SCHOOL NEWS
Love of music drives new BJH band director
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Robert Frick has taken his love of music and for the past 22 years worked to instill that same joy in the young people he teaches.
Frick joined the staff of Bowie Junior High School this year arriving in Bowie from the Childress Independent School District where he was high school and junior high school director the past six years.
Born in Denver, CO, the 47-year-old grew up in Arkansas and Oklahoma primarily in the Norman area. After graduating from Little Axe High School, he attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, OK, where he earned his bachelor of music education in 1998 and his master’s of music in 2003.
As he considered a career Frick recalls he wanted to be an electrical engineer, but laughed physics was an obstacle so he turned to his love of music. During high school and college he took part in band and choir.
“In fifth grade I wanted to play the trumpet, but my parents could not afford it, so I went to the coronet. Later I switched to tuba in eighth grade. It was better than I thought it would be,” states Frick.
In college he loved to sing and says he was on his way to be an opera singer, but he talked himself out of it noting the hard work and discipline needed for that.
Read the full feature in the mid-week Bowie News.
Bowie Independent School Trustees continued work on the 2026-27 budget during its Aug. 17 meeting including the creation of a salary schedule and establishing a proposed tax rate.
The budget and 2026 proposed tax rate will be up for adoption in an early morning meeting at 7 a.m. on Aug. 31, just at the brink of the new fiscal year.
The salary schedule is based in large part on the Texas Association of School Board’s salary study commissioned by the district. Per the study teacher salaries are above the market median at most benchmarked years. They are most competitive at year 0 where they are 5% above the market median and least competitive at year five where they are 1% below the marked median.
District officials initiated the salary study to get more definitive information where its salaries fall and while some areas were in the range, other category of employees fell below the market. Trustees discussed the need to move auxiliary staff and custodial closer to the market level.
Superintendent Donna Hale and Finance Director Paula Peterson explained the new schedule will not be an across-the-board percentage increase, but focus on getting all employee pay scales closer to the market averages.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonnline.com
Bowie Independent School District Trustees began plowing through the 2026-27 budget at its first workshop on Aug. 3.
The center of discussion was presentation of the salary study commissioned by the district through the Texas Association of School Boards. Laura Wurman of TASB explained how the data was gathered and developed into recommendations for the district.
Purpose of the study is to assess competitive pay levels for common jobs. Wurman said they analyses market data to determine where the district is at risk and identified priorities for pay system improvements.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
Diana Calderon will join the Bowie High School staff as assistant principal in the new school year.
She comes to Bowie from Lake Dallas Elementary School where she served as assistant principal since 2024. Her prior positions include administrator at Decatur High School from 2022-2024, and English as a second language director at Ponder High School and Middle School from 2017 to 2022.
Calderon’s educational background began with a bachelor of business management in 2007 from the University of Phoenix. She earned her master degree in bilingual education from Southern Methodist University in 2018 and a master’s in educational leadership also in 2018.
The educator is working on her doctorate of educational leadership.
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