BY STEVEN STIEFEL
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Administrators from Opelika City Schools were hosted by the Opelika Chamber during the Business Over Breakfast program. They shared their thoughts on the upcoming football season, the impacts of a new law prohibiting mobile phones in school and mentioned important ways the community can help young people achieve their full potential.
Anticipation is high for the first football game, with expectations of a large crowd and new energy. Head Football Coach Bryan Moore said discipline and accountability will define the upcoming season as the Bulldogs prepare for a challenging schedule.
“If you’re unwilling to do the things that I’m asking you to do — put your mouthpiece in your mouth, keep your locker clean, be at practice on time, be at workouts at 6 a.m., be dressed and ready, in dress code, to have white socks on, to have the right shoes on — until you do that, you’ll never be as successful as you want to be. Until you surrender to that, you’ll never reach your goal. So, we’re chopping away at that every day.”
You’re going to rise to that expectation, or you can’t be here,” Moore said. “Until you do the things I’m asking you to do — from workouts at 6 a.m. to dress code — you’ll never be as successful as you want to be. Until you surrender to that, you’ll never reach your goal.”
Moore, who returned to Opelika in 2024 after coaching there previously, said he looks forward to seeing how the young team performs after losing 10 of 11 defensive starters.
“It’s nice to be back. We probably have six or seven guys that are still on staff from when I was there before,” he said. “I’m so pumped just to see how we perform. We want to rotate pieces and play a lot of guys on special teams. But honestly, I’ve never had that many starters to go. That’s going to be a big question. We’ve got to grow up really quickly, especially on the backend defense. Obviously, there’s a lot of memories that can be made that many people will take with them forever. That state championship that we’re striving for, the kids that win that state championship will forever remember that.”
Championships require hard work with no easy shortcuts.
“At one point last year, of the eight region teams in our region, six of them were ranked in the top 10, like four of the top five. So, that’s what we play every week. There’s a stretch where we play Pike Road, Dothan, Enterprise and Central back-to-back to back. And that’s just grueling. And then Carver, too, at the end,” Moore said.
He called the upcoming game against Auburn a highlight of the season, noting it is expected to be the largest broadcast of a high school athletic event in history.
“It’s our game. We get to highlight our school and stadium and our administration. I just thought it was a no-brainer, and it will be the largest broadcasted high school athletic event in history. We’re excited about that. I think our kids would say, and truthfully, we’ve got to have to get over that hump right now. It’s something about Auburn that we’ve got to do a better job of managing the way we approach the game mentally. I think we’re making the game too big, but our kids understand. I mean, it’s like the Auburn-Alabama game,” Moore said.
Athletic Director Craig Montel urged the community to support all sports, not just football.
“Everybody naturally gravitates and supports football,” Montel said. “We greatly appreciate that. But we have about 250 to 275 athletes that play other sports,” Montel said. “Please support them as well. Show up to those games. Those kids work really hard, too. Just support them any way you possibly can.”
Montel said athletics teaches lessons in teamwork, accountability and pride, shaping students’ lives beyond the field.
“Discipline, accountability, teamwork, being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” Montel said. “I think sports and athletics is huge for kids. Outside of the military, I think athletics is about the only time you get to be involved in something that’s bigger than you. It gives us pride. We wear these Opelika shirts very, very proudly. We try to put something out there that makes you all proud.
“Our kids need to be proud of something,” Montel added. “It’s not just athletics. Our band and our theater department and all those extracurricular-type things, it gives kids something to be proud of. I think our school system does a great job of that. If you’re happy to come to school and you’re proud of something, you’re probably going to do better in the classroom. It gives you something to work towards. I think athletics shapes kids. I wouldn’t be sitting here without sports. We love teaching kids, but we also love sports.”
At Opelika High School, Principal Kelli Fischer said students are adapting well to a new state law prohibiting mobile phone use during class. Phones are stored in locked pouches during the day, which she said has led to students playing games together and engaging face-to-face.
“I thought this was going to be a really big challenge, and our kids have shocked me,” Fischer said. “They’re telling me, ‘I only had two hours of screen time!’ Others say they feel less pressure to always be connected. A few of them have said, ‘I feel like I don’t have pressure to have to be connected and always looking to see what I am missing out on. Now if I’m not actually talking to the person beside me, that’s how I’m missing out.’ I love it. There are kids at lunch playing Uno. And I’m like, ‘Yes, more of this!’”
She cited research of how social media algorithms are rewiring the human brain to addict teenage users.
“The people that created Instagram know that if you get a like, that’s going to be a hit of dopamine that you’ll go back for more,” Fischer said. “Their algorithm is specific to what people post to keep you scrolling. Our students have what I’m calling their ‘personal cell phone locker’ that they get to keep with them all day. They put their phone in this little pouch, and they lock it. Then at the end of the day, we have magnets mounted throughout the school. The bell rings at 3:25, and by 3:28, everybody’s phone pouch is unlocked. I was really concerned it would take forever, but they have a sense of urgency about certain things. It really has gone well.”
Fischer said she understands parents’ concerns about losing a direct link to their children but reminded them students can still be reached by email on their school-issued Chromebooks.
She added that safety and student well-being remain top priorities, citing the lasting impact of the 2023 Dadeville shooting, which affected her godson.
“It marked my vision for what I want kids to know by the time they leave Opelika High School,” Fischer said. “Two of those students who were victims of that, they both survived and graduated from high school this past year. I don’t know how to explain what that does to somebody, but it made me realize that this is so much bigger than just running a school. We make sure that kids know, ‘You have value, you have purpose, you are here for a reason, and the person beside you also has value and has purpose and is here for a reason.’”
Addressing the mental health needs of students has led to programs such as “Wellness Wednesdays” and giving some relief to those who feel overwhelmed.
“It’s easy to think that we’re here to graduate kids and make sure that they’re ready for their next step in life, which we are, but that next step doesn’t have to be anything to do with algebra. The kids are dealing with very real things. Seeing, going through that whole thing, getting so close to these kids’ families, it hits different when you show up at UAB and you sit with a mom who’s just sobbing, not knowing if their child’s going to make it. And when you fast forward and see that kid walk across the stage and know that she just moved in on her college campus this weekend, like, we’re doing God’s work. We get in the weeds of all these other things that we have to do, but that’s what it’s about,” Fischer said.
She said that while her job is challenging, “I can’t think of any other job where I would have the opportunity to get to be around so many young people and potentially make a positive impact in their lives. I feel like they have shaped my life in a way that I never could have imagined. I think that’s what I’m most proud about. I’m proud of our students and the fact that we have a very diverse population. They really come together and celebrate each other other’s differences. I have a nephew who started as a freshman this year, and I was talking to him after school Friday. He said, ‘The thing I like about Opelika is that we’ve all just kind of grown up together, and we know there are people that are different, and we’re fine with that. We’re not picking on them because they’re different. We just let people be who they are.’ And that’s coming from a ninth grader, like a 14-year-old kid. If I want one thing to come out of what I do, it’s that I want every single kid to know you belong, you have a value and a purpose in life, and hopefully by the time they graduate from Opelika High School, they have a little better understanding of what their purpose is, and they know that they belong here. I’m proud of the students.”
New Superintendent Kevin Davis, who joined Opelika from Muscle Shoals, said community pride attracted him to the role.
“The first thing I noticed when I came here was how clean the city was,” Davis said. “That told me a lot about the people here. You’ve taken me in and treated me like I’ve always been here.”
Administrators thanked local businesses for supporting job fairs, donating to programs and offering opportunities to students who may not pursue college.
“Not every kid is going to college,” Montel said. “But I promise you they can be good employees if you give them that opportunity. We have great kids. Incredible kids that are not going to go to college, period. They might not be able to afford it. But I promise you they can be good employees for somebody. They can do a really good job for you if you will give them that opportunity. Please support our kids that are not the top end academic kids or the athletic kids that are going on scholarship. Those kids are 18-, 19- and 20-years-old, and they can do you a really good job. They can do us a really good job, even without a piece of paper that proves that.”
Fischer said connecting students to extracurricular activities is critical to helping them graduate and succeed.
“We don’t think money should be a barrier for participation, but that does mean we fundraise,” she said. “The support from this community makes all the difference.”
