LOW MOOR — Coaching and extracurricular appointments approved by the Alleghany Highlands
School Board on Monday, Jan. 9, will help position the school division for full consolidation this
fall.
During the meeting, the school board approved coaching and extracurricular appointments for fall
2023. They include Adam Eggleston, band director; Kim Jefferson, cheerleading coach; Jeremy
Bartley, cross country coach; Will Fields, varsity football coach; Brian Ellwood, golf coach; Charles
Leitch, volleyball coach; and Amanda Sprouse, choir director.
Fields, who has a strong background in coaching and athletic administration, will also serve as
activities director for AHPS on an interim basis.
Each person assigned to these positions has experience in public education in the Highlands,
having worked in Alleghany County Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Alleghany
Highlands Public Schools. AHPS was formed through the July 1, 2022, consolidation of Alleghany
County Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Jackson River Technical Center.
“While our students drive our success in athletic and extracurricular activities, they cannot
accomplish their goals without great coaches and mentors guiding and supporting them. We are
delighted to have such a wonderful group of folks to help our young people be the best they can
be both inside and outside of the classroom,” said Jonathan Arritt, vice chair of the Alleghany
Highlands School Board.
Eggleston is currently in his first year as band director at Alleghany School.
A self-described “lifelong lover of music,” Eggleston served as a music teacher at Matewan High
School in West Virginia from 2008-2010. He joined Alleghany County Public Schools in 2013 as
music teacher at Mountain View Elementary School. In 2011, he became a youth director at
Edgemont Reformed Presbyterian Church in Covington. Since 2013, he has served as a youth
minister and associate minister at First Christian Church in Covington. A graduate of AHS, Eggleston holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education and Bible from
Kentucky Christian University. He also received a Master of Arts degree in Christian leadership
from Kentucky Christian.
Jefferson is employed as a bookkeeper at Covington High School. She has worked at CHS since
2005.
Jefferson is a graduate of CHS. She has served as cheerleading coach at CHS since 2006. She
has also served as cheerleading coach at Mountain Gateway Community College.
She holds an associate degree from National Business College (American National University) in
Salem.
Bartley teaches at Callaghan Elementary School and Sharon Elementary School. He has been
cross country coach at AHS since 2013, and he has helped guide his teams to two recent state
championships.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Bartley graduated from AHS in 1996 with an advanced diploma. He
graduated with honors from Concord University in 2000, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in
psychology. In 2006, he received a Master of Arts degree in education from the University of
Phoenix.
Bartley was head cross-country coach at Clifton Middle School from 2014 to 2019, and he served
as a volunteer assistant coach at Concord from 2004-2006.
Fields, who serves as a special education teacher, has been head football coach at AHS since
2020. Last season, he led the Mountaineers to their first winning season in 12 years.
He has vast experience in athletics, with a background in coaching wrestling, track and field, and
football. He started his coaching career in 1992 as a defensive backs coach at George
Washington High School in Charleston, W.Va. He has also coached at Sissonsville High School
in West Virginia and at Bath County High School. During his time at Bath County High School, he
guided the Chargers to eight Pioneer District championships and three regional titles.
Fields returned to Alleghany County Public Schools in 2016 to teach and serve as an assistant
football coach. He remained as an assistant coach until he was elevated to head coach in 2020.
Fields played college football at the West Virginia Institute of Technology.
He will serve as activities director for AHPS on an interim basis until a full-time replacement is
found for Bryan Stinespring, who resigned recently to accept a football coaching position at VMI.
The school division has initiated a search for a full-time activities director. Fields has past
experience as an athletics director for Bath County High School.
Ellwood, who was already serving as golf coach at AHS, is a physical education teacher at Clifton
Middle School. He has worked at CMS since 2020. Prior to joining the staff at CMS, he taught PE
at Hurt Park Elementary School in Roanoke. He has also worked for Prince George County
Schools as an administrative aide and a PE teacher. His coaching background includes golf, soccer, and football.
Ellwood graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science degree in sport
management. He also holds a master of business administration in sport recreation and
management from Salem University in Salem, W.Va.
Leitch teaches health and physical education at Clifton Middle School. He started his career in
1994 as head teacher for alternative education. He has been at CMS since 1995.
He graduated from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College with an associate degree and went
on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from Radford University in 1994.
Leitch has coached multiple sports on the eighth-grade and varsity levels, including basketball,
soccer, softball, track and field, and volleyball.
Sprouse has been Alleghany High School’s choir director since 2006.
She graduated from Parkersburg High School in West Virginia. She joined Alleghany County
Public Schools after graduating Alderson-Broaddus University with a bachelor’s degree.
The appointments of fall coaches and extracurricular leaders follow a strategic timeline adopted
by the school board in October 2022. The timeline is designed to help ensure an efficient and
smooth transition to the full consolidation of schools in fall of 2023.
Jeter-Watson, Callaghan, Mountain View and Sharon elementary schools will remain open, but
in the fall, the joint division will have one middle school, housed in the current Covington High
School building, and a single high school, housed in the current Alleghany High School building.
The middle school will be called Covington Middle School. The high school will retain the
Alleghany High School name.
“Academics are our top priority, and we realize the importance of sports and extracurricular
activities to our students and the community as well. Sports and extracurricular activities help
unite our community, and we are confident that the coaches and leaders appointed by our school
board will help move our school division forward,” said Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-
Johnson, leaders of Alleghany Highlands Public Schools.
Halterman and Snead-Johnson said AHPS is eager to continue to celebrate the successes of
student athletes and student activities participants. They noted that recent successes include, but
are not limited to, winning seasons in several competitive events and students from both high
schools practicing together in certain winter sports.
