Tim Turecek

Tim Turecek, Dean of Students

tturecek@newrootsschool.org, 607-882-9220

I always assumed I could make a difference - if I worked hard and smart enough, and I believed that education was the pathway to freedom. These two assumptions, and the responsibilities that came with them, have most informed who I have become and am becoming.

As a student of philosophy and psychology, I am only interested in ideas insofar as they are useful in improving my character, my relationships, and the world. When I was in high school, I understood that every person I meet enriches and informs me, and so I worked to overcome whatever shyness, discomfort, judgment or shame that stood in the way of making connections with others. As I begin my work at New Roots, I aim towards a reawakening of that earlier wisdom and courage.

As Dean of Students at New Roots, I will do my part to build a community of individuals that is emotionally and physically safe, and so, a place where we can all explore, discover, and express the unique and infinite aspects of our selves. To build a school community on a foundation of love, trust, resiliency, respect, honesty, competence, creativity, forgiveness, expression, relationship, complementary strengths, humor, and interdependence must be our goal.

For more than 20 years I worked as a Superintendent, Principal, and Teacher in our public schools. Consistently, I found strong, committed, intelligent, creative, and inspirational educators (teachers, administrators, and Board members alike) doing their best to realize the potential of every student within the bounds of a system that often seemed to undermine the best efforts of our best teachers.

Our families deserve better; we owe our children more. We have reached a point in our nation's and our planet's history when we must generate new solutions, must nurture new relationships, must fully develop individuals' potentials if we are going to survive, thrive, and become better than we have ever been. We need alternative ways of seeing.