Forest Country News

The Diboll Independent School District (DISD) announced on Monday that its board of trustees unanimously approved J. Brian Bowman as the lone finalist in its search for a superintendent, per a Facebook post. 

DISD is about 16 miles south of Lufkin in East Texas and serves the cities of Diboll and Burk, educating approximately 1,800 students as of the 2020-2021 academic year, according to its profile on The Texas Tribune website.

School districts are required by Texas law to wait three weeks before formally offering a candidate a contract. 

DISD wrote on Facebook that Bowman’s lengthy career in education began at the beginning of the century. 

After graduating from the University of Texas in Tyler (UTT) in 1994, he first took a job with the state government in Austin as a legislative aide.

After working in the Texas Legislature, DISD said, Bowman “then decided to follow his first love – teaching.”

He started teaching and coaching in 2000, having been employed by several public school districts across East Texas, including New Boston, Whitehouse and Harmony.

His first foray into school administration was with the Longview Independent School District (LISD) as its director of communications and community relations.

According to Tyler NBC affiliate KETK, Bowman then secured the principal’s position at LISD’s Forest Park Middle School. 

He went on to hold administrative positions in Gilmer and Fort Worth before becoming the current principal of Centennial High School in the Burleson Independent School District (BISD), the station reported. 

Bowman’s selection as the sole finalist to lead DISD comes after a series of special sessions in which the board interviewed candidates. 

Should trustees make his hiring official early next month, he’ll become the successor to incumbent Superintendent Vicki Thomas, who announced in January that she’ll retire on June 30. 

According to Bowman’s Twitter account, he’s married with four children and two grandchildren.