All students are capable of success when given the right support.
Not most students. Not the easy ones. All of them, regardless of age, zip code, and learning needs.
Change Comes From the Top
The work in education is as relentless as it is meaningful. High-stakes decisions, compliance pressures, staff development, and student outcomes don't wait for you to catch your breath. That's where we come in.
Respire Education partners with charter schools, public schools, and education-adjacent organizations to clarify priorities, equip their teams, and build systems that hold under real schools conditions.
Organizations Already Doing the Work
We're proud to have partnered with schools, leaders, and organizations that show up every day, committed to doing right by their students, staff, and communities.
Organizations Already Doing the Work
We're proud to have partnered with schools, leaders, and organizations that show up every day, committed to doing right by their students, staff, and communities.
Our Name is Our Promise
Respire means to breathe out.
So much of educational leadership happens in survival mode. When leaders operate from that place (reactive, overwhelmed, and stretched too thin), they don't make their best decisions. They can't.
We started Respire Education because we believe that when leaders breathe easier, everything downstream gets better. Teachers get clearer direction. Students, regardless of zip code, background, or learning need, get more consistent support. Organizations move from reactive firefighting to intentional, lasting change.
When you breathe easier, leaders, staff, and students do too.
What We Believe
Our work is grounded in a few deeply held convictions that guide every project.
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It's our responsibility as the adults in the room to build those conditions.
No one else is coming. There's no magic bullet, no Superman on the way. It's us, right here, right now. We use this as our motivation.
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Behavior is communication.
Every behavior, especially the hard ones, is an individual's best attempt at getting a need met. When we understand that, everything about how we respond to students and staff changes.
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We always build from the ideal state first.
We help you dream it, design it, and then work backwards from there. Because if we don't start with what's possible, we'll never get there.
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Work is never siloed.
The best outcomes happen when instruction, operations, compliance, culture, and leadership are moving together, not in parallel lanes that never touch.
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Unfortunately, caring isn't enough.
Good intentions without effective systems produce exhausted adults and inconsistent results for kids. We help leaders who care create frameworks and systems that allow for a sustainable career in education.
Meet Lauren Ellis,
Founder & Principal Consultant
Lauren Ellis didn't build her career advising from the outside. She spent over 20 years in education, doing the actual work at every level.
She began as a classroom teacher, moved through special education leadership, and spent nearly a decade in school administration as both an assistant principal and principal.
One of her proudest achievements was founding an early childhood program in Washington State's charter sector from scratch in 2020, during a global pandemic. She later served as Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Impact Public Schools and held leadership roles with KIPP.
Lauren Knows This Work Because She's Done This Work.
She has sat in your seat – from the seat that can get a room of 30 four-year-olds to go down for nap time in less than five minutes (true story), to the seat leading districts’ strategic initiatives. She knows what it feels like to juggle hiring season, budget approvals, compliance audits, legislative pressures, and testing season all at once… and she’s all too familiar with the stress you feel when your head hits the pillow at night.
At Respire, we believe in building real partnerships grounded in trust that meet you where you are and never leave you to figure it out alone.
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"Lauren leads with empathy, creating an environment where people feel valued and understood. Her strategic mindset helped our team navigate priorities with purpose. She brings a visionary perspective that inspires others to think big and imagine new possibilities in education."
Eliza Gabriel
Principal, Impact Public Schools
"In our partnership together, Lauren developed systems and structures to support growing programs and made significant changes that led to sustainable practices. Her experience and expertise in system design and strategic planning paved the pathway for better student services and outcomes."
Gini Sanders
Director of Specialized Services, Seneca Family of Agencies
The Respire Non-Negotiables
These are the values that guide our work with every school, every leader, and every project we take on.
Partnership and Collaboration
We get to know the ins and outs of every organization we work with. Your expertise, context, and people are central to everything we build together.
Depth Over Prescription
We don't bring a pre-packaged program and tell you to implement it. We take the time to understand your organization deeply, and we build solutions that fit, not ones that just sound good on paper.
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Sustainability in Solutions
We build for the long term. Every system, framework, and process we design is meant to outlast our partnership. When we leave, we want to feel confident your team can own the work long after we’re gone.
Equity as the Standard
We hold high expectations for every student and every adult. Equity isn't a checkbox; it's the lens we design everything through.
Integrity in Action
We are transparent, honest, and committed to doing what is right, even when it isn't easy. Every contract matters to us because every student matters to us.
Raising Your Hand? Let’s Answer Your Questions
What types of schools and organizations does Respire Education work with?
We work primarily with charter schools and public school districts, supporting everyone from school-based leaders to chief-level executives and boards. We've partnered with individual schools, multi-site networks, and education-adjacent organizations like nonprofits and early childhood programs. If you're doing meaningful work for kids and you need a strategic thought partner to help you do it better, there's a good chance we're a fit.
How is working with Respire Education different from hiring a larger consulting firm?
At a larger firm, you might meet the expert in the sales conversation and never see them again. At Respire Education, you work with Lauren and her small, trusted team from start to finish. That continuity matters because big change requires trust, and trust takes time to build. We learn your context deeply, stay through implementation, and don't consider the work done until it's working in practice.
Do you work with clients nationally or only in the Pacific Northwest?
We work nationally. While Lauren is currently based in the Pacific Northwest, we partner with schools and organizations across the country, including charter networks and districts on the East Coast, in the South, and beyond. Much of our work can be done virtually, and we travel for engagements where being on-site makes the biggest difference.
What makes Lauren qualified to do this work?
With over 20 years in education (as a classroom teacher, special education leader, principal, school founder, and senior network executive with organizations like KIPP and Impact Public Schools) she brings the experience and perspective so many other consultants lack. She hasn't just studied these systems from the outside; she's built them, led them, and learned from them firsthand. That lived experience is what allows her to move quickly, ask the right questions, and design solutions that hold up in the real world.
How do we know if we're ready to bring in outside support?
You don't need to have it all figured out before you reach out. Most of our best partnerships started with a leader who simply knew that what they were doing wasn't working and was ready to try something different. If your team is stretched thin, spinning their wheels on a persistent problem, or staring down a new initiative without a clear path forward, you're probably ready.
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