Sichel Named PA Superintendent of the Year

December 3, 2009 - Amy Sichel, a Penn GSE alumna and Adjunct Associate Professor who leads the Abington School District in suburban Philadelphia, was named Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year by the Commonwealth’s association of school administrators recently.

At the official presentation of the award on December 1, James Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, called the award “the most prestigious honor a school systems leader can achieve.”

Sichel was nominated by Abington Board of School Directors President Raymond McGarry and received endorsements from Donald Clark, president of the Willow Grove Branch of the NAACP; Candy Lee, vice president of The Washington Post, and Jeffrey Bates, one of Abington’s school board directors.

On hand at the ceremony was State Representative Josh Shapiro, who said, “These awards and banners on the wall didn’t get up there by accident…. Outstanding people at the helm of our critical institutions are what makes that happen. Amy is a great leader.”

In the application to nominate Sichel for the award, her endorsers listed her financial management, innovative use of technology in the classrooms in Abington and community involvement among her achievements in the district.

As Pennsylvania’s Superintendent of the Year, Sichel is the Commonwealth’s nominee for the National Association of School Administrators award.

Sichel began with the Abington School District in 1976 as a counselor and rose through the ranks to become superintendent in 2001. At Penn GSE, she teaches in the Applied Psychology-Human Development Division and in the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.

Accepting the honor, Sichel said, “This award gives proof that our teachers, parents, faculty and school directors are truly amazing. This is not my award, but our award.”

Media contact: Jill DiSanto-Haines at 215-898-4820 or jdisanto@upenn.edu