Bel Air Principal Came to Education From Corporate America

Note: This is the first in a series profiling the principals of Athens ISD’s five primary campuses.

By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist

Rosalie Dennis loves kids. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better job for her than one working with young people. So it’s a bit of a shock to learn the Bel Air Elementary principal spent the early years of her professional life in the computer industry.

Dennis, who was born and raised in Greenville, Texas, started out as a computer coder before moving into a marketing services role, which included teaching programming and operating systems. Then she and her husband, Jerry, moved to Athens so he could take over pastorship of a church.

“I started looking for a job, worked part-time at TVCC for a while and then started as a technology teacher at (what was then) R.C. Fisher,” said Dennis.

That was her introduction both to the education field and Athens ISD. She’s never looked back.

“There’s no comparison between what I did before and what I do now,” she said with a laugh. “This is so much better. I feel this really impacts lives, and I can see it. That’s very satisfying to me.”

After getting her teaching certification, Dennis went on to earn a master’s degree in educational administration. This school year marks her 23rd in education. About eight years ago, she took the job as assistant principal at Bel Air Elementary and is now beginning her second year as principal there. “We’re like a family here,” she said. “I work with very caring, talented people who will go more than the extra mile for the kids.”

It’s a tough job, and she loves it. “When you work with kiddos who are struggling and they say, ‘Oh, now I get it,’ that’s what this is all about. We work ourselves silly to make that happen.”

Dennis is particularly passionate about being a part of education at the elementary level. “We get to see foundational learning,” she explained. “This is where they learn to put letters together to make words, words together to make sentences, sentences together to make stories. I just think that’s remarkable.”

More about Rosalie Dennis

• When she was young, Dennis thought she might be a car mechanic when she grew up. “I lived next door to a service station, and they taught me to change the oil in the car — I could do that when I was eight — and change tires and pump gas. I was always staining my clothes with motor oil, which my mother didn’t appreciate.”
• She likes old school music. “I listen to Motown, R&B, gospel. I love Motown. It was the soundtrack of our lives growing up.”
• She is number five out of seven siblings, and her father attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he became acquainted with a professor named George Washington Carver.
• Her husband is the pastor of Bible Way Family Baptist Church in Athens.