Behind every high-performing school is a strong leader.

That’s why the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation organizes a leadership training course called the Leadership Institute for School Principals.

“The ultimate goal of this program is to improve education in Kentucky,” said Kelly Wolf with the Kentucky chamber.

Wolf said the chamber’s been looking into how to accomplish that and found that “impacting the school leader would have more of an impact than anything else we could do.”

Dan Costellow, principal of Rich Pond Elementary School, has been chosen as one of 48 principals to participate in this year’s training.

“It shows that they have an interest in improving their leadership style,” she said, adding that the program prioritizes newer principals. “We’d like to have those principals in a leadership role for many years.”

However, Costellow isn’t Warren County Public Schools’ only employee to go through the program. Other school principals include Greg Dunn of Greenwood High School, Jenny Hester of South Warren High School, Eddy Bushelman of South Warren Middle School, Nicole Clark of Warren East High School and Matt Bastin of Warren East High School.

Jason Kupchella, the district’s chief operations officer, has also been through the program.

“Not only does it help you develop your own strengths, but you learn to recognize strengths in others and how to deal with that,” he said.

Those who go through the training participate in workshops and work with personal leadership trainers to identify how they can improve their skills.

“It was extremely valuable,” Kupchella said. “That was probably one of the best trainings I’ve ever been through where I think I got the most out of it.”

Costellow, who has already been through some of the yearlong training, described it as a high quality program.

“There were some leadership inventories that gave me better insight regarding my strengths and how others perceive me as a leader,” he said. “It helps you grow in areas that you may not be fully aware of yourself.”

— Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.