Dr. John Gasko
Imagineer
Dr. John Gasko is the Chief Well-Being and SEL Officer at Uplift Education. John and his team ensure that Uplift students have access to regular and reliable preventative and supportive mental health practices and also build the necessary mental health and well-being practices for the adults who serve students each day.
Dr. Gasko has coined this term as “teacher dropouts” and feels the issue is as critical to address as student dropouts. Dr. Gasko also believes there are ways to stem the tide and recover hope and purpose, by intervening early and often in order to keep the best teachers in front of students. Since students need positive, secure attachments as a critical ingredient to feel a sense of belonging in school, a constant stream of interrupted adult presence in the classroom due to turnover hinders those relationships.
Dr. Gasko served most recently as Special Advisor to the President, and previously Dean of the School of Education at the University of North Texas at Dallas. In his time at UNT Dallas he founded the Emerging Teacher Institute, which is committed to transforming teacher and school leader preparation through competency-based education combined with innovative and rigorous clinical and social emotional learning.
