The 2024-25 public school year is starting with a long list of leadership changes in both the Logan County and Russellville school systems.
Six school districts which have changed superintendents since the end of the 2022-23 school year now have CEOs who have come through the two local systems. They are, of course, Russellville and Logan along with Shelby County, Elizabethtown, Bourbon County and Trigg County.
The musical chairs began when Logan County Superintendent Paul Mullins chose to return home to lead Elizabethtown Schools. Leon Smith, who is a retired superintendent of Russellville schools (and also a former interim holder of that position) answered the call to serve as the interim Logan Superintendent. Then the job went late in the fa;; semester to Dr. Dan Costellow, the first graduate of Logan County High School to become the chief administrator of the district.
Russellville Superintendent Dr. Larry Begley successfully applied for the Bourbon County job near Lexington. Kyle Estes had become part of the district when he taught math at Russellville High School the spring semester of 2023 after Jeremy Bivens left to teach at SKYCTC. A former Hancock County superintendent, Estes accepted the interim superintendency after Begley left. Later in the school year, the board chose him among several candidates for the permanent role of superintendent.
Rex Booth decided it was time for him to move on, and the popular RHS principal was chosen to lead the Trigg County schools.
The new RHS principal is Drew Teel, a former Russellville teacher who has been serving as assistant principal of Auburn School. Chosen to replace him is Nikki Preston, a former Auburn teacher who has been an assistant principal at LCHS.
The Logan County Board of Education decided it was time to reinstitute the role of assistant superintendent. The choice for that position was Ben Kemplin, who is also maintaining his duties as Director of Operations and Human Resources. A busy man, Kemplin is also Logan County coroner and a house renovation expert.
Dr. Josh Matthews, an LCHS alumnus like Costellow, had been serving as Supervisor of Instruction for the Logan Schools. He left to be superintendent of Shelby County Schools in the Louisville area. Chosen to replace him is veteran administrator Nicole Clark.
Matthews also had stayed in his former role as principal of Lewisburg School, which has been named one of Kentucky’s prestigious Schools of Distinction. Chosen to take his place in April was Grant Warren, who has been the assistant principal at Chandlers School after teaching chemistry at LCHS for a decade.
Chandlers School has a new principal and assistant principal. Former principal Bonnie Spears left during the school year to accept a principalship in Warren County. Retired educator Jennifer Jenkins served as the interim principal the remainder of the school year. The new principal is veteran Glasgow educator BobbiSue Holmes. Her assistant principal is Casi Chamberlain, who taught at Chandlers several years before serving as an assistant principal at LCHS last year.
Russellville Middle School has new administrators, This year’s principal is Conrad Reding, who has served the district capably in a number of capacities, including assistant principal. First named the new assistant principal was long-time RHS teacher and coach Pete Ries, but he soon accepted a position elsewhere. A surprise came when Jennifer Myers, who taught in Russellville schools for several years before leaving to be a principal in Glasgow before retiring, agreed to return to Russellville as assistant principal.
Overseeing a school district’s many athletic programs has become the equivalent of an administrative position. Highly respected Logan County Athletic Director Greg Howard, who is also president of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Controls, left to become the first person to hold that AD position for the massive Warren County Schools.
Named as his replacement was Todd Adler, who is continuing as head football coach of the Cougars.