When Randall Marcum decided to go into education, he did so because he wanted to make a difference in peoples’ lives. He’s done that for many years as a teacher and administrator and now he’ll be doing it as the principal of Lewisburg High School.

“Lewisburg has tremendous teachers and great students,” Marcum said. “There is a lot of potential here. We want to be the best school in Logan County.”

Marcum has been vice principal at Lewisburg School for four years. Since former principal Barrett Nelson left in November, Marcum has worked closely with interim principal Janet Hurt to focus on the future of the north Logan school.

“We have goals,” Marcum said. “We have a school improvement plan and we want to implement that as soon as possible.”

One goal is to be named a School to Watch, an honor all the other K-8 schools in Logan County have achieved.

“The teachers want that,” Marcum said, “and we will be a School to Watch.”

Marcum said the teachers are very supportive and that he and other leaders want to focus on the teachers.

“Our philosophy is that it’s never the program that makes the change, it’s the teachers.”

“We also want to get the parents more involved,” Marcum said. He’d like to get more parents in the PTO and on various committees, and he wants the parents to know that this is their school and they are welcome there anytime.

Marcum has been in education for many years and served in several positions. He began as a teacher and gifted coordinator in Laurel County Public Schools, where he worked for 14 years. He served as the principal of New Castle Elementary School and then Carroll County High School.

Before coming to Lewisburg, Marcum served as assistant superintendent of the Dorchester Public Schools in Maryland for four years. Marcum went there when a friend of his was hired as superintendent and offered him the job.

After his four-year contract was up, Marcum wanted to return to Kentucky. As a single father, he was glad to get the chance to serve at a school where his two children would go. His son, Brandon, is now a freshman at Logan County High School, and his daughter, Miranda, is in the seventh grade at Lewisburg.

“Logan County has a lot going for it,” Marcum said. “This district is very progressive.”

Marcum said he wants to focus on simply making Lewisburg School a safe, clean place for students to come and learn.

“All decisions will be based on what’s best for the students,” Marcum said.