February 12, 2025

In the midst of a sweeping renovation of district buildings, Aimee Kirsch stepped into the role of Copley-Fairlawn City School District Superintendent on Aug. 1, 2024. Kirsch is the successor to Brian Poe, who served as superintendent between 2010 and 2024. 

“I want to see a school district where everybody comes to school and they feel welcome, they feel supported,” Kirsch said. “We’re trying to creatively come up with ways for students to tap into their areas of interest.” 

Kirsch earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Xavier University and a master’s degree in educational psychology from John Carroll University. After earning a principal license from Cleveland State University and a superintendent’s license from Youngstown State University, she worked for 19 years in Akron Public Schools.

At Akron, she started as a school psychologist and later worked as an intervention facilitator and testing manager. Kirsch then came to work in Copley-Fairlawn, where she served as the director of pupil services before assuming the position of assistant superintendent in 2021. 

One of Kirsch’s most important partners is Assistant Superintendent Brian Williams. Williams has worked in Copley-Fairlawn for the last nine years and is supporting Kirsch’s goals for the district, including preparing students for the many possible paths they will take after graduation.

“The more we can prepare our students for life after high school, the better,” Williams said. “It looks different for many kids. It’s not always college. It could be the trades, it could be the military. We’re really trying to tailor our educational offerings to our kids to help them best succeed for life after high school.” 

Kirsch and Williams are also prioritizing the district’s staff culture, including understanding that everyone arrives in the building with their own story. 

“Our staff members are real people that have real lives,” Kirsch said. “They’re dealing with things in their family and life situations both positive and negative—just like students come to school with their own story, their backpack full of things.” 

Kirsch and Williams made it clear that part of their teamwork is leveraging the opportunities of differing viewpoints. 

“We have developed a very positive working relationship,” Williams said. “[For] any challenges that come up we work very well together to come to resolutions that are in the best interest of our students, most importantly, but then our staff and our community and our school district. In our district, one of our priorities is building relationships and making sure that we are communicating with our key stakeholders. [We] keep those key stakeholder groups in mind whenever we are making decisions.” 

“We don’t always agree on everything, which some people might think is a bad thing,” Kirsch said. “I actually really like it when people disagree with me—kind of helping me think about things in a different light, pushing my thinking a little bit.” 

With multiple school buildings in the district undergoing renovations, Kirsch has had to transition smoothly into overseeing complex construction projects. One highlight has been Copley High School’s new stadium.

“I remember the first time I walked into the construction trailer,” Kirsch said. “They had a big countdown clock. It said something like ‘265 days’ and I was like, ‘Oh gosh, that’s so many days! How are we ever going to get this done?’ Each week when I would go in for our meetings I’d see that countdown [getting lower] by 5 days, 7 days. They took the trailer out with the clock at about 20 days, and I thought, ‘I’m never going to see it go down to one!’” 

The finished product did not disappoint. 

“From the very beginning the techs designed it to have a natural flow from the stadium area into the large gathering plaza,” Kirsch said. “People can interact, check out the views of the field, and everyone has access to the concession stand. It’s a very inviting area where people can gather [and] become more of that community.  During the ribbon-breaking ceremony my whole speech was [based] around this idea of community, strength and unity.” 

When she isn’t busy leading the district, Kirsch enjoys hiking and being outdoors whenever possible—preferably with her husband, Jeff, and her four children. 

“On Sundays I do all my errands,” Kirsch said. “I go to the grocery store, do some meal prepping and hang out with my family.”

Williams enjoys breakfast with his family on Sunday mornings, as well as watching Browns games together during football season. 

“Oh yeah,” Williams said. “Huge Browns fan.   It’s not easy to be a Browns fan, but you know it.”