Tirsch, assistant principal at Chestnut Accelerated School in Springfield, has served as assistant principal at Forest Park and Van Sickle middle schools and Commerce High School in Springfield.
GRANBY – East Meadow School, serving grades four to six, will have a new principal this fall.
Louis Tirsch, 42, an assistant principal at Chestnut Accelerated School in Springfield, will replace principal James Pietras, who is retiring after 38 years at East Meadow.
“From everything I’ve heard, he’ll be a tough act to follow,” said Tirsch, “and I look forward to the challenge.”
Tirsch said his experience as a teacher and administrator at several middle schools will come in handy for easing students’ transition from elementary to middle school.
“We are both very excited about his joining our team,” said Granby Schools Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez. “I see him as an excellent fit for our district and, of course, for East Meadow.”
A native of Redhook, N.Y., Tirsch has education in his blood. Both his parents were teachers, and his brother is a fourth-grade teacher.
His mother was a special education teacher, and his father taught music in high school, where his son was one of his students.
Tirsch graduated from Western New England College in 1991 and earned a master’s degree in secondary education at American International College, both in Springfield.
He started his career as a math teacher at Forest Park Middle School in Springfield, and went on to serve as assistant principal there, and at Commerce High School and Van Sickle Middle School in Springfield.
He has an educational administrative certificate from Project Lead, a Springfield program that teaches teachers to become school administrators. He was also a Collaborative Professional Development Leader, spending part of his day teaching, and the rest of it mentoring math teachers, helping them to design methods of teaching and sometimes co-teaching with them.
Tirsch said he is looking forward to working in Granby. “It does remind me of my childhood, and my memories of going to school as a child are nothing but happy,” he said.
“I know that in a small town you can get a top-notch education.”