New members of the  Bearcat Leadership Team announced

New Fine Arts position created

By Mercedes Mayer
Aledo ISD

ABOVE: Stefanie Mathews, Barbara Williams, and Missey Head

The Aledo ISD has named three new people to Bearcat Leadership Team: the district fine arts coordinator, an elementary instructional specialist, and the assistant principal at the Daniel Ninth Grade Campus.

“These three leaders will be wonderful additions to our Bearcat Leadership Team,” Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn said. “All three of them have had a professional focus on coaching and mentorship, and I cannot wait to see them thrive in these positions and help grow and support our staff and students.”

Missey Head will serve in Aledo's first-ever districtwide fine arts leadership position, which will be part-time during the 2021-2022 school year as the district strategically grows fine arts leadership capacity and offerings for students. Head, who has broad experience leading different types of fine arts programs, will lead strategic planning, professional learning, and direct instructional support for the district’s fine arts programs Pre-K-12. 

“We are so fortunate to have a growing fine arts program that included new offerings two years ago of elementary art and a dance program for the first time in Aledo ISD history — both wonderful additions to our other excellent fine arts programs,” Bohn said. “We are excited to have Mrs. Head’s tenured fine arts teaching and leadership experience and collaborative outlook to make sure that, as our student population grows, we are strategically supporting our fine arts programs so they can continue to provide exceptional experiences for our Bearcats.”

Head, who retired as the assistant fine arts director for the Lewisville ISD after working there since 2012, now serves as a fine arts consultant for districts in the area. Head was previously a theatre and speech teacher at multiple schools where she coached numerous state-qualifying programs and several gold-medal winners, including Creekview High School in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD (2002 to 2012), Permian High School in the Ector County ISD (1998-2001), Industrial High School in the Industrial ISD (1996-1998), Patti Welder Middle School in the Victoria ISD (1995-1996), Hopkins Fine Arts Academy (1994-1995), and Odessa High School in the Ector County ISD (1984-1994). Head is a past president of the Texas Educational Theatre Association, and she has worked advising and judging state UIL competitions throughout her career. She has a bachelor of fine arts in theatre arts from Texas State University.

Stefanie Mathews has been named the assistant principal at Daniel Ninth Grade Campus. Mathews has been an English teacher, PLC lead, and principal intern at Haltom High School in the Birdville ISD since 2018. Before that, she taught English at Waxahachie High School in the Waxahachie ISD (2017-2018), at Chisholm Trail High School in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD (2014-2017), and at Castleberry High School in the Castleberry ISD (2012-2014). Mathews has a bachelor of arts in English/creative writing and a master of education in curriculum and instruction/literacy studies from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Barbara Williams has been named an elementary instructional specialist for the district. As an instructional specialist, Williams will support teachers at McCall Elementary School by building teacher capacity through instructional coaching. Williams has been a second-grade teacher at Walsh Elementary School since 2017. Before that, she was a first-grade math and science and ESL teacher at Rogers Elementary in the Dallas ISD from 2015 to 2017. Williams taught fourth grade ELA and ESL at Handley Elementary in the Garland ISD from 2009 to 2013, taught fourth grade at Chatfield Elementary in the Mesa County Valley School District from 2008 to 2009, and taught fourth-grade bilingual at Davis Elementary School in the Garland ISD from 2006 to 2008. Williams has a bachelor of arts in modern languages (Spanish) from Texas State University.