Jeff Suzik brings more than twenty years of teaching and educational administrative experience to his role as Director of the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, including a recent post as Head of School at Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, a five-year tenure as Assistant Head of School/Chief Academic Officer at Mary Institute & St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis, Missouri, and nearly a decade at Pittsburgh’s own Shady Side Academy as teacher, chair of the history department, director of the residential life program, and dean of students. Early on in his career, Suzik taught English as a Second Language in immediate post-communist Poland and spent one year as lead teacher in a four and five-year-old preschool classroom in Madison, Wisconsin. His academic speciality is the history of 20th-century youth and adolescence, with a particular emphasis on the education, training, and transition into adulthood of working-class teenaged boys during the Great Depression. In his free time, Suzik enjoys cooking, hiking, architecture, spin classes, supporting Pittsburgh sports teams, and travel.
Diana Dimitrovski is one of the Kindergarten teachers on our Primary team. She is also the Primary Team Leader. She has been a part of the Falk School community for many years. She began her time at Falk as a university student who worked in our Afterschool Program. From there she went on to complete her internship in the Kindergarten classroom. Shortly after completing her studies she joined the Primary team and has been teaching Kindergarten for 13 years now. She enjoys working with this age group for many reasons, but mostly because of the joy they bring to school with them each day. She is actively involved in the school in a variety of ways. She works closely with the admissions office giving prospective parents tours of our school as well as working with the Kindergarten admissions process. She is part of the Science Curriculum Committee, Aesthetics Committee and Social Committee. She is also actively involved in the International Association of Laboratory Schools (IALS) organization as she serves on the Endowment Board. Teaching is something that Diana is very passionate about. She enjoys working with her students in the classroom, working with pre-service graduate students and sharing her knowledge when presenting to teachers at various conferences and workshops.
After living in both Washington, DC and Maine, Joanna Newlin returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh to raise her family. She spent the first part of her career as an elementary Montessori teacher in both Pittsburgh and Maine. The majority of that time was spent teaching all subjects in mixed-age classrooms with students in fourth-through-sixth grade. While her own children were young, Joanna spent two years working from home as a Behavioral Specialist Consultant for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families. In 2012, she moved to Falk as a Learning Specialist working primarily with the Middle School team. Joanna took on the additional role of Coordinator of Student Services beginning in 2016. Upon coming to Falk, she found herself in the ideal place to combine her passions around inquiry-based learning, inclusive practices, and lifelong learning. Joanna lives in Glenshaw where she spends the majority of her free time with her husband, two boys, and two dogs.
Jill Sarada came to Falk School as an intern to start the 1993-1994 school year, at the end of her internship she was asked to remain with us as the computer teacher. Accepting the challenge she excelled and after a few years began teaching kindergarten, which is the position she holds currently. She belongs to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the International Association of Laboratory & University Affiliated Schools (NALS). Jill loves sharing her life with her two kids, husband, and pets. She enjoys going camping, fishing, and reading.
