Brewer High School welcomes Thomas Neal as its new principal for the 2025-2026 school year. He taught and coached before getting his masters in educational administration and served as principal at two campuses in Burleson ISD.
Even when he was a student himself, Neal had always wanted to work in education.
“The teachers, advisors and coaches really impacted me growing up and influenced me into becoming a teacher,” Neal said. “I had taught history and been a coach for 14 years before deciding it was time to make a change and work in administration.”
Neal has received a very friendly reception from the staff and students of Brewer in his short time here.
“I felt like Brewer was home,” Neal said. “Everyone I have met here has been super nice. It's been a very warm and welcoming feeling.”
From the start, Neal has made it clear what his goal is for Brewer: fostering relationships between students and staff. He believes this is what will lay the foundation for an engaging learning environment.
“As a teacher, you have to be the reason students want to come to school,” Neal said. “They have to want to learn. Students learn from teachers they like. The connection comes first, and the learning will follow. With my teachers, I want them to feel supported as much as possible by letting them give admin and me feedback whenever it is needed. I want the staff to come and teach because they want to, not because they feel like they have to.”
With a title like principal, Neal knew that this job wouldn’t be the easiest one available. However, he is already ahead by planning for any challenges and setting long-term goals.
“The biggest challenge will be getting students and staff to buy into the culture we’re trying to create,” Neal said. “BHS is a special place and was long before I was here, but we just need to keep cultivating the atmosphere.”
“CCMR is a big area of accountability for us,” Neal said. “We know that not every student will go to college, but instead become a plumber or welder. Keeping up with CCMR credits lets us know they’re ready for the real world. We have a great new CTE director, so that’ll help a lot.”
A highly controversial change this school year has been the implementation of a seven-period schedule without block scheduling. Only a small portion of students at BHS have experienced a school day like this, so it unsurprisingly received backlash. However, students might not be pinning the blame on the right people.
“Dr. Porter proposed it, and it bounced back and forth from upper-admin and our team,” Neal said. “When I got hired, I looked at every aspect. There were so many pros, like retention of learning and reducing skipping. The biggest thing for me was when I looked at the teacher’s schedules and saw that most of them only had conference periods every other day. I will always take care of my staff. I couldn’t look them in the eye and tell them they only got a conference two or three times a week.”
Even in just a few weeks, Neal has already proven how dedicated he is to the students and staff of Brewer High School. His attention to our well-being and desire to make decisions with us in mind prove that we are in great hands with him as our principal.