Schurtz and Ties: A podcast about education and culture
Inspired by the classroom, Kasey Schurtz and Brian T. Miller wrestle with how to become better teachers, leaders, and people.
Schurtz and Ties is sponsored by PeerDrivePD.com and is a proud member of the TeachBetter Podcast Network.
Recent Episodes
Jan. 28, 2026
Schurtz Shorts: What’s Our Guiding Light?
Schurtz Short: What’s Our Guiding Light? In this Schurtz Short, Kasey Schurtz and Brian T. Miller wrestle with a deceptively simple question schools often rush past: What is our guiding light when we make decisions? As school...
Jan. 24, 2026
Episode 129: When Inclusion Stops Working — A Conversation with Dr. Douglas Fuchs
🎙️ Schurtz & Ties Dr. Douglas Fuchs on Inclusion, IDEA, and the Limits of the General Classroom In this episode of Schurtz & Ties , Kasey Schurtz sits down with Dr. Douglas Fuchs , one of the most influential scholars in spec...
Jan. 18, 2026
Episode 128: Feed the Cats: Coaching Classrooms, Competition, and Joy with Tony Holler
What if the key to better classrooms isn’t more compliance—but more fire ? In this episode of Schurtz & Ties , Kasey Schurtz and Brian T. Miller sit down with Coach Tony Holler —creator of the Feed the Cats philosophy, longti...
Jan. 10, 2026
Episode 127: Anxious Kids, Anxious Adults: Communication, Accountability, and the Work Beneath Behavior with Peck
In this episode of Schurtz & Ties , Kasey Schurtz and Brian Miller welcome back therapist, former educator, and author Charle Peck, LCSW, M.Ed. for a candid conversation about student anxiety, adult stress, and the communicat...
Jan. 5, 2026
Episode 126: Brain Science, Trauma, and Rethinking School Behavior with Dr. Katie Lohmiller and Halley Gruber
In this conversation, Kasey and Brian sit down with Dr. Katie Lohmiller and Halley Gruber, co-founders of the Educational Access Group, to explore what it really means to build trauma-responsive, brain-based schools. They unp...
Dec. 24, 2025
Schurtz Shorts: Christmas Special
n this Christmas Special episode of Schurtz and Ties, hosts Kasey Schurtz and Brian T. Miller engage in a lively discussion with their friends and fellow educators, Matt and Eric. They reflect on their shared experiences in e...
Dec. 17, 2025
Ep. 124: Beyond Punishment: The Case for Accountability
American educators are in urgent need of meaningful behavioral support. Too often, punishment and consequences are conflated, while accountability gets lost in the noise. In this episode, Brian and Kasey unpack what accountab...
Dec. 14, 2025
Schurtz Shorts: The Balance Between Punishment and Accountability
In this Schurtz Short, Kasey Schurtz and Brian T. Miller unpack the difference between accountability, punishment, and consequences, and why conflating them creates confusion for both students and staff. They explore how clar...
Dec. 10, 2025
Ep. 123: Beyond the Gap: Grade-Level Access, Scaffolding, and What Today’s Learners Need, with John Almarode
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. John Almarode , an internationally recognized expert in student engagement, visible learning, and the science of how the brain learns best. With years of research, countless publications,...
Dec. 8, 2025
Schurtz Shorts: Emotionally Sound Leadership: What to Share, What to Hold, and Why it Matters
Emotions are complex. For leaders, they’re even more so. Left unfiltered, they can become dangerous—for both the leader and the people they lead. Over-filtered, they create distance—leaders risk becoming hollow, disconnected ...
Dec. 1, 2025
Ep. 122: People, Curriculum, and the Ocean Between.
Public education is living in a strange moment. Polls show trust and confidence in our K–12 system at an all-time low — a record 26% of Americans believe schools are headed in the right direction. And yet every day, inside cl...
Nov. 25, 2025
Schurtz Shorts: When Your Best Strategies Stop Working
Most of our go-to strategies work because—well—they work for most kids. But every educator knows the moment when a trusted approach suddenly falls flat. So what do we do when the strategy that helps 90% of students leaves the...
Nov. 20, 2025
Ep. 121: Doing the Inner Work, with Jennifer Abrams
In this follow-up conversation with international consultant and author Jennifer Abrams , we go deeper than strategies and surface-level “tips” for conflict resolution. This episode is about the inner work —the courage, humil...
Nov. 10, 2025
Schurtz Shorts: Solving PD Time
Welcome to the first Schurtz Short — a behind-the-scenes look at how Brian and Kasey actually do the work. These mini episodes pull back the curtain on real-time problem solving, where ideas are messy, honest, and alive. In t...
Nov. 6, 2025
Ep. 120: Skill or Will? And the gaps that divide.
Is it a skill issue—or a will issue? And should we treat every behavior like it’s a skill that can be taught? In this episode, Brian and Kasey dive into the heart of classroom management and motivation—exploring why so many c...
Oct. 31, 2025
Ep. 119: Broken Windows and Measured Responses
In 1969, psychologist Philip Zimbardo left two identical cars in two very different neighborhoods—one in the Bronx, one in Palo Alto. Both looked abandoned. Within hours, one was destroyed. The other sat untouched—until Zimba...
Oct. 22, 2025
Ep. 118: Closing the Divide — Building Bridges Between Admin and Staff
Why does it sometimes feel like teachers and administrators are on opposite sides of the same mission? Why is there friction when we all want the same thing? To do what's best for kids - for people - and to do it well! Becaus...
Oct. 15, 2025
Ep. 117: Education is complicated. Keep it simple.
Education, like the NFL Combine, is flooded with data. Numbers, charts, metrics, and measures. And too often, we focus on the wrong ones. Somewhere along the way, our obsession with data turned into overcomplication—wasted ti...
Oct. 8, 2025
Ep. 116: Unintentional Culture Killers, with Darron Pepperd
Sometimes, it’s not the big decisions that break a school’s culture — it’s the quiet ones. The rolled eyes in the hallway. The half-hearted “sure” in a staff meeting. The slow erosion that happens when we stop believing the b...
Sept. 29, 2025
Ep. 115: "Yes, And…" Lessons from Improv expert Bob Kulhan
What can the rules of improv teach us about life and education? Tons. In this conversation with Bob Kulhan—improv veteran, executive educator, and founder of Business Improv —we take “Yes, and…” off the stage and into real li...
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