Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab. Her favorite forms of self-care include playing backgammon, community hot yoga, and rocking out on the saxophone.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Danna, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Dr. Emily Whitecotton
Dr. Emily Whitecotton is a fifth grade teacher at the Center for Inquiry in Richland School District Two. Emily has earned a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, a Masters in Language and Literacy, and a PhD in Language and Literacy from the University of South Carolina. She has implemented a mindfulness program in her classroom and regularly advocates for mindfulness in public schools.
You can learn more about the Center for Inquiry at https://www.richland2.org/CFI/.
You can learn more about Upstream SC at https://upstreamsc.com/
Download a copy of Finding Our Anchor, a book on mindfulness produced by Dr. Whitecotton's students.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Emily, you can e-mail her at [email protected].
Dr. Emily Whitecotton is a fifth grade teacher at the Center for Inquiry in Richland School District Two. Emily has earned a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, a Masters in Language and Literacy, and a PhD in Language and Literacy from the University of South Carolina. She has implemented a mindfulness program in her classroom and regularly advocates for mindfulness in public schools.
You can learn more about the Center for Inquiry at https://www.richland2.org/CFI/.
You can learn more about Upstream SC at https://upstreamsc.com/
Download a copy of Finding Our Anchor, a book on mindfulness produced by Dr. Whitecotton's students.
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Emily, you can e-mail her at [email protected].