Abington Superintendent Amy Sichel
Installed as President of The School Superintendents Association in Arlington, Virginia
The School Superintendents Association, AASA, is the international professional association of more than 13,000 school district superintendents and administrators.
Dr. Amy F. Sichel, Superintendent of the Abington School District in Abington, PA was installed as AASA’s president for 2013-14. Dr. Sichel was elected by the AASA membership last year and was officially sworn in at an installation ceremony and reception held in conjunction with AASA’s 2013 summer governance meetings in Arlington, VA, attended by approximately 300 school superintendents and administrators from across the country.
Dr. Sichel is the first AASA president from Pennsylvania and only the fourth woman to be elected to this position in the almost 150 years since AASA was founded.
Dr. Sichel has been a member of AASA and of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators since 2001. She was the 2010 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year and has served as superintendent of the Abington School District since 2001. She has been an adjunct associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education since 1981, and is also currently an adjunct instructor at Delaware Valley College. She has served on a number of education panels and forums, including the Suburban Superintendents Study Council, of which she was president from 2004 to 2009, and was invited to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Dr. Sichel graduated from Lafayette College. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in school psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Amy is a true professional,” said Daniel Domenech, AASA executive director. “She has worked tirelessly for students and schools in her own district and at the state and national levels. She gets things done. AASA will thrive under her leadership.”
In her remarks at the installation, Dr. Sichel reiterated her commitment to public education for all children.
“As AASA members, and as educational leaders,” she said, “we can and must constantly and consistently spread and reinforce the message that excellence in public education is the national standard and that achievement for all students must be the result. A healthy, strong AASA with a committed and expanded membership is crucial to advance the success of public education in the U.S.”
BACKGROUND:
AASA advocates for the highest quality public education for all students and develops and supports school leaders. Founded in 1865, it is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders in the United States and throughout the world. AASA members range from chief executive officers, superintendents and senior level school administrators to cabinet members, professors, and aspiring school system leaders. AASA members are the chief public education advocates for children, advance the goals of public education, and champion children’s causes in their school districts and nationwide. As school system leaders, AASA members set the pace for academic achievement. They help shape policy, oversee its implementation and represent school districts to the public at large.