Destin, Florida – During the Okaloosa County School Board meeting on January 26, 2026, it was announced that Mandy Lopez would be the new principal of Destin Middle School. Lopez’s appointment is the next stage in a career that has been defined by working in classrooms, leading teachers, and moving up through the ranks of school administration.
After getting her bachelor’s degree from East Carolina University, Lopez started working in education as a fourth-grade teacher in North Carolina. She came to Florida with her military family in 2013 and started working for the Okaloosa County School District. She was still learning and growing as a teacher while she was educating third and fourth grade at Edge Elementary School. She got her master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of West Florida.
She started to take on leadership duties at Walker Elementary School, where she was the English Language Arts instructional coach from 2017 to 2019. In that job, she helped teachers prepare lessons, come up with ways to teach, and set goals for how well their students would do. She was later designated the school’s assistant principal, a job she held from 2019 until 2023. In 2023, she was named the district’s Elementary Assistant Principal of the Year for her work throughout that time.
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Lopez was named principal of Walker Elementary School later that year. As the administrator, she stressed the importance of teaching leadership, staff teamwork, and students’ academic advancement. In 2025, she was named Elementary Principal of the Year, which showed that her hard work continued to be recognized.
Lopez is now the new principal of Destin Middle School. She has worked with students of all ages and has a background in teaching in the classroom. She has two kids and has said that she is dedicated to serve students, staff, and families as she starts this new chapter.
District authorities said that her history of leadership and commitment to student success were important factors in her appointment.
