Bowie High School

I am a Junior at Bowie High School, this is (to me) one of the best and most safest high schools to be at. I've seen a lot of students and a few friends graduate early and already are getting started on their careers. Bowie can sometimes be a bad school, but its how the students get treated. A lot of stealing and drugs but what place isn't going to have that. We're teenagers trying to make the best choices we can. Bowie is okay.
—Submitted by a student

Great School alot of stereotypes from outside of the school but you cant judge a book by it cover. These Halls within the school are the best in Arlington.
—Submitted by a student

Awesome school! It has a wide range of extracurricular activities that you can participate in and great students and teachers.
—Submitted by a student

This school is just ghetto, take out the rap music and this school will be perfect.
—Submitted by a student

To the parent below who wants more parent involvement-join PTA. Look for the PTA table at registration in August and sign up to get involved. I have had a student graduate and 1 still there and I have been involved in many ways. We'll let you know where you can help!
—Submitted by a parent

I feel that the student to teacher ratio is extreme. I feel they need more vice principals. I feel that the parent involvment is very low and so the school needs to figure out a way to get the parents more involved.
—Submitted by a parent

I was not happy with this school, they are not very lenient with student behavior, my son had several instances where he was accused of using profanity, and with only 2 mths left to senior graduation they sent him to alternative school, where as they had multiple students with far more serious actions and they were sentenced to less time than my child. There was no grace and no mercy here, even after I explained to them that we were coming from a diff state, going thru a divorce and that he was probably just acting out due to that, they didn't care.
—Submitted by a parent

I ve been a substitute teacher here many times, and the bad reputation I had heard about this school seems pretty unfair after teaching there many times. I d heard stories about gangs and violence, and frankly, I haven t seen any of it. From what I can tell, there s no more problems than what you d expect of any school that size. The student body is EXTREMELY ethnically diverse, but everyone seems to get along fine from what I ve seen. Like any school, what a student gets out of Bowie is what a student (and a parent) puts in to it. If your kid wants to just slide by, that s probably what will happen. If you re kid is a trouble student, he ll probably be trouble at Bowie too. If you re kid wants to learn, they can do that at Bowie too.

My child used to attend Mansfield High School and hated it. She was failing test and had numerous problems with students there. When I moved her into the AISD district and into Bowie High School she did exceptionally well. She started making A's and B's. She refused to play sports and now she plays on the basketball team. If anybody says AISD is a bad district, they are right. But Bowie is the only exception. Academics, extra-curricular courses, opportunities, everything you can find in this school. My daughter is currently in IB classes and loving it. My advice from one parent to another is to involve your son or daughter's opinion about their school, because they know more about it then we do.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a Senior at James Bowie High School, and I cannot begin to describe how good this school is. This school has great leadership to all the students and peers. you can talk to your counselor about anything, most of the time they are available to talk. I love the opportunities at this school because the teachers really care about the students. I would recommend anybody who wants to succeed,because it is a great school.
—Submitted by a student

Bowie is an outstanding high school and unlike other high school's in arlington that claim to have a 'real world' expierence bowie students live it everyday with it's diverse group of students, faculty, and staff. Come on it's located off of new york. Bowie is the first high school in arlington to have a IB program, a Rhodes Scholar, and the one of the highest graduating rates. HANDS DOWN if you want your child to recieve a quality eduation without having to resort to private school bowie is the best.
—Submitted by a student

Bowie is a wonderful high school and it's reputation has been unfairly misjudged for too long.
—Submitted by a parent

The school values it's diversity more than promoting commonality and unifying goals. The teachers are very run-of-the-mill. The administration is more interested in making it through Texas Standardized Testing than the kids actually learning and being ready to move on.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has excellent teachers and dedicated students. I don't mean to say that they are ALL dedicated, but you'll find much drive in the halls of BHS. My brother and I are both recent Bowie alumni and I feel that we both got an excellent education. I was fully prepared for the college workload placed upon me due to my upper year teachers. While there I was involved in many afterschool activities and there was plenty of parental involvement AND support. Both my brother and myself are greatful to our combined eight years at Bowie. He transferred in to Bowie...by choice. That should speak something to you for the school's quality.

Really, Bowie is a mixed bag. If you're an ambitious parent, don't expect the school to do so much; it's not what the school can do for your child, but what your child can do with what is provided at the school. With that being said, if you want rigor and competition, transfer to Martin High School. With great parental support, however, a student could easily excel and rank among the best at Bowie. It really depends on when you want your child to face tough competition: now, or in college.
—Submitted by a student

there is to much drama in this school. gang vilonce,threats, and bad kids who influenced one another... this school is really bad..
—Submitted by a parent

Bowie is an excellent school. It is full of diversity. My daughter is a freshman and is excelling by the day. I was worried about her at first but they've reached all my expectations. Their extra-curricular activities are awesome!
—Submitted by a parent

Bowie is one of the first high schools in Arlington ISD to receive the International Baccalaureate Program, which is outstanding! My daughter is being challenged to excel in academics, lead by serving in volunteer capacities, being introduced to various forms of art, receiving quality instruction in four years of foreign language, international historical information, higher level mathematics and sciences and learning valuable social skills to catapult her into top ranked colleges as well as prepare her for life beyond public school. I value Bowie's professional staff from the principal down to the counseling staff, teachers, instructional aides, other administrative support staff. Various extracurricular sports are offered, but academics is and should remain the focus. I do have a concern with parental involvement schoolwide and would like to see more PTSA meetings to recruit active parents. My daughter has been blessed at Bowie High School, and I highly recommend students attend there.
—Submitted by a parent

This school helped my child reach her potential goal. I was worried about her development at this high school but now I am assured of her great sucess. The teachers really care about their students. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this school for students
—Submitted by a parent

One of my son's attended this school for 2 years with success and graduated. His teachers seemed concerned about his low grades and contacted me regularly. However, my other son attended this school in 9th grade and failed. Although some of his teachers contacted me once or twice, that was about the extinct of the contact. They did not follow through repeatedly with me and I never knew till the last moment how bad my son actually was doing. Overall, this school probably is good, but its big and I feel not enough teachers to really care about the kids.
—Submitted by a parent