Schools

Chippewa Valley Alum Named New Principal of Dakota

Paul Sibley will succeed Tom Heethuis as principal of Dakota High School when Heethuis retires from the post in June.

Paul Sibley is a Chippewa Valley lifer.

A 1997 graduate and the current assistant principal of , Sibley has spent 22 of his 32 years in Chippewa Valley Schools and will continue his career in the district as principal of when Tom Heethuis retires from that post at the end of the year.

Call it fate or merely coincidence, but this is actually the second time Sibley and Heethuis will cross paths on the threshold of life transitions.

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“(Tom Heethuis) actually called my name at high school graduation,” Sibley said.

A fact Heethuis reminded his former student of only yesterday.

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“He came up to me and said he didn’t know what to give somebody in my position, so he handed me a manila folder with the awards presentation (program) for my senior year of high school and the old booklets that we made–your will and testament to your friends,” Sibley said. “He had saved it all.”

Heethuis, who retires June 30, will be present for one last Chippewa commencement ceremony–Dakota’s Class of 2012–but said presiding over those exercises will be his last official duty.

“39 years is a very long run in education,” he said. “I’m very much at peace. I’m not running away from my job, but rather running to my grandkids in Traverse City.”

Sibley, who will begin to work in conjunction with Heethuis on April 10, said he plans to continue leading Dakota in the “great academic direction” set by Heethuis during his seven years as principal.

“We’re above state averages in ACT scores and our testing and we want to continue to move in the right direction with a focus on academic scores (and) improving our ACT scores and rates,” Sibley said.

To enhance this focus, Sibley said one of his first orders of business would be to create an afterschool ACT-prep course sometime before students take the ACT next year.

It is this “enthusiasm for the job” that Heethuis believes will serve Dakota well under Sibley’s direction.

“I am thrilled for this opportunity, and just really excited,” Sibley said. “I work in a wonderful building and I am extremely pleased with the staff and I am so excited about the future of our high school.”

Spending his K-12 years in Chippewa Valley, Sibley left only briefly to pursue a bachelor’s degree in secondary education at Western Michigan University. He earned that degree in 2002 and returned to the district that same year to work as a teacher at Dakota. In 2005, Sibley earned his master’s degree in educational leadership from Wayne State University.

He currently lives in Macomb Township with his wife and 2 ½-year-old son, who will eventually attend Chippewa Valley Schools.  

So what does Sibley think of possibly being his son’s principal?

“Well that’s the evil plan of course, to keep an eye on him through high school.”


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