BY AUDREY KENT
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA —
The Opelika City Schools (OCS) Board of Education heard from Fox Run School’s principal during its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Aug. 22.
April Brock, who has worked within the school system for many years, serves as Fox Run School’s principal.
During the meeting with the school board, Brock presented a PowerPoint presentation showcasing what a day at Fox Run school looks like for students. and what classes and programs are available to them.
According to Brock, students are grouped into teams during their time at school that consists of the ‘Knights’, ‘Warriors’, ‘Blazers’ and ‘Guardians’.
Each team includes four teachers, and students will see three each day: two English and history teachers, one math teacher and one science teacher, according to Brock.
“In middle school, each teacher taught a different subject,” Brock said. “Well, we have, I call it the hybrid model, in that you have a teacher that teaches English and history for 150 minutes. So, they’ll teach 110 minutes of English and reading, and then for 40 minutes they’ll do history. Then across the hall, you have a science teacher that teaches science for 75 minutes and math for 75 minutes. Those teachers will swap while the other kids are still on English and doing history at the same time. So, at some point in the middle of the day, they’ll just change kids, and they’ll get their science and math on the other side of the hall.”
According to Brock, children will also participate in physical education and exploratory classes that include beginner band or art classes like music, computer technology and digital literacy classes in the media center.
Other clubs the school will offer include a recycling club, robotics and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to Brock.
“This is our start; we can set our clubs; we can set what we want our kids to do,” Brock said. “So, whatever they say that sounds within reason that we can do, is going to open up opportunities for them to lead other clubs, especially in their interests, because the more relationships the students can build with teachers, the more plugged into school they will be.”
IN OTHER BUSINESS THE BOARD
– Approved consideration of personnel recommendations
– Approved consideration of 2023-24 renewal of the Alabama Trust for Boards of Education (ATBE) general liability/errors and omissions liability coverage
– Approved consideration of out of state field trip requests
– Heard the monthly financial statements for July 2023, from Chief Financial Officer Chris Harrison
– Heard the monthly child nutrition net cash resources for July 2023, from Harrison
– Announced the next budget hearing dates on Tuesday, Sept. 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. and Thursday, Sept. 14, from 2 to 4 p.m.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 26, at 4:30 p.m.