The May 2025 Hard Rock Cafe of Myrtle Beach Administrator of the Month is Jimmy Bailey, assistant principal at Carolina Forest High School.

Bailey was nominated for administrator of the month because he is continuously helping and encouraging students, teachers and staff to be the best they can be.

The 2024-25 school year marks 24 years of Bailey working in education.

Bailey graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a degree in mathematics and planned to become an insurance actuary after graduating.

“I didn’t plan on being a teacher when I was in college,” Bailey said. “I ended up doing this and I’m glad I did.”

Upon graduating from CCU, one of Bailey’s professors, who was also his advisor, told him that Waccamaw Middle School needed a long-term substitute math teacher to finish out the school year and none of the other education majors wanted the position.

He drove down and met the assistant principal at the time, Jerry Hughes, and ate lunch with him and learned more about the position.

Bailey spent the remaining five weeks of the school year as an eighth grade algebra substitute.

“I took a leap of faith,” he said.

While he was substitute teaching, Bailey was being observed by administration throughout some of the classes he taught.

Waccamaw High School was in the process of hiring a new principal and after the observation, the new principal offered Bailey a job at the high school for the following school year.

Bailey spent 12 years at Waccamaw High School.

After that, he began his Horry County Schools career at Socastee High School.

Throughout his years of teaching in the classroom, Bailey taught algebra II and AP statistics.

While at SHS, Bailey was a Teacher of the Year finalist for Horry County Schools.

After four years spent at SHS, Bailey moved to Carolina Forest High School and began his career there as an assistant principal.

CFHS includes grades ninth through twelfth, with about 3,000 students, including 2,800 on campus.