RFK Jr. The Defender - Seeking Teachers with Leila Centner

Layla Sentner is the co-founder, the Principal, and the Happiness Director of Sentner Academy, a Miami, Florida progressive independent school that combines a deep commitment to emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and happiness with a challenging curriculum that features language immersion, entrepreneurial thinking, problem solving, problem- solving, and collaboration. In this episode, Layla shares her story of standing her ground in the midst of a global cytokine storm, and how she was able to create a safe haven for her students, parents, and staff to come together and build a community. She also shares the story of how her school became a haven for families who moved across the country to come to her school, and what it means to be a part of a community that fosters love, support, and understanding. This episode is a must-listen episode for anyone who is interested in applying to become a teacher at Center Academy, and especially for those who are looking for a supportive community where they can learn and grow in a caring, civilized, kind and common sense environment where they are surrounded by likeminded people. Thank you so much for coming on the show and for sharing your story and your passion for education and making a difference in the lives of children's lives. I can't wait for you to listen to this episode! I hope you enjoy this episode and share it with your friends, family, and colleagues! . Cheers, Bobby and Jenna . . . Thanks for listening and supporting the podcast! -Bobby and Jenna. -Jenna - Thanks to our sponsor, for sponsoring this episode of the podcast and for supporting the show in part 2 of this episode & part 2 of the book, "The Silver Lining Podcast by my book, The Little House on the Hill by which is out now available on Amazon Prime by the amazing author of The Good Life Guide by The GoodLife Project is out in paperback and on audio only on amazon.co and on Audible to help us raise awareness about the podcast. and is available for purchase! and share the book on the podcast on the Good Life Podcasts. Thanks so much love and support the book and all the hard work that goes out to our listeners across the world. Thank you, Jenna and her amazing team at The Good House Project.

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, I'm really excited that we get to have my guest and my personal friend on today for an encore, Layla Sentner, who is the co-founder, the principal, the happiness director of Sentner Academy, which is a Miami progressive independent happiness school that combines a deep commitment to emotional intelligence,

00:00:21.000 mindfulness, and happiness with a challenging curriculum that Featuring language immersion, entrepreneurial thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration.

00:00:31.000 And it is an amazing place.

00:00:34.000 I have visited.

00:00:34.000 I've spent a couple of days there and seen how amazing and engaged your students are and your teachers.

00:00:44.000 It's really this incredible ferment of intellectual activity and just kindness and brotherhood and sisterhood.

00:00:53.000 I got caught in the middle of what I would say is a huge global cytokine storm.

00:01:00.000 The last time we had you here, you were right in the middle of it because she made national, international, global headlines by encouraging her children to not wear masks in the school, to encouraging the children, the parents, the teachers not to get vaccinated.

00:01:17.000 And to instead focus on building their immune systems and building themselves, building their health, building their emotional health and physical health and intellectual health.

00:01:32.000 And you're an amazing teacher, you're an amazing role model, and you've got a lot of courage because you stood firm when everybody was...

00:01:43.000 This typhoon of indignation and anger and fury and ridicule and derision and gaslighting that was coming against you from the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, the New York Times, And from outlets all over the globe.

00:02:03.000 So tell us what happened.

00:02:05.000 And I think you've lost 100 students at that time because there was a lot of parents who just disagreed with you, but you kept on going.

00:02:12.000 Tell us what happened.

00:02:14.000 Thanks, Bobby.

00:02:15.000 And, you know, it was amazing having speakers.

00:02:17.000 I want to say this.

00:02:18.000 I wanted you on because I saw that you are looking still for teachers because you have so many new students have come in.

00:02:27.000 I know this is a happy ending.

00:02:29.000 I'm kind of killing the-- I'm doing a spoiler here.

00:02:36.000 You have so many new students now.

00:02:39.000 You're hiring teachers by the dozen, trying to get them in as quickly as possible.

00:02:44.000 So anybody who's interested in becoming a teacher at Center Academy, moving to Florida from someplace else, actually working in a humane, civilized Kind and common sense environment.

00:02:59.000 You should listen to this podcast and then file your application with Layla.

00:03:05.000 I think we'll probably tell you how exactly to do that.

00:03:08.000 But tell us what happened, Layla.

00:03:10.000 Thank you, Bobby.

00:03:11.000 I appreciate the introduction.

00:03:13.000 So I stood my ground.

00:03:15.000 It wasn't easy at the time.

00:03:16.000 And the bright side of it is, you know, we lost like 100 students and we gained over 125 new students.

00:03:24.000 And I'll tell you, Bobbi, it has been so incredible to see these families who have literally moved across the country to come to our school.

00:03:34.000 I mean, you know, we have a family that came just to our school from London and ended up going back to London, selling their house, selling everything.

00:03:44.000 To move to our school.

00:03:45.000 You know, we have families from Canada that have done the same thing, California, New York, Connecticut, Virginia, you name it.

00:03:52.000 You know, and for me, it's like, you know, on one hand, it's a little sad that my little school has to be a safe haven.

00:04:02.000 But on the other hand, I feel very blessed that I was able to be a safe haven for those parents who could see through the insanity of it all, right?

00:04:11.000 It's like, none of this makes sense.

00:04:13.000 And most of the families, the new families that joined, You know, they expressed they were the black sheep in their schools before.

00:04:23.000 They were the only ones saying, guys, what are we doing to our kids?

00:04:27.000 So they found us.

00:04:29.000 We were able to be the light for them.

00:04:31.000 And, you know, we formed like a brotherhood and sisterhood group.

00:04:33.000 And on Sunday, we had an amazing, I had like 200 people at my house that had an amazing Easter celebration day where we hid all these eggs all over and You know, the kids were in bounce houses, playing on the pool.

00:04:46.000 And, you know, they just came together saying, like, we have a home.

00:04:50.000 We finally feel like we have a home in this world that seems to have lost it, right?

00:04:55.000 And that I can have any conversation with the families at your school about vaccines, about masks, about mandates, and not have someone look at me like I'm crazy because we've all found each other.

00:05:07.000 And so that's really the silver lining from this, Bobbi.

00:05:10.000 Stand your ground, do what you believe in your heart and soul is right to protect these kids, and you will attract that community that is so in alignment.

00:05:20.000 Where not only, you know, are you here together as a community, but you're building this great group.

00:05:27.000 You're growing.

00:05:28.000 You're just, you know, we have a farm, a 34-acre farm that we had just purchased when we had met.

00:05:34.000 We're already growing food, feeding our community.

00:05:37.000 It's really fun.

00:05:38.000 Actually, next week.

00:05:39.000 No, I'm sorry.

00:05:40.000 Tomorrow, we're doing a field trip.

00:05:42.000 Tomorrow and Friday and Saturday for the different grades.

00:05:46.000 Just to go hang out at the farm, put our hands in the soil, see, you know, how we're growing the vegetables and just really like becoming closer and closer.

00:05:55.000 So I'm Definitely looking for amazing educators.

00:05:59.000 I'm definitely looking to fill some great spots that we have for next year open.

00:06:04.000 We're also going to be opening a high school.

00:06:06.000 So I'm looking for a high school principal.

00:06:08.000 I'm looking for some people who can build a high school curriculum and just continue to add to the amazing base of educators that we have now.

00:06:17.000 Many of my teachers were fired from New York for not getting the shot.

00:06:21.000 And so they came and found us and they just feel like they're free.

00:06:26.000 And Centner Academy has incredible world-class sporting fields.

00:06:32.000 They have a beautiful, beautiful facility that is modern.

00:06:36.000 It's very environmental.

00:06:38.000 It is just a welcoming, welcoming place.

00:06:41.000 Tell us what subjects you need teachers to teach and what qualities you're looking for in your new instructors.

00:06:50.000 So we're looking for some elementary school teachers.

00:06:54.000 I think we have one preschool position open.

00:06:57.000 We're looking for a middle school math and English language arts teacher.

00:07:02.000 We have a couple of languages open, like I believe a second Italian teacher and a second Spanish teacher.

00:07:08.000 We're looking for more people to build our curriculum team because the goal is to take what we're doing and And put it all on paper so we can give this to other parents that want to start schools across the country.

00:07:21.000 Obviously, I don't want to start schools across the country, but I would like to give them the roadmap and the blueprint on how to do that.

00:07:28.000 So we really need teachers who are open-minded to do things in a completely different way.

00:07:32.000 Part of our foundation is mindfulness.

00:07:34.000 So our kids meditate with They're morning classroom teachers every morning.

00:07:40.000 They do salvo healing on rotation once a week.

00:07:43.000 Our food is...

00:07:44.000 Most of our vegetables are coming from our farm.

00:07:47.000 We have gluten-free, sugar-free, organic, non-processed, non-GMO, you know, just...

00:07:53.000 It's a fun place, but we need teachers that are creative, right?

00:07:57.000 Because we're not, even though we're giving them a template and a structure and like parameters or framework, we're not telling them exactly how to do, you know, like we're not giving them a textbook saying, hey, follow this.

00:08:08.000 They need to be able to be creative.

00:08:10.000 We want to teach our kids to critically think.

00:08:13.000 We don't want to put them in this box where they're learning how to just memorize and regurgitate because that's not going to help you in the real world.

00:08:21.000 Especially with everything that's happening today, we want by the time they graduate, they have quality life skills that they can use in the real world.

00:08:29.000 I'm not sure if you saw this program.

00:08:31.000 Actually, it's new this year.

00:08:33.000 We started an entrepreneurship program, but you have to come back and see.

00:08:36.000 It's super cool.

00:08:37.000 So we started with a shark tank where the kids got to present to their parents their idea and raise money.

00:08:44.000 And then every month since January, we've been doing these marketplaces where these kids who have these incredible ideas actually sell their products that they had been working on.

00:08:54.000 And so it ranges from bracelets to this amazing chapstick that's all organic, no toxic chemicals, to these amazing sneakers that are custom hand-painted.

00:09:06.000 It's incredible how many ideas and how Smart these ideas are that coming from fourth graders to eighth graders.

00:09:15.000 And what is understanding business?

00:09:18.000 When you understand business, even if you don't want to be an entrepreneur, you can apply those business skills to anything.

00:09:25.000 Let's say you're an artist.

00:09:26.000 You will learn how to basically sell your paintings.

00:09:28.000 You'll learn how to understand supply and demand.

00:09:30.000 You'll learn how to Market yourself.

00:09:33.000 Market your product.

00:09:34.000 And those skills apply to anything that you do in life.

00:09:37.000 Even if it's being a manager or an employee in a certain business.

00:09:41.000 How do I get ahead?

00:09:42.000 Oh, I need to learn how to sell my skills.

00:09:44.000 I need to learn how to communicate.

00:09:46.000 I need to learn how to price myself.

00:09:49.000 Right?

00:09:49.000 So it's exciting.

00:09:51.000 It's really exciting.

00:09:52.000 And the kids are actually making a lot of money.

00:09:55.000 And they're shocked at the power they have to actually create on their own and generate some money.

00:10:01.000 Layla and her husband David are serial entrepreneurs, extremely, extremely successful.

00:10:08.000 She could be doing anything she wanted right now.

00:10:11.000 She could be relaxing on a Caribbean estate, smoking a cigar and looking out over the ocean, but she has devoted her life to helping these kids.

00:10:20.000 And we actually, you and I went to see Romero Brito, who is a famous Miami artist, one of the most successful artists alive today.

00:10:29.000 And we went to see him, and he was an amazing entrepreneur.

00:10:33.000 And has a, I don't know, it looks like a million square foot warehouse with cranking out his stuff.

00:10:39.000 It really was amazing.

00:10:42.000 And I think you took the students down to see his operation as well.

00:10:47.000 But tell us how people can reach you.

00:10:50.000 That's what we want.

00:10:51.000 We want people to be listening to this podcast and contacting Layla, moving to Florida and teaching these kids.

00:10:59.000 You can contact us a few ways.

00:11:01.000 The best way would be to go to our website at centneracademy.com.

00:11:08.000 You have to add that extra N in there because there is a center without. 1.00

00:11:12.000 So you need the two N's in Centner. 0.97

00:11:15.000 Centneracademy.com.

00:11:16.000 Click on the careers page and you can see most of the jobs that are there.

00:11:20.000 I think we need to add a few more positions up there.

00:11:23.000 And you can submit your resume that way.

00:11:26.000 You can also go to our Instagram, which is Centner Academy, and see the cool videos, the fun things that we do, the little projects, you know, the little celebrations.

00:11:37.000 You got to get a feel for our culture.

00:11:39.000 So one of the parents was talking to me, I think it was yesterday, and she said to me, just the way I'm greeted in your school, You know, when pickup drop-off, we have music playing, people are dancing, the kids get hugs.

00:11:54.000 Like, it's a very special place where if you're not comfortable with being hugged, you probably wouldn't like our school because, you know, the kids are constantly hugging each other.

00:12:05.000 The teachers are always hugging each other.

00:12:07.000 The kids are hugging the teachers.

00:12:08.000 It's just An environment filled with love and connection.

00:12:12.000 And that's why the masks rubbed me the wrong way from day one.

00:12:17.000 Because the first thing that the masks do are create disconnection.

00:12:22.000 You can't see if somebody's happy or sad because they're hidden behind this mask.

00:12:26.000 And it actually gave people the permission to be more, you know, disconnected and angry because they're kind of hiding it behind this mask.

00:12:37.000 So it's a fun environment.

00:12:40.000 And another thing that I heard from this particular parent is when they walk through the doors, they get that same inviting feeling from all of our employees.

00:12:50.000 And it's not like we train them to be that way, but a smile is contagious.

00:12:54.000 When you're walking around and everybody is smiling, they're smiling because it's like the yawn, right?

00:13:00.000 Someone yawns and everybody else yawns.

00:13:02.000 Somebody smiles and everybody's smiling.

00:13:04.000 That's kind of the The happy environment that we're trying to create.

00:13:08.000 Layla Centner, Centner Academy, change your life. 0.98

00:13:12.000 Go teach at Centner and be part of this incredible oasis of love, of kindness, of common sense in the midst of the dystopian nightmare that we're all living in right now.

00:13:26.000 Thank you very much, Layla, for creating this space and we're going to grow it and, you know, bring love back to the world.

00:13:33.000 Thank you, Bobbi.

00:13:34.000 I love you.

00:13:35.000 I appreciate your time.

RFK Jr. The Defender - April 20, 2022

Seeking Teachers with Leila Centner

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