FROM STAFF REPORTS

COLUMBIANA – Helena High School added a football coach, band director and lead counselor to its staff during the Shelby County Board of Education’s Dec. 20 meeting.

Arab High School head football coach Watt Parker was approved as head football coach at Helena High. Current Pelham High School band director Jeffrey Burnside was named the new band director and Kim Bailey was named lead counselor.

Parker has been an educator and coach for 22 years and an athletic administrator for the past 12 years.

“Coach Parker’s commitment to excellence in the classroom and on the field has been exemplary,” Helena High Principal Jay Peoples wrote in a news release. “Known as a planner, a builder and a tireless worker, Coach Watt Parker is well suited to lead Helena High School athletics and excited about the opportunity to build the program on a solid foundation of character, accountability and hard work.”

Parker spent 14 years in Shelby County Schools, including a stint as an assistant at Thompson High School and head football coach at Chelsea High School. Under Parker’s leadership, the Chelsea High football team made the playoffs each year and reached the third round for the first time in school history in 2005.

At Arab High School, Parker’s team achieved the first playoff victory in the history of the school’s football program, according to the news release. He also holds certification from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

“In addition to his achievements in the athletic realm, Coach Parker has also established himself as an excellent mathematics teacher, often carrying a challenging teaching load while serving as head coach and athletic director,” Peoples wrote.

Kim Bailey has been an educator for 22 years and has been a counselor and college advisor for the past 14 years, according to the news release.

She has worked as an English teacher at Minor High School, a counselor at Oak Mountain High School and Chelsea High School, and a gifted and college advisor for Montevallo High School, Thompson High School and Shelby County High School.

“Mrs. Bailey is involved both locally and nationally as a peer program trainer and has developed strong, active peer helper programs in three large high schools by focusing on peers educating peers on the many social issues facing our teenagers including social media use, bullying, diversity, study skills and more,” Peoples wrote.