Let $k$ and $m$ be positive integers and $λ/μ$ a skew partition. We compute the principal specialization of the skew Schur polynomials $s_{λ/μ}(x_1, \ldots, x_{k})$ modulo $q^m-1$ under suitable conditions. We interpret the results thus obtained from the viewpoint of the cyclic sieving phenomenon on semistandard Young skew tableaux of shape $λ/μ$. As an application, we deal with evaluations of the principal specialization of the skew Schur polynomials at roots of unity.