Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Drewana Bey is the new principal at Bowie High School, after serving as assistant principal for the last five years.

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Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Drewana Bey is the new principal at Bowie High School, after serving as assistant principal for the last five years.
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Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Drewana Bey is the new principal at Bowie High School, after serving as assistant principal for the last five years.

Christopher Anderson/The Gazette Drewana Bey is the new principal at Bowie High School, after serving as assistant principal for the last five years.

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Drewana Bey, the new principal of Bowie High School, knows about teamwork.

Six feet tall, she was a championship basketball player at Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro and at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte before becoming a teacher and administrator who has five years already under her belt as Bowie High’s assistant principal.

“You have to figure out how to work together to make the team succeed,” said Bey, 35, who will bring some of that collaborative philosophy to her new job as head of Bowie High School.

A Largo native, Bey taught seventh-grade science at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville and chemistry at her alma mater, Frederick Douglass High, before coming to Bowie High as an assistant principal five years ago.

She holds a master’s degree in education administration from Trinity University in Washington, D.C., and earned a doctoral degree in education in May from Bowie State University.

Bey, who ran the high school’s annex building for ninth-graders in 2010-11, succeeds Jane Spence of Bowie, who is now an instructional director for Prince George’s County Public Schools supervising principals.

Bey was one of about 100 finalists among candidates who applied countywide for principal positions, said Doug Anthony, PGCPS director of human capital management.

“We have a pretty good filtering system, we know we’re taking the cream of the crop,” he said.

Mary Nusser, president of the parent teacher student organization at Bowie High School, described Bey as being “incredibly bright, welcoming, on target, a firm disciplinarian and fair,” which are some of the same qualities also Nusser had used to describe Spence.

“Taking on the leadership of the ninth-grade annex I think has helped prepare her to continue in the big shoeprints that Jane Spence left behind,” Nusser said.

Spence was not available for comment before press time.

Bey said she and Spence have some things in common. Bey plans, for example, to continue planning collaboratively and setting high standards for all students.

Also a goal is to continue making sure students are “in class and on time and accounted for,” Bey said.

One of her new initiatives next year will be to expand a program at the annex to the entire high school that rewards good behavior with things like free homecoming tickets or vouchers that can be redeemed at the school store.

Bey wants teachers and counselors to help students develop a plan for life after high school, which could include preparing for college by taking classes at area colleges while still in high school.

For students who want to go to work, Bey said she wants to expand the high school’s work study program to include businesses that could offer hands-on apprenticeships and internships.

Bey said another priority will be to boost the performance of special needs students by making sure that their individualized education plans are being fully implemented.

vterhune@gazette.net