Bowie High School

I traveled 300 miles to be at Bowie graduation. All sports, including golf were mentioned at graduation, The STATE PLAYOFF Lady lacrosse team was ignored and one ladydawg made All-American. No mention. I know about lacrosse and Title IX, but this is outrageous! Remarkable grouip of young ladies. Either the Supt or staff at Bowie giving her comments are totally clueless and cruel for their omission by not mentioning their hard work and barriers they overcame to make the playoffs.

I will be going into my sophomore year this August. I really enjoy Bowie. I have a lot of friends there and most of the teachers are good (but not all!) The only problem I have is that they give us such a large workload. I am ALWAYS swamped with homework and I get super stressed out. On a typical day I spend about 4-5 hours doing all of my work. It's extremely competitive here and you have to work really hard in order to get a good ranking!
—Submitted by a student

My daughter is a 2011 graduate of Bowie and I felt that she received an excellent education and that the teachers and administration strive to provide high quality instruction and an abundance of excellent extracurricular activities to enrich the coursework. The band, art and athletic programs are fantastic and my daughter graduated with several scholarship offers from schools around the country. Her class was extremely competitive and set a new scholarship record for AISD by testimony of the Superintendent.
—Submitted by a parent

Among the more excellent schools in AISD.. .I'm disappointed in the budget cuts effecting Latin, German and some of the more important developmental curriculum. But nearly all schools appear to be suffering this crunch...
—Submitted by a parent

I have two students at Bowie, a senior and a junior. I am surprised at the level of disappointment with the teaching staff expressed in other reviews. My children have had a number of excellent teachers at Bowie, several of whom I believe will serve as inspiring figures for them for the rest of their lives.
—Submitted by a parent

They have a great football program-my son loves it!
—Submitted by a parent

Best students, best faculty, best parents! Go Dawgs!
—Submitted by a parent

The administrative leadership and knowledge is disappointing.
—Submitted by a parent

I attended Bowie for my freshman and sophmore year and I could not have had a worse experience. Bowie puts students under so much stress that it was hard to keep my life together, I found this with myself and my friends. As if this being a confused teenager trying to find yourself in the world wasn't enough, Bowie would give tons of homework and I felt as if the teachers really didn't care about the students well being.
—Submitted by a student

I'm a junior at bowie and i would like to say that yeah, bowie is a good academic school, but the work load is too much, the teachers dont really seem to care, and they are either unprepared or unorganized. they usually give a lot of busy work. the band is excellent though!
—Submitted by a student

As a graduated Bowie Alumni and current Longhorn I would like to say that Bowie does an excellent job at prepping students for college coursework. I was involved with Football, Student Government, and Who's Who my senior year... Bowie is in the top tier when it comes to student organizations and involvement. Events such as Mr. Bulldawg and the recent success of the Football program serve to make Bowie an exciting campus. There is currently tremendous growth in the area. Overall, I never felt threatened and graduated in the top ten percent of my class. Get your student involved and he/she will not be disappointed with James Bowie High School.
—Submitted by a student

Iam a freshman at JBHS the greatest thing about this school is football its the biggest thing for me and the shool work here I think is way to hard and its to much.
—Submitted by a student

I am a senior at bowie and I have attended school here for all 4 years. The quality of education is leaps and bounds above other public high schools in Austin (i.e Akins, Crokett, or any others) . The competition is extremely high ( top 10% > 4.0 GPA). For a public school it is top of the line, and the learning quality is unbeatable.
—Submitted by a student

My daughter just started attending this school and does not like it. As a parent I have been satisfied so far. For the most part the staff seems to genuinely care about the students and parents' concerns. However, my daughter is having a difficult time breaking into the cliques and finding friends.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a current student at Bowie. I really like that the school is so big. It gives everyone a chance to have any elective that they want, and also it is too big to have the whole 'popular' nonsess. the only thing i dont like is that the school is completly cliquy, but once you find your clique.. its all good![:
—Submitted by a student

My child found JBHS to be rather disappointing, in that her teachers frankly were not intended to teach, with the exception of a couple instructors. Most of her teachers, though, came to school either a) unprepared/unorganized, or b) with a lesson planned filled with 'busy work' that does not help in preparation for college. On top of all of this, my child was enrolled in all Pre-AP courses. However, there were pro's at Bowie. For example, the school spirit at Bowie is exceedingly high. Overall, I believe that Bowie academically can improve.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a parent to a freshman this year and this year is coming to an end so I thought I would update our experience. I have to say that it's been great. The few times I have needed to contact a teacher or councelor I have gotten either same day response or response the next morning. My child doesn't have any behavioral issues so that's not a problem. She loves it there and for the amount of students they have, I think the faculty does a great job. I am involved with a few things (not too many) and I really do suggest getting involved, I think parents help out a lot of elementary then figure they don't need to in high school - but if you really want to know what's going on, I suggest you involve yourself in high school. Go Dawgs!
—Submitted by a parent

Counselors and teachers need to be more accessible to parents. I never get returned phone calls or emails. My son has attended for 2 years and I have yet to have a civilized conversation with any teacher. They do not respect me or my son. How can parents get involved if the staff is not willing and able? They need to support all the students in sports not just certain ones. The rules apply to everyone.
—Submitted by a parent

Staff seems genuinely interested in the kids needs.
—Submitted by a parent

I am an AP student,athlete, who is involved in clubs/orgs'; and this is how I feel about bowie: At one point Bowie was a desirable school to attend, but ever since Mr.Ewing resigned as the principal the school has gone downhill fast! Bowie, unlike all the other schools in AISD, is not following the high school redesign program. Instead of creating/keeping programs that will help students who are either going strait into the workforce after graduation or trying to get a head start on college, they are killing these valuable programs. What Bowie is doing is unfair to the students! Bowie needs to stop doing what's easy and start doing what's right for the future! To do so there also needs to be more parental involvement so there can be a change for the better at bowie; for bowie can only ride on the legacy of Mr.Ewing for so
—Submitted by a student