•         What is the history of Alief Middle School? To understand our beginning as a school, you have to embrace our beginning as a community. Like most of the other schools in Alief ISD, Alief Middle School was named after someone. The Alief community originally was a farming community called Dairy. One of the first settlers of Dairy was a dentist named Dr. J. S. Magee. He moved to Dairy and married Alief Morris in 1881. She took the job of postmistress as well as helping to deliver babies. When the first post office was to be built in Dairy, it was realized that there was already another post office in Texas called Daisy and this would be too confusing. It was suggested that they rename it Alief after Mrs. Magee. After all, she had contributed so much to the community.

    Later in 1897, Alief Magee asked her nephew, C.R. Hastings, to take the job of postmaster. After she passed in 1899, he held the job of postmaster, helped with the railroad, dug wells and was on the Board of Trustees. In 1906 the Alief School District began as a two teacher school. The school district’s title was, ‘The Dairy School District No. 46.’ In 1917, the district changed its name to Alief Independent School District. From 1911 to 1926, the district operated on a ten grade system. The eleventh grade was added in 1926.

    In 1939, the school building was condemned and the citizens used an auditorium for grades one through seven. Grades eight through eleven were bussed to nearby schools. In 1940, the requirements for the completion of high school were changed from eleven to twelve. In 1961, the district sold bonds to purchase forty acres for an elementary and high school site. Those sites are present day known as Youens Elementary and Alief Middle School.

    Alief Junior Senior High was the first Junior-Senior High School in Alief. It opened in 1968 with 471 students. Within Alief Junior-Senior High were the administration building and superintendent’s office as well as the personnel department. In 1970, it was changed from a Junior-Senior High School to a Middle (Junior High) School. The name of the building was changed from Alief Junior-Senior High to Alief Junior High and then to Alief Middle School.

    In 1972, the high school students moved to a new building called Hastings. By 1979, the district had fifteen schools, an administration building, a warehouse, a transportation center, athletic complex, and a natatorium. For many years Alief ISD thrived and opened many schools, most named after members of the Board of Trustees or people who had contributed to the Alief community in some significant way. Alief Middle School was the beginning of an era of excellence in the Alief community.