By Anne DeVries
For most people, walking back through the doors of a childhood school stirs nostalgia. For Misty Tate, walking through those doors as the new Headmaster feels like destiny unfolding.
This fall, Tate begins her new role as Director of Casner Christian Academy (CCA), the faith-centered preschool through kindergarten in West Austin where she once sat as a four-year-old singing hymns and saying the Pledge of Allegiance. "Casner has been an integral part of my life since I was four years old, and returning now to serve as Director truly feels like coming home," she said.
CCA's story began in 1965 as Highland Park Baptist Preschool at Highland Park Baptist Church. Lucille Casner spent more than 45 years there, rising from classroom teacher to music teacher to headmaster before retiring in 2012. Generations of Casner families have experienced her deep faith, love for children, humor, and fierce love of country, values she instilled in every child who passed through her classroom.
Along the way, Casner built traditions that still define the school. Three times each week, one student, with a teacher's help, raises the American flag and leads the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem; another raises the Texas flag and leads the Texas Pledge and state song, "Texas, Our Texas." Family and friends of that day's flag-raisers are invited to attend. Other beloved traditions include monthly Sing Song performances, Christmas and Spring programs, and Birthday Chapels.
In 2008, the school reorganized as a nonprofit, moved to Hillcrest Baptist Church, and took the name Casner Christian Academy in her honor. Today it calls Glad Tidings Church, on Northland Drive in Allendale, home. The address has changed, but its guiding verse has not: Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it."
Tate, born in Austin, met Mrs. Casner as a small child at Highland Park Baptist, where she also met Mrs. Pat Felger, the teacher who, she said, "first inspired my lifelong love of children and calling to education." That relationship stretched across decades: Tate had the privilege of teaching Felger's own grandchildren. "Our relationship is a beautiful example of the lasting connections that have always been at the heart of Casner," she said.
After graduating from Baylor University in 1993 with a degree in early childhood education, Tate taught kindergarten in Eanes ISD, then returned to Casner's classrooms for four years, teaching kindergarten and first grade. By then, she and her husband, Drew, had entrusted all three of their children, Drew, Jax, and Libby, to Casner, then known as Highland Park Baptist, for their early education. Sweetly, Libby once played a dove in the school's Christmas program, the same role Tate had performed at that exact age.
In 2013, with all three children enrolled at Hyde Park School, she moved with them to teach second grade, carrying traditions like the Famous American Program into her classroom. She also spent eight years as the school's Middle School Cheer Coach, building confidence, teamwork, school spirit, and leadership.
Family runs deep in Tate's Casner story. Her mother, Carole Mullen, taught the four-year-old class for 12 years, including Tate's oldest son, Drew. Her husband, Drew Tate, an Austin native and realtor at Tate Property, has served on Casner's Board of Directors for years, playing a hands-on role in securing its future; first finding the school's location at Hillcrest Church, then leading the search that landed Casner in its current space at Glad Tidings Church.
Tate begins the 2026 school year as its 4th Director, following in the footsteps of three impactful women, Lucille Casner, Gail Dabbs and Amy Moore, who each led Casner through different seasons but shared one understanding: that Casner is far more than a building. "I am committed to honoring the strong foundation they have created while continuing to serve the school and community that shaped my life," she said.
What makes Casner special, Tate says, is simple: relationships, faith and country, held together across generations. "It feels like a beautiful pocket in time; almost a step back in time to traditional values of God and country. It is a place that prioritizes loving and nurturing not only the children, but their entire families as well.”
CCA's new leader is one of its own, shaped by a faith-centered community and devoted teachers and colleagues who, across generations, have steadfastly upheld the school's core foundations. Misty Tate is well prepared to carry CCA forward, remembering firsthand the impact it had on her life, her children's lives, and the surrounding community she is committed to serving.
Learn more about Casner Christian Academy at casnerchristian.org.
