SCHOOL NEWS
Safety a top priority in school planning
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
While this week’s Bowie Independent School District meeting was focused on budget issues, it also discussed pressing issues for the new school led by school safety.
In June the district received letters from the governor and Texas Education Agency on required school safety action steps to be completed before the first day of school. The push on school safety of course was prompted by the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
Superintendent Blake Enlow previously explained those include the local agency’s safety and security committees to review the emergency operation plans and the active threat plan, ensure all staff including substitutes are trained on their specific agency and campus safety procedures, schedule mandatory drills for the school year, ensure all threat assessment team members are trained and review and if necessary update access control procedures. Enlow said these are already in the works and would be completed.
Two new items joined that list: A summer targets partial safety audit and an exterior door safety audit. Enlow explained TEA and the Texas School Safety Center have prepared an audit tool of 50 questions for each instructional facility with half related to campus procedures and the other half to the campus physical plant.
As part of that audit each district must inspect every exterior door of each instructional facility. The purpose according to TEA is to verify each door closes and locks as intended to ensure appropriate levels of campus security the letter states. Once completed the district can take steps to immediately remedy any issues. Enlow said this audit must be complete and sent to the TSSC before Sept. 1.
Read the full story in your weekend 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.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
New Bowie High School Principal Dean Johnson brings 15 years of experience as an educator to the campus and he is looking forward to settling down in his new town.
The 38-year-old comes to Bowie from Farmersville Independent School District where he was junior high principal since 2022 and prior to that he was assistant starting in 2019. In 2023 he was named Texas Association of Secondary School Personnel’s Region 10 Assistant Principal of the Year.
Born and raised in Sherman, Johnson always knew his career path was coaching/teaching. He followed in his mother’s footsteps as she worked 30-plus years as a high school math teacher. His sister is a middle school math teacher and her husband is a teacher/coach both at Bells ISD, along with a cousin who is elementary principal at Burkburnett.
And dad can’t be left out, Johnson said while his father did several jobs, for many years he drove a bus for Sherman ISD, including those athletic team trips.
“I would often go with him on those trips with the football team and at seven or eight years old you look up at the players. I also was a ball boy. My path was set early,” said the new principal.
Read the full feature in the Thursday Bowie News.
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