By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA–A few schools in the Shelby County School system will see new assistant principals as the Shelby County Board of Education made a couple of personnel changes at its latest board of education meeting the evening of Tuesday, June 26.

The changes included approving Ashley Bahr as the new assistant principal at Helena Middle School, DeWanda Nelson as the new assistant principal at Vincent Middle High School, as well as the approval of Kimberly Brown as the new supervisor of advanced programs for the district.

Bahr will not be moving far as she is currently the assistant principal at Helena High School. Bahr has more than 12 years of experience in public education and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in social studies at the University of Alabama and completed her degree in instructional leadership at the University of Montevallo.

“I just want to say thank you all for the opportunity to branch out because I have not been in a middle school,” Bahr said. “I’m thrilled to be working in one and I’ve worked in Shelby County for 12 years. I’m really excited and thrilled to stay in Helena.”

Nelson comes over to Vincent Middle High School after serving as a business teacher at Calera Middle School. She has more than nine years of experience in public education and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Jackson State University and a master’s degree in elementary education and educational leadership at the University of Montevallo.

“I look forward to working with Vincent Middle High School and getting involved in the community and supporting the students there to be successful,” Nelson said. “I thank you for giving me this opportunity to be able to work with everyone and I look forward to it.”

Brown has more than 23 years in education and comes to Shelby County Schools after serving as the principal at Moody High School. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Jacksonville State University and master’s degrees in special education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in educational leadership from the University of Montevallo.  She also has an Ed.S. in special education from the University of Alabama.

“I’m tickled to be back because I spent 10 years here as a gifted education teacher,” Brown said. “I’m beyond over the moon to be back in gifted education and really excited about working. I’m interested to see how we can kind of help move Shelby County Schools and our programs for all advanced students and move into a new era.”

The next Shelby County Board of Education meeting will be Tuesday, July 10 at noon at the Shelby County Instructional Services Building.