SCHOOL NEWS
Forestburg ISD discusses four-day week during a public forum
Forestburg Independent School District may be joining the other districts in Montague County as they consider a “hybrid four-day” school week calendar for the next school year.
A public forum was hosted on April 5 where Superintendent Jason Briles and Principal Trey Cumby reviewed the calendar committee proposal which they called a “compromise between those who want four-day and those who like five-day.” There were about 25 people in attendance including staff, some board members and parents.
The next board meeting will be at 5 p.m. on April 17, and administrators anticipate trustees will make a decision on the calendar then.
Forestburg and Saint Jo ISDs are the only districts in the county not to have gone to some form of a four-day week. Bowie recently approved it, as did Nocona ISD.
Saint Jo also has a committee preparing a calendar for consideration. The rest of the districts are already operating with a shorter week.
Cumby went through the survey results that were gathered from a series of 13 questions mailed out to community members. Overall, there were 67 responses that prefer the four-day proposal and 27 prefer the traditional calendar. The survey was then sent to just parents and of the 71 responses, 48 prefer the four-day and 23 prefer the five-day.
Read the full story in the mid-week 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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