By CHARLES A. MASON

Students literally run the show at 540-student South Green Elementary School in the Glasgow Independent Schools district, Principal Chad Muhlenkamp said.

When music teacher Tambra Cambron was ill, the eight students who direct the morning announcements under her supervision through The Leader in Me program got up on the stage before the whole student body. Without a hitch they led the kids through the assembly – without adults, Muhlenkamp said.

When there wasn’t any music for the school song, the team sang the song without being accompanied, he said Friday.

“They feel value in coming to school,” the principal said. “There has been a transformation in the school climate. It has been a lot of dedication and hard work by the staff.”

South Green Elementary recently joined Warren County’s Briarwood and William Natcher elementary schools and Barren County’s North Jackson Elementary as FranklinCovey’s newest The Leader in Me Lighthouse School. It was a three-year process that ended with the announcement March 4 by FranklinCovey, Muhlenkamp said. Lighthouse is the highest honor in the LIM program.

The principal said behavioral incidents have decreased from a high of 170 to about 40 since The Leader in Me was introduced. Glasgow Independent’s other Leader in Me school is Highland Elementary School, which is in its first year with the FranklinCovey program.

More than just a vehicle for less discipline, the kids take ownership when conducting jobs around the school, including helping pre-schoolers with their milk in the cafeteria, giving morning announcements and assisting as kids get off school buses in the morning.

Muhlenkamp remembers a student last year, Cassius Britt, who helped him with the bus duty. After Cassius applied for the job, Muhlenkamp gave him his business card.

“I told him I was counting on him.”

Cassius showed up every morning, until one day he didn’t get up early enough. The principal recalled that the boy called him to apologize for not being able to make it, then suggested training a fellow student who could help the principal if he couldn’t show up.

“He asked his mom to buy an alarm clock for him,” Muhlenkamp said.

Muhlenkamp said students and staff have accepted and embraced the leadership program.

Glasgow Superintendent D. Sean Howard said when he arrived at the district in 2010, he realized the community and the school district were a “gold mine for talent.” The district has improved the past four years, according to Unbridled Learning test results.

“The district performed in the 82nd percentile in 2011-12, the 89th percentile in 2012-13 and the 96th percentile in 2013-14,” Howard wrote in an essay published Thursday on KentuckyTeacher.org.

From 2011-12 to 2013-14, the dropout rate has gone from 1.9 percent to 0.6 percent, he noted.

“We have strong administrators in each of the facilities and a staff that wants what is in the true interest of the children,” Howard said. There are 2,150 students in the district, excluding preschool students. There are about 130 certified teachers.

The district has excelled in extracurricular activities, Howard said. For example, the district’s Quick Recall team at Glasgow High School is competing for the state title and the middle school’s similar academic team defeated larger schools.

“None of the improvements in the above data is simply due to happenstance. There has been a methodical approach to improvement in the district. District administrators have worked tirelessly, invoking a sense of prolonged improvement for our students. District leadership, principals, teachers and support staff have taken the challenges set before them and have devoted themselves to making a difference in each child’s life,” Howard wrote in the essay.

The Leader in Me has been a “catalyst” in the early grades for the successes posted in the higher grades, Howard said.

“You have to be a believer in the process,” he said.