The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) has recognized Mr. Robert Heinrich as the winner of their 2024 Instructional Leadership Award. Heinrich was presented the award by the President of PASA, Dr. Gennaro R. Piraino, and the Director of PASA, Dr. Sherri Smith, at a ceremony in Harrisburg on Thursday, November 14th.
The award is presented to one school administrator each year for demonstrating commitment to excellence in teaching and learning by developing, nurturing, and supporting exemplary programs that support the academic achievement of particular student populations; enriching student learning in a particular content area; and/or for implementing strategies to enhance student learning across the curriculum.
Since joining the Indiana Area School District’s leadership team in 2019, Superintendent Heinrich has been instrumental in realigning the district’s mathematics curriculum, shifting the district’s reading and writing curriculum to a structured approach to developing literacy, and vastly expanding dual enrollment opportunities for high school students. The PASA award, however, was in recognition of Heinrich’s leadership in developing a multi-tiered system of support designed to help all students learn and grow both academically and behaviorally.
The system that the team at Indiana has established uses a variety of data to determine individual student needs so teachers can provide appropriate academic or behavioral interventions designed to encourage student growth. Indiana’s approach has become a model for other school districts across the commonwealth.
“This award is less about me and more about the incredible people I am privileged to work with every day at Indiana,” said Heinrich. “Our teachers, administrators, and support staff consistently go above and beyond to provide the very best educational opportunities possible for each and every student, and I could not be more proud of the work they do. Our school board dedicates their time and expertise to support the efforts of our staff, and our parents and community are truly invested in the success of our schools. This award simply recognizes that good people can do great things when they come together as a team!”
The award includes a $1,000.00 check sponsored by Lincoln Investments, which Heinrich can donate to any educational initiative in the district. Heinrich plans to donate the money to the Indiana Area Education Foundation and earmark the money for a scholarship fund to support IASD students. “I will use this as seed money to establish the ‘Superintendent’s Award,’ a scholarship granted to one of our graduating seniors each year.”