SCHOOL NEWS
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Joanne Keeler says education has always been fun for her and she can even vividly remember her kindergarten classroom. This week as she begins her new job as principal at Bowie High School, Keeler says she will continue to follow a simple philosophy of trying to do what’s best for the students and teachers.
Keeler comes to Bowie after five years as an assistant principal at 5A Denton High School. With 2,000 students DHS had a principal, associate principal and five assistant principals.
While she loved her time at Denton High and raising her family in Krum, she decided it was time for a change to get to a smaller school and a place where she could be in the same district as her two boys.
“I couldn’t cheer on the Denton team Friday night, while my eighth grader was playing at the same time in Krum,” said Keeler when she got the BHS job.
Krum is exploding with people and after growing up in the country in Pennsylvania, she felt it was time this past spring to start looking around before her oldest got into junior high. With the support of her husband, Scott, and sons, Kyle, eighth grade and Kinsler, fourth, she began watching for opportunities. Bowie’s job came up and within two weeks she had a new job.
The new principal was raised in Charleroi, PA on a rural 100-acre farm with an older sister and younger brother. As a child she remembers lining up her baby dolls to play school, so she always knew part of her wanted to be a teacher; however, with a dad who was not only a rancher but a nurse, and a sister who became a nurse, she had an interest in health care.
Read about how this experienced educator found her path in education 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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