Superintendent

Dear Issaquah School District Community, 

This school year marks the third year I am serving as your Superintendent. And I continue to appreciate the opportunity to learn and lead in the Issaquah School District community. This year is also a special year, as my family started this year as a new family to the district. It is a valuable and unique perspective that my role as a parent brings to my role as a leader.

As we look ahead at this school year, we are continuing our work in service of our vision, adopted by the school board in 2023 that “All students thrive as they engage in meaningful learning that unlocks their passion and potential to positively impact the world.” Specifically, we are advancing the second year of implementation of the strategic plan and looking for ways to address opportunity gaps.

Innovation remains a common them as we continue to build upon the excellent work across the district and across the years. We simultaneously embrace continuous learning and new ways to prepare our students for a life filled with passion and purpose beyond high school, and maintaining the foundation of what we do for every student, every day.

The bond initiative on the ballot on November 5 is one way we are striving to meet the needs of students, staff, families and the community now, and well into the future.

I look forward to continued dialogue, engagement and partnership.

Let’s have an amazing 2024-25 school year!

Sincerely, 

Heather Tow-Yick
Superintendent

 

About Heather

Heather previously served as deputy superintendent of the Mukilteo School District, also in Washington. Prior to Mukilteo, Tow-Yick was chief of staff to the CEO at Teach For America and launched the organization’s work in Rhode Island. Her experience also includes roles as chief transformation officer and chief of staff for Providence Public Schools, consultant at the Bridgespan Group, and special assistant to former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein. She began her career as a middle school English teacher in the Bronx.

Tow-Yick has a master’s in secondary English education from Columbia University Teachers College and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Top strengths include: arranger, communication, individualization, responsibility, achiever.