Honoring Women’s History Month | Heidi Sipe

Heidi Sipe is the superintendent in Umatilla School District. Her commitment to the students in her small, impoverished, diverse community is exceptional. Academic performance has increased dramatically under her leadership. She has been named the 2016 Oregon Superintendent of the Year by the Oregon Association of School Executives (OASE) and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators (COSA). Sipe and her school board made post-high school success a priority for Umatilla students, and began to emphasize increasing the attainment of college credits during high school. Sipe led the creation of the STEM Academy of Umatilla (SAU)and serves as volunteer coach of the district’s award-winning FIRST Robotics team. SAU provides a variety of STEM courses to more than 600 students each year, with robotics as the backbone of the academy’s afterschool programming. Umatilla, with more than 200 students participating, now has the second highest percentage of students in the nation involved in FIRST Robotics. Sipe has been appointed to a national task force to assist school districts through COVID-19 closures. Sipe is one of 27 school superintendents from across the country to be selected for the COVID-19 advisory panel put together by The School Superintendents Association, also known as ASAA.