Opelika City Schools

11/02/2026

🏈 OPELIKA vs. ALMA BRYANT - AHSAA 6A PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND 🏈
📆 Friday, Nov. 6
🕖 7 p.m. CT
🏟 Bulldog Stadium
🎟 All tickets are $12 and general admission. Tickets can be purchased online at GoFan.co; they are also available at Victory Designs and Bubba's Medicine Shop. A limited number of tickets will be available at the gate.

GO DAWGS!

10/30/2026

We wrap up National Principals' Month today as we catch up with Mrs. April Brock from Fox Run School!

Q: What inspired you to enter education, and how did you progress to your role as principal?
A: "I have always had a heart for helping others. Even as a young child, I loved helping my teachers and classmates, especially when someone needed help understanding something new. There was something rewarding about helping someone learn and seeing their confidence grow. Growing up, my family instilled in me the importance of education and taught me that it was important in creating opportunities and building the life you wanted. When it came time to choose a career, education felt like a natural fit because it combined two things I truly believed in: the power of education and the importance of helping others. I wanted a career where I could make a difference in people's lives, and teaching gave me the opportunity to do that. For me, education has always been about more than academics. It's about encouraging others, helping them recognize their potential, and making a positive impact that can last a lifetime."

Q: What's something you are most proud of at Fox Run this year?
A: "Obviously the construction is a big deal. I'm most proud of my students and faculty for navigating the challenge of being in a construction zone. We're trying to maintain the same activities, instruction and structure that we provided to students before the construction and not letting that be a hindrance to us being a great school. Our teachers are still teaching as usual. P.E. has been a challenge, but our students have been amazing at adapting to what needs to be done to keep everybody safe and be able to have fun."

Q: What's something you want the Opelika community to know about the work that principals are doing in schools every day?
A: "We love your kids. We want what's best for your kids, and we're going to do our best to make sure they get the best education they need to be successful in their futures. And not only learning, but also we want them to be good people in the world and positive members of our community."

10/29/2026

National Principal's Month continues as we catch up with Mr. Joe Ross of Carver Primary School!

Q: What inspired you to enter education, and how did you progress to your role as principal?
A: "My first desire was to be a NASA astronaut. But about my sophomore year of college, I said, "Well, they offer scholarships in teacher education. I need a scholarship. Why don't I start working?' I was going to be up in Huntsville doing big things at NASA. But about my senior year of physics, I said, 'that's a nice dream, but maybe it's not going to be a reality for me.' I taught school for several years, middle school and high school math. I was working at Auburn University in the College of Education and started subbing in Opelika around '97 or '98. A position came open, and they took a chance on a guy who did not work in the system. I got an opportunity to be an assistant principal in 2000, and since then I've been here and in Dadeville and Lee County.

Q: What is something you're most proud of at Carver this year?
A: "The last few years, we've focused on what we can do to address some report card issues like attendance. Ms. Williams, our assistant principal, has done a great job instituting incentive and recognitions for our kids for attendance to keep parents informed and engaged. We're also doing a lot to restructure how we provide instruction, particularly in first and second grade, to meet kids where they are. For the kids that need to move, soar, and fly, we want them to get soaring. For those who need a little extra time, we want to do things a little differently.

Q: What is something you want the Opelika community to know about the job principals do every day?
A: "When we all went to school, we saw the principal as the manager of a facility. It is not that job anymore. You still have to maintain your facility, but you also have community engagement, curriculum, state mandates. But I tell people this: I don't see myself doing anything different. Kids change, circumstances change, everything changes around this field. And as a leader and a principal, you've got to be willing to change and adjust."

10/29/2026

GO DAWGS!

Make A Statement 🅾️

10/27/2026

10/23/2026

We're proud to continue our National Principal's Month series with a quick Q&A with West Forest Intermediate School principal, Mr. Chris Hames!

Q: What inspired you to enter education, and how did you progress to your role as principal?
A: "I think my high school coaches were the reason. I had great relationships with them, saw what they did, saw the impact they had on me and others, and I thought I would really enjoy doing that. So that's kind of why I started. Once I was teaching and coaching, I was always at every event to build those relationships. I saw when you got into administration, you could have a bigger impact over a different group of kids."

Q: What's something you're especially proud of at West Forest this year?
A: "Our teachers are really great. I've worked a lot of places, but here, I walked into a situation where they really know what they're doing. They care about our kids, they care about our families. They've had some things in place for a long time. It's not anything I've done, for sure. It's just the West Forest way, and I'm getting indoctrinated into that.

Q: What is something you want the Opelika community to know about the work prinicpals do every day?
A: "I just want them to know that we're people, too. We're parents, too. We know what's being entrusted to us, who we're responsible for, and how much we care about their kids, how much our teachers care about their kids. That's at the front of every conversation we have - meetings with staff, meetings with each other, meetings with parents. We're here to serve our families as best as we know how to do it."

10/20/2026

We're proud to feature Mrs. Kelli Fischer from Opelika High School today in our latest profile for National Principal's Month!

Q: What inspired you to enter education, and how did you progress to your role as principal?
A: "Both of my parents were educators, and I grew up watching them impact students' lives. I literally grew up on the sidelines. My dad was a football coach. I really just loved the family feel that they created within the student groups they were in charge of. It was like extended family to me. I just knew from the time I was a little girl that I was going to be a teacher, I was going to be a coach. I did not know I was going to be a principal. I had people who believed in me and saw things in me that maybe I didn't necessarily see. But I knew from the time I was probably three years old that I was going to be an educator."

Q: What is something you're especially proud of at OHS this year?
A: "There's a lot. We always have so many different things going on. Everyone here wants excellence for our students and our community, and we have great people who work here. Our AP scores went up by 10 percent last year; we had 77 percent of our students who took AP exams last year make a qualifying score. When I started as principal, we were at 45 percent. That just shows the dedication from both our teachers and our students."

Q: What's something you want the Opelika community to know about the work that principals do every day?
A: "Every decision that's made, we're trying to do what we think is best for our students. There's always data out there about schools, and I think a lot can get lost in the numbers. It's important to remember that behind those numbers are humans. I want every single kid who walks through these hallways to know that they're valued, that they have a purpose in life, and they're known. We're a big school, but I do still feel like we're small enough that we make it a point to know the kids who go here. It's important for the community to understand the heart behind why we do what we do, and it's hopefully to make a difference in kids' lives."

10/16/2026

It's Senior Night at Bulldog Stadium! Get there early to help us honor our senior football players, band members and cheerleaders - senior night festivities begin at approximately 6:30.

GO DAWGS!

Last Home Game For Our Seniors…Y’all Know The Mission 🅾️