Motivated by 'Pillars' on TV Westerns

Profile

As a proud Texas native and a self-described “country boy at heart,” Alton Frailey, unsurprisingly, has a penchant for classic Western films. Growing up with TV’s “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza,” he found himself drawn to a time when Americans migrated west, forming communities as they settled new territory.

“You had the marshal, the doctor, the saloon keeper,” he says. “Leaders stepped up to become pillars of their new towns.”

Frailey’s bond to pop cultural history is echoed in his swift rise to public education’s leadership ranks. Inspired by a longtime family friend, an elementary school principal, he tested the administrative waters after just a few years working in elementary education in East Texas.

“He was the kind of principal I felt every teacher should have,” Frailey says. “Selfless and strong. Teachers knew he had their back, but he also had high expectations. He kept the focus on the students.”

Those twin emphases have guided Frailey’s approach from his first assistant principalship nearly 30 years ago to his arrival at Katy Independent School District, a 73,000-student district in a fast-growing Houston suburb where he assumed the superintendency in 2007.

In Katy, he’s elevated the authority and influence of the principals of the district’s 60 schools. That’s taken a cultural shift brought about by Frailey’s installation of three area superintendents, one each at the elementary, middle and high school levels, to serve as a support network for principals.

The central office has become a service center to school sites.

The superintendent has received glowing feedback from the community for another student-focused effort, the Parent and Patron Assistance Center. It’s an ombudsman program that helps parents with particular needs by seamlessly connecting them to the proper district staff and service providers.

Ever since he was elected president of his high school class, Frailey has felt drawn to serve the organizations to which he belongs. He is a past president of the Texas Association of School Administrators and looks forward to starting his term as AASA president in July. He wants to ignite the discussion about how best to facilitate connectedness between communities and their public schools. One guiding question, he says, will be “How do we get communities to take ownership and responsibility for their school systems so that the schools reflect the same flavor of the communities they serve?”

Christine Caskey, the district’s chief academic officer who has worked with Frailey for six years, points to her boss’s effective working style. “He fully expects us to lead our areas of responsibility, but he gives us the freedom and flexibility to deliver on his expectations,” Caskey says. “He doesn’t give directives, he gives directions.”

This supportive work environment has been crucial to maintaining what Frailey describes as a culture of performance and engagement, especially as the district opens new schools to welcome nearly 3,000 additional students each year. The region is home to the U.S. headquarters of dozens of oil and gas companies that attract employees from around the world, and Katy is a top choice for families arriving with school-aged children.

Those who report to the superintendent know he is highly driven. “I wake up every morning feeling that I need to play catch up,” he quips.

Frailey recites a memorable Yogi Berra quotation to identify the ramifications of rapid growth that’s not answered expeditiously: “No one goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.” The very qualities that entice new families to the district are those at greatest risk. “As we grow, we want to make sure we maintain a shared vision for the overall mission of what the district is trying to do,” he says. “The big work is keeping us all together.”