Former Riverside Principal Named a Principal in Darien

John Grasso, a former principal of Riverside School who retired in 2012 after 12 years in that job, has just been appointed interim principal at Royle elementary school in Darien, according to this announcement from Darien Public Schools:

The Darien Board of Education, at its meeting of July 29, unanimously appointed Mr. John P. Grasso as Interim Principal of Royle School for the 2014-15 school year. Mr. Grasso begins his work at Royle this Friday, August 1.

Mr. Grasso served as Principal of Riverside Elementary School in Greenwich for twelve years, prior to retiring in 2012. During his tenure, Riverside was consistently ranked in the top 5% of all Connecticut Public Schools. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Principal at Riverside for seven years, with responsibility for facilitating all special education meetings and implementing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Mr. Grasso also brings extensive experience as an elementary classroom teacher and team leader.

Mr. Grasso served as Interim Principal of Scotland Elementary School in Ridgefield for the first three months of the 2013-14 school year, after which he was invited to continue as a contributing evaluator for the remainder of the year, supporting all aspects of the teacher evaluation process at Scotland Elementary. He served in a similar position for the Greenwich Public Schools during the 2013-14 school year.

Mr. Grasso earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from St. John’s University. He also holds a Master of Elementary Education Degree from City University of New York and a Sixth Year Certificate in Administration and Supervision from Fairfield University. He has participated in The Writing Project workshop at Columbia Teachers College and The Art of the Principalship training at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.