Lowe, Crume Selected For Leadership Institute

Two Daviess County Public Schools principals were selected for participation in the Leadership Institute for School Principals, a program offering executive-level leadership training from the Center for Creative Leadership. The initiative is supported by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation and member companies such as Toyota, LG&E, Kentucky Utilities, Makers Mark, UPS and Alliance Resources, among others.

The goal of the Leadership Institute is to train principals to:

·         Build a high-performance culture in their schools

·         Influence others to ensure student success

·         Explore how knowledge of their own individual strengths and development needs can produce positive outcomes for students, schools and communities

·         Practice new behaviors for positive results

Kevin Lowe, principal at Meadow Lands Elementary School; and Jennifer Crume, principal at College View Middle School, recently returned from a three-day session at the CCL campus in Greensboro, N.C.; and two two-day training sessions at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce offices in Frankfort. Lowe and Crume were among 47 principals from across Kentucky who were selected to participate in the pilot program of the statewide initiative, based on superintendent recommendations and a rigorous application process.

Lowe and Crume said the experience provided valuable insights that will benefit their schools and students.

“Attending the training program not only strengthened myself but my building as well,” Lowe said. “I feel more empowered with tools and resources to solve problems in new ways. I was able to set personal and professional goals and to reflect upon how to achieve those goals. The ability to network with other principals throughout the state was especially helping, as it provided for sharing valuable information. I am able to have a clearer focus as a principal, not only in my daily tasks, but especially in the goals of our school and the resources we have to move forward positively and ensuring student and staff success. As a DCPS administrator, I am thankful for our leadership and for the community in sponsoring this tremendous asset to Kentucky principals. I am especially grateful for the Meadow Lands staff that provided feedback regarding my leadership.”

Crume agreed. “The direct impact this training had on me personally is that this training was just that: completely personal,” she said. “Every session was directed at each individual by a variety of assessments and activities designed specifically to meet our needs. We experienced problem solving strategies, goal setting activities, the team building process, and evaluating effective communication techniques. We interacted with other principals from across the state; it was wonderful to work with them and brainstorm together on how we are setting goals and problem solving for our schools under the new assessment and accountability system. We were provided access to an individual Executive Professional Coach who had access to all of our assessment results and assisted us in setting personal and professional goals, as well as a couple of follow up sessions after a period of time to see how we are progressing toward those goals. I believe the staff and students whom I serve will be directly impacted by the positive influence this training provided. I feel like I always had some good tools in my leadership tool belt; however, this training has sharpened those tools and added several new ones to equip me to better lead College View Middle School.”

Applications for the next round of training are now available at www.principalsleadky.com