Alan Eskot, MA, received his BA degree from UCLA and his MA in clinical psychology from Cal State LA and has been in the field of special education for 50 years. He also completed some coursework toward his Ph.D at USC. He worked for 5 years as a special education teacher in a nonpublic private school and then went on to being a consultant and administrator of three nonpublic schools in residential programs, Erikson Center for 9.5 years, Aviva Center for 1.5 years, and Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services for 30 years. These residential programs dealt with youth placed by the Department of Probation as well as Department of Children and Family Services. He created and completely set up these programs and also was the Director of each.

At Optimist, because of the changing population, he converted the nonpublic school into a charter school for the last 7 years of his tenure and was the Superintendent of the school. In addition to these three programs, he also opened up his own nonpublic schools and with his business partner has been operating them for 35 years! Dubnoff School and Hawthorne Academy are both nonpublic schools who provide services to youth 12-22 with a variety of special education needs. Alan is currently the head administrator and co-owner of both schools but is primarily at Dubnoff School in Northridge.

Additionally, over the past 40 years he has also had a private educational therapy practice for 10 years as well as a consulting business and has opened up a total of 11 residential programs and has consulted with 7 other existing nonpublic schools. He is currently consulting with two established nonpublic schools. Positively changing students and staff’s lives is his primary mission. He has impacted thousands of youth and hundreds of staff members over the years and never plans on retiring!