Principal's Corner

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year. As I begin my eighth year at SES (3rd year as principal), I would like to express how much I count it as a privilege to serve the faculty, students, and parents of Stephens Elementary. I am entering year thirteen in education. I spent five of those years as a second grade teacher in Opelika City Schools. The remaining eight years have been spent at SES as a fourth grade teacher, Instructional Coach, Assistant Principal, and Principal. The love and compassion that I have for Stephens Elementary will be used to build a positive learning environment for our students.

Our goal at Stephens is to strive to empower our students by continuing to raise the level of rigor in instruction and assessment. We will add the development of soft skills to the academic foundation, while continuing to emphasize the importance of attendance, good behavior, and active engagement in the learning process.

We will focus on student engagement in order to make learning fun, so that our students can become academically and emotionally successful. Additionally, we will help you help your student by providing APTT (academic parent-teacher team) events here at Stephens Elementary.  During these events, we will provide you with resources that will allow you to help your child at home, equip you with knowledge of how to understand your child’s data, and guide you as you set goals for your student. Please refer to the yearly calendar and note the scheduled events. 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your child’s principal. I look forward to working with you and building relationships with our students. Please feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or questions. 

Thank you,

Lekishia Richardson

Principal

N. H. Stephens Elementary