Trigg School Staff Helping Students Cope With Teacher’s Death

Trigg County High School staff and administrators spent Monday talking to and counseling students in the wake of the death of science teacher Simone Parker, who died over the weekend from COVID-19 complications.

Students returned to virtual learning in the Trigg County School System Monday. High school principal Shannon Burcham said the staff got an early start in reaching out to students who may need help coping with the loss of their teacher.

Burcham said the counseling process was made a little easier because each high school student is assigned a staff member at the start of each school year to serve as a mentor.

Burcham said the school has also received offers of help from outside the school district to help with counseling the students and staff.

Parker taught science at Trigg County High School for nearly 20 years. She was instrumental in getting students engaged with school projects both inside and outside of the school setting. Parker began a chess club and helped establish a travel program that took students to various locations around the world. A member of Trigg County’s 1990 girls’ basketball district championship team, Parker also was a personal and enthusiastic supporter of Wildcat athletics. But more importantly, she was an enthusiastic supporter of the kids she taught, telling them to “be good, be careful, and come back to me tomorrow.”

Burcham said Parker’s legacy at the school will be felt for years to come.

In a social media post Sunday, Governor Andy Beshear shared the WKDZ News story on Parker’s passing and asked Kentuckians to pray for the family of Parker, saying Simone “made an impact on her students, in and out of the classroom, changing their lives for the better.”