Becoming the first African American superintendent of Alief Independent School District (ISD) came with issues that Dr. Anthony Mays had anticipated, but the Huston-Tillotson College alum knew he was up for the challenge.
Across Texas, schools have been facing declining enrollment, growing charter competition, rising student need, and now the expanding reach of school choice policies.
Alief ISD serves roughly 36,000 students across southwest Houston, with nearly 87.4% of economically disadvantaged students and more than 100 languages spoken in Alief classrooms. The demographic shapes nearly every decision the school district makes.
Mays, who previously worked in Austin ISD, Dallas ISD, and Fort Worth ISD, said his background prepared him for Alief. Before becoming superintendent, he served as a principal in middle schools and high schools that enrolled refugee and multilingual students. He earned his Superintendency and Educational System Administration credential from the University of Texas at Austin.
These experiences now inform how he approaches leadership in a district where many families face similar constraints.
Raised primarily by his grandmother, Mays said he grew up in a household where college was not regularly discussed, relying instead on teachers and neighbors for guidance on academics and higher education.
“I was fortunate to have some neighbors across the street who had gone to college, so I would get help from them with homework,” Mays said. “I was fortunate to have teachers who were the avenue for me learning about college and advanced learning opportunities.”
Alief ISD is facing enrollment and competition pressures
Over the past decade, Alief ISD has lost nearly 8,000 students. About 60% of those students attended charter school networks such as KIPP Texas, YES Prep, and Harmony Public Schools.
Mays attributes the enrollment drop to an aging housing stock, limited new residential development, and an unusually dense concentration of charter schools. Alief’s 36-square-mile footprint contains 14 charter campuses, with more opening.
“By most accounts, it doesn’t make a lot of sense because it sounds like an oversaturation of schools,” Mays said. “But we don’t control how many schools will come into this area.”
To respond, Mays has emphasized “choice within the district.” Rather than competing with charters by defending traditional school models, Alief has expanded specialty campuses and program options to keep families within the district.
These include STEM academies (Horn STEM Elementary and Olle Middle Citgo Innovation Academy), art magnets like Rees Performing and Visual Arts Academy, career and technical education (CTE) pathways, dual-credit programs at Alief Early College High School, and a planned all-girls campus set to open this year.
Alief ISD board member Dr. Darlene Breaux describes Anthony Mays as a hands-on instructional leader who balances academic expertise with strong systems management.
Rather than operating only from a district office, Mays is portrayed as someone deeply engaged in classrooms.
“He is very much an instructional leader,” Breaux said. “That is what really, really impresses me, and I would even venture to say many of the other board members is that yes, he understands business, but he also understands instructions. He can step in and ask students reflective questions or teachers. That builds trust that our staff, that he knows what he’s talking about, that he knows instruction, and he knows what the instruction looks like.”
Community feedback
Mays relies heavily on structured community engagement. When he arrived, Alief began holding “listening tours” and community meetings to identify family priorities.
“I always feel like the answer is in the room,” Mays said. “If we had conversations with our community, whether it’s with our families or our teachers or our students, they’ll give us a roadmap.”
During recent listening tours, families flagged the access to advanced learning in elementary schools. The concern led to a summer Young Innovators program that gives students exposure to robotics and coding experience outside the regular school year.
Alief ISD has also established the Young Women’s Leadership School, which offers an all-girls college-preparatory STEAM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program. It will open for 6th and 7th-grade students, but will go up to 12th grade, adding a grade each year. Applications for this school are open until Feb. 28.
“When uh it was decided to have an all-girls school in Alief, the idea was about choice, providing choice for families,” said Tamara V. Albury, the founding principal of the school, on the district’s YouTube channel. “College is the end goal, but not just going to college, but graduating from college. And once they graduate from high school, we also continue to support them in college.”
Mays says these programs are intended to prepare students for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automation.
Equity through services
For Mays, equity is defined more by service delivery than ideology.
After the recent suicide of a student, student leaders told district administrators that academic counselors alone were not enough. They wanted access to mental health support.
In response, the school district upgraded its temporary crisis response team to include mental health counselors at schools, comprising therapy sessions.
Another issue raised by students involved athletes who went long hours without food between school and after-school competitions. The district created systems to provide meals to those students.
Alief also offers citizenship assistance to immigrant families, partnering with attorneys and community organizations to help families navigate documentation and residency issues.
Academic focus
Academically, Alief ISD is trying to ramp up preparations for students. In the Texas Education Agency’s 2024-25 Accountability Ratings, the district received a “C” with a chronic absenteeism rate of 21%.
Instructionally, Mays has pushed a districtwide emphasis on reading, writing, speaking, and evidence-based reasoning.
“Our goal is for 100% of our students to be college, career, or military ready,” he said. “I don’t want a student who has spent 12 years with us, and when they leave us, they can’t take care of themselves in some way.”
Alief ISD has also increased its monitoring of which students are eligible for advanced courses, dual credit, and AP classes. Mays emphasizes that these programs are free opportunities for students to earn college credit before graduating.
Teacher recruitment and retention
Like districts across the state, Alief faces staffing shortages, particularly in hard-to-fill subject areas. To counter a teacher shortage, the district raised compensation and offered bonuses.
It also provides academic support to future teachers through the Teacher Apprenticeship Program (TAP). To build a long-term pipeline, the district operates a “grow your own” teacher program that allows students to earn dual credit toward education degrees, receive financial support for college, and return to Alief to teach.
Mays is also managing major policy changes from the Texas Legislature, including new assessment systems, cell phone restrictions, safety policies, and the implementation of school vouchers.
