The Shoofly Magazine
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Communities
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Readers' Circle
    • Partners
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi

Andy Parker: Dedicated to Education

11/19/2020

 
On the Shoofly - November 2020
When it’s right, they say, you know it. And Andy Parker knew that his path included a satisfying career shaping education on the Gulf Coast.
​
​​-- Story by Elizabeth Stranga
Picture
Andy Parker: "My favorite thing about the Bay is its people."
When Andy Parker was at Jones County Junior College, he walked out of his Accounting II class with clarity: regardless of his previous plans, he couldn’t see spending the rest of his life analyzing financial wins and losses or creating financial reports.

“My gut told me it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing,” Parker recalled.

Instead, he looked to his English teacher, Lona Bassett, for insights into how to live a happy life that would leave him feeling both fulfilled and proud of his work.

“Ms. Bassett always seemed so happy and had authentic relationships with her students,” he recalled of his sophomore English teacher. “I just remember looking at her and thinking I wanted to be like her – wanted to share that love of literature and writing.”
​
On the Shoofly
is sponsored by
Picture

Picture

Picture
Parker said he has never regretted his decision – and has relished the twists and turns his professional life has taken. ​
​
​​He went on to earn degrees in English and education from Mississippi State University. He later taught at Stone High School in Wiggins and at Gulfport High School.

He especially treasures one experience at Gulfport High, where he taught a group of students who had repeated multiple grades but been promoted to the high school together because of their age.

“Many of them were 17 or older and in English I,” he recalled.

One day when he was ill, he broke with his usual classroom protocols and asked students to take turns reading a piece of literature aloud. A student wrote him a note at the end of class, asking him not to ask her to read aloud again, because she was embarrassed and didn’t want other students to mock her.
Picture
Andy Parker is currently the Director of Professional Learning at Bailey Education Group.

“That ‘Dear Andy Letter’ propelled me to learn more about how kids learn to read,” he said. “I really started to study it – to try to figure out what more we could do to help.”

Parker said he talked with the student years later and learned she went on to graduate and now is a manager at a local business on the coast. 
​
“She told me she is writing her own book and that she has more than 300 books in her home,” Parker said. “It was amazing to reconnect and learn of her success that after all those years – rewarding is an understatement.”

His first leadership role was assistant principal at Bayou View Junior High in Gulfport.

That role was a tough one.

“I struggled to adjust, honestly,” he said. “People think when you are the leader of a school you have so much more autonomy, but I felt the opposite. That first year, I was shocked by how much control I didn’t have. I had to process the different work schedule and learn how to deal with things like teachers who didn’t meet the expectations I had had for myself in the classroom.” 
​
He went on to work in the Pascagoula Gautier School District at Gautier High School, where he was a high school assistant principal for two years and then moved to Gautier Middle School to serve as principal for five years. After Hurricane Katrina he served as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

In 2008, he began working in Bay St. Louis as high school principal.

“High school really is my love,” he said. I’m really proud of the work I led at Bay High. The community has become my second home.”

In 2013, Parker retired from the Mississippi public education system and went to work for a national nonprofit focused on helping struggling schools shift to new national expectations around curriculum and teaching.

He later served as chief school officer and co-CEO for a charter school group in New Orleans.
​
A year ago, he came to Bailey Education Group, where he serves as Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Development. The company is Mississippi’s premiere educational consulting company, providing a variety of services, including teacher and leadership coaching and development. Right now, the company is also working to provide support to teachers and schools trying to plan for COVID-related changes this fall.

“I came to Bailey because I knew I wanted to be part of a team that was committed to growing students and improving lives,” he said. “I knew it was also a place where my talents would be utilized and where I could grow.”

Parker has worked on a number of projects at Bailey, including in Bay St. Louis, Moss Point and Laurel, as well as some in Louisiana.

Some of his favorite days at work allow him to help support Bailey staff and also spend time in schools with principals, teachers and students.

“I have learned enough about myself to know I thrive on connections with people,” said Parker, who supports Bailey’s internal professional learning and also does extensive leadership and teacher coaching in schools.

​“I am thankful I left the accounting classroom that day and made the switch to education. I’m lucky enough to have a career that I never dreaded going to each day,” Parker said. “I’m grateful for all I’ve learned, the people I have met and the experiences that I’ve had. Becoming a teacher and school leader was a life-changing decision for me.”
​
Picture
Andy Parker (r) and his husband, Ranzy Monet.

Parker, and his husband, Ranzy Monet, are part time residents of Bay St. Louis, and they spend the rest of their time in New Orleans. “We bought a house just off of Main Street in BSL as our retirement place; currently we are there part-time and in New Orleans the other part,” commented Parker. “Our hearts, though, look for reasons to get back as often as possible.

“It’s hard to pick one thing I love about Bay St Louis… Of course, I love the Bay High Tigers, walking along the beach front, eating at the fabulous restaurants, shopping in all of the quaint stores and galleries, and riding my golf cart all over town,” furthered Parker.
 
“However, my favorite thing about the Bay is its people. We love sitting on our front porch talking to neighbors and strangers who pass by, having friends over for meals and conversation, and enjoying cocktails with them by the pool. The Bay certainly has become our ‘Place Apart.’” 
​

Comments are closed.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    15 Minutes
    Across The Bridge
    Antiques
    Architecture
    Art
    Arts Alive
    At Home In The Bay
    Bay Bride
    Bay Business
    Bay Reads
    Beach To Bayou
    Beach-to-bayou
    Beautiful Things
    Benefit
    Big Buzz
    Boats
    Body+Mind+Spirit
    Books
    BSL Council Updates
    BSL P&Z
    Business
    Business Buzz
    Casting My Net
    Civics
    Coast Cuisine
    Coast Lines Column
    Day Tripping
    Design
    DIY
    Editors Notes
    Education
    Environment
    Events
    Fashion
    Food
    Friends Of The Animal Shelter
    Good Neighbor
    Grape Minds
    Growing Up Downtown
    Harbor Highlights
    Health
    History
    Honor Roll
    House And Garden
    Legends And Legacies
    Local Focal
    Lodging
    Mardi Gras
    Mind+Body+Spirit
    Mother Of Pearl
    Murphy's Musical Notes
    Music
    Nature
    Nature Notes
    New Orleans
    News
    Noteworthy Women
    Old Town Merchants
    On The Shoofly
    Parenting
    Partner Spotlight
    Pass Christian
    Public Safety
    Puppy-dog-tales
    Rheta-grimsley-johnson
    Science
    Second Saturday
    Shared History
    Shared-history
    Shelter-stars
    Shoofly
    Shore Thing Fishing Report
    Sponsor Spotlight
    Station-house-bsl
    Talk Of The Town
    The Eyes Have It
    Tourism
    Town Green
    Town-green
    Travel
    Tying-the-knot
    Video
    Vintage-vignette
    Vintage-vignette
    Waveland
    Weddings
    Wellness
    Window-shopping
    Wines-and-dining

    Archives

    December 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Shoofly Magazine Partners

​Our Shoofly Partners are local businesses and organizations who share our mission to enrich community life in Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Diamondhead and Pass Christian. These are limited in number to maximize visibility.  Email us now to become a Shoofly Partner!
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum

Bay Town Inn

Bay-tique Boutique

The Bay Bum

The Shops of Century Hall

Chiniche Engineering

Creole Creamery

The Cultured Oak

The French Potager

Hancock County Historical Society

HL Raymond Properties

Kenny Dental

Lagarde's Fine Wine & Spirits

The Loft
The Mane Salon

Magnolia Antiques

Ms. Mary's Old Town Snoballs

Mystic Ghost Tours

PJ's Coffee

Salty Soul Outfitters

Theatre in the Pass

VSPA at Hancock Women's Center

The Wedding Collection ​

John & Ning Wiebmer


The Shoofly Magazine  is published by MAC Media, LLC.   Unless otherwise attributed, all written content and photography copyright MAC Media, LLC

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Communities
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Readers' Circle
    • Partners
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi