Episode 29: Polaris Academy is a Leader for Autism Education
episodePreviously titled “Episdoe 29: Polaris Academy is a Leader for Autism Education” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
ADHD, Autism, And Anxiety: Breaking Out of The Box
1h 7m
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What inspired Dr. Norrine Russell to invite the Polaris Academy leaders onto the show?
Friends, welcome to this episode of ADHD Autism and Anxiety Breaking Out of the Box. I can't tell you how excited I was to meet the two people who are our guests on the show for this episode. They actually interviewed me for their podcast a few weeks ago and There are really no words. that are adequate other than to say that I fell in love with these human beings and the work that they're doing and the energy that they have. For so many reasons. And I asked them if they would come and visit my podcast and tell the story of Polaris Academy. And they kindly and graciously agreed to do so. And so we're in for a treat today and a heartwarming story of how Family. And friendship? And autism have created The most miraculous and
school choice opportunity in Arizona. So grab your tissues, settle down in your chair. This is a great story. Because of great people. Okay, so Nathan and Brad. I know that Nathan, you're the one who's gonna need more of a minute to get your words together. So Brad, will you start?
Fair, thank you.
That's you know, if you know Nathan, that's not true. The guy is so quick. Um and I've always been very impressed working with Nathan. We Um So I'm so sorry, what was the question? You kinda threw me off when you said that when they He's an attorney and he always has something to say you know, and I say that with love. I say that with love. He always has something to say. Anyways, that you don't I don't get stumped that often, but that's stumped me. So anyway, so I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Doctor. What was your question again?
Oh, I was just thinking maybe at the beginning of the podcast you could both introduce yourself. And I thought maybe Nathan would be touched by these words, so I was gonna let you, as you know, the sidekick um, start by just saying, Why are you involved? Who are you?
Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate ya. Uh my name is Brad Broils and um Kind of one of the co founders. I'm the CFO of Polaris Academy and I do all the human resource of of Polaris Academy. I'm kind of responsible of hiring all of our great teachers, uh our staff, help them with training, implementation, and make sure that they do it what we call the Polaris way. Um and uh We have a podcast for called the Polaris Connection. Uh like you said and w and the kind of our main focus is to reach out to our parents. Um we when we started into the school system we realized that there was a big void that parents wanted to understand what we were teaching and we wanted to to connect that through our podcast. So excited to be here.
We're a big champion of what you do, Doctor, and we love we love being part of uh your your story, hearing what you do and how you've great impact in the community.
All right, awesome. So Brad. You're like the operations guy. And you make sure that what happens at school has integrity.
Yeah, I absolutely so and there's and there's another person that we need to mention too, Aaron Kasmarik, who's uh our CO, also a co a co founder and a big part of the story of Players Academy and a big reason why it's successful. Um just definitely wanted to give a big shout out to him. Basically kind of what I do is, you know, my background. is in finance. Um, I was a special asset manager for a commercial bank during the the downturn of the market. have a master's degree in real estate development and a bachelor's in accounting and finance. So I really like numbers. I enjoy spreadsheets. I enjoy being with people. Um and backgrounds mostly in real estate and business development. So when I when I was uh working at the bank as a special asset manager, I was a what you called the pooper scooper.
So when things go bad, I had to go and fix it. So I would go and work with companies, get them viable again, either we would sell them off or they would, you know, be able to operate like they need to. Um, so it was it was actually a fun job. I really enjoyed it. Um but uh you know.
Shameless plug, he was also uh an officiator for college football and was even offered to be an NFL referee. So I mean it that's the he unofficially we kinda refer to Brad as Coach Brad.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What inspired Dr. Norrine Russell to invite the Polaris Academy leaders onto the show?
0:01–7:05
2
How did Nathan and Brad first connect and decide to start Polaris Academy?
7:05–15:44
3
What is the Certified Autism Center™ (CAC) designation and why does it matter for Polaris?
15:44–24:37
4
How does Polaris Academy’s multidisciplinary team create a “one‑stop‑shop” for autism services?
24:37–33:29
5
Why does Polaris prioritize a parent‑first approach over traditional IEP models?
33:29–41:57
6
What milestones has Polaris achieved in enrollment and campus expansion?
41:57–51:29
7
How is Polaris planning to scale its model to serve more neurodiverse students?
51:29–59:10
8
What resources or partnerships does Polaris need to keep growing its impact?
59:10–1:07:56
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from ADHD, Autism, And Anxiety: Breaking Out of The Box
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