Dear Parents/Guardians of
Bowie High School Students

It is hard to believe that the first six weeks of school is already behind us. This has been one of the smoothest openings of school that I have experienced during my career. This tells me that you are taking time to instill the value of education in your child. The Bowie High School Redesign process is underway. One mportant piece of the project is the development of “small learning communities,” which is our ninth Grade Academy. My hat goes off to the ninth grade teachers for all of their hard work and endless amount of meeting time to discuss each child’s needs and what is necessary for the student’s success. One new program that the teachers developed is the “Dawg Den.” This academic success center is available only to ninth graders and is monitored by a certifi ed teacher during the 50-minute lunch periods, as well as during our instructional day. The purpose of the “Dawg Den” is to provide additional academic support to students who are falling behind or struggling with their academic work. All Bowie “Academic Engineers” are working extremely hard to assist all students to be successful. When you run into one of our teachers, I ask that you acknowledge their hard work and effort. They are truly one of the best staffs in the state. Soon an automated attendance call system will be in operation. Our goal is to notify parents, that our records indicate, their child was absent from school. At the end of the day, our attendance records will be loaded into the phone system computer. The automated system will then contact parents/guardians. This notifi cation is a proactive step to generate a parent conversation with their child, as well as, a conversation with the school concerning the student’s attendance.

BOWIE HAS NEW PRINCIPAL

[Original AISD Letter] [Mary Carroll High School]

Austin Independent School District

Rosalinda Hernandez, Ph.D.
Associate Superintendent for High Schools

April 25, 2006

Dear Parents:

We are pleased to announce that after conducting a nationwide search for the principal position at Bowie High School, several candidates were interviewed, and the Board appointed Stephen L. Kane as Principal of Bowie High School at the regular meeting of the AISD Board on Monday, April 24, 2006. The interview committee recommended Mr. Kane because his attributes best matched the qualities/traits that the faculty, students, and the community viewed as important in a candidate.

Stephen Kane began his educational career in 1974 as a teacher in Salida, Colorado. In 1985, Mr. Kane left Colorado and moved to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas where he held various teaching and professional positions in the Weslaco ISD. In 1999 Mr. Kane accepted the principal position at Gregory-Portland High School in the Gregory-Portland ISD. The Corpus Christi ISD hired Mr. Kane in 2004 as principal of Mary Carroll High School.

In addition, Mr. Kane held positions as Staff Development Supervisor for three years and as District Physical Education & Wellness Coordinator for six years. As a staff development supervisor, Mr. Kane conducted workshops modeling the Dupont Leadership Development Training style and Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In his role as district physical education coordinator, Mr. Kane led the district-wide curriculum writing team in designing, implementing, and evaluating the new curriculum. Mr. Kane also oversaw the District Wellness Program and the Special Olympics Program.

Under his supervision, Gregory-Portland High School received the U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School award in 2000 and was named by the Texas Education Agency as a Texas Pathfinders Collaborative School in 2003. Newsweek Magazine recognized Carroll High School as one of the Top 1,000 Schools in the Nation in 2005.

Mr. Kane received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 in Physical Education and Industrial Arts from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. In 1999, the University of Texas—Pan American University awarded Mr. Kane a Master of Education in Educational Administration.

It becomes obvious that with such a varied and extensive work and educational background, Mr. Kane possesses the experiences and qualities to serve as principal of Bowie High School. We are excited about Mr. Kane’s appointment to the Bowie principal position and we ask that you welcome him into the Bowie community.

Respectfully,

Rosalinda Hernandez, Ph.D.
Associate Superintendent for High Schools