The new leader of Birmingham's i3 Academy^↗ET has already led both its middle and high schools. Dr. Tamala Maddox, who became the network's founding middle school principal and then led its high school, is now Head of Schools, the network's top administrative post.

"Serving as principal of i3 High School reinforced my passion for helping students succeed, and this new role gives me the opportunity to expand that impact across our entire network," Maddox wrote in response to questions from The ALEdTribune. "I was drawn to the Head of Schools position because it allows me to support more students, families, and educators while helping ensure each i3 Academy campus continues to grow and thrive."

The network she now oversees has been one of Alabama's steady growth stories. i3 Academy enrolled 912 students last school year, 2025-26, the most recent published enrollment data, up from 412 in its first reporting year of 2020-21, a gain of 500 students in a state whose overall enrollment fell 2.1% across the same six reporting years. Every one of the network's five annual transitions in the state's records has been a gain.

Much of that climb is the network growing into itself. i3 opened as an elementary school, added a middle school, and later launched its high school at Jefferson State Community College's H.Y. Carson building, where students can earn dual college credit and professional certifications, according to Bham Now. New grades mean new students, and the network plans to keep adding a grade each year until it reaches a full grade span. The distinction matters for reading the numbers: this is enrollment built by expansion, and the expansion is not finished.

In 2025-26 the network's three campuses enrolled 408 students at the elementary school, 307 at the middle school, and 197 at the high school, where the oldest students that year were 10th-graders: 111 ninth-graders and 86 tenth-graders, with no students reported in the remaining upper grades that year.

A leader the network grew, too

The Hoover Sun reported when Maddox left Hoover City Schools that she taught math at Hoover High School before becoming an assistant principal and then principal at Bumpus Middle School. Before Hoover, she taught high school math in Georgia. Along the way she led both the Alabama Association of Middle School Principals and the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools as president.

At i3, she became the network's founding middle school principal. When the network's high school opened, she became its principal, leading it through its first years on the Jefferson State campus. The Head of Schools role completes an arc the network's families have watched from the inside: the person now responsible for every i3 campus has personally opened or led most of them.

Asked what she carries from the high school into the systemwide role, Maddox pointed to relationships. "One of the most important lessons I've learned is that strong relationships are the foundation of successful schools," she wrote. "Building trust, maintaining open communication, and keeping students at the center of every decision will remain central to my leadership across the i3 Academy network."

Priorities: the fundamentals, at three campuses at once

Maddox's stated agenda for the school year underway is deliberately unflashy. "Our focus this year is simple: getting better at what matters most," she wrote. "That means strengthening high-quality teaching and learning, supporting student achievement, and creating positive school cultures where every student feels known, challenged, and prepared for success."

For a network mid-build, that focus has a specific operational meaning. Each fall brings a larger student body, a new top grade at the high school, and the staffing and culture work that comes with both. The Head of Schools job is to keep three campuses coherent while each one changes shape.

Maddox's message to families leans on partnership. "Families are essential partners in a child's education," she wrote. "When schools and families work together, students are more likely to succeed, and we look forward to strengthening those partnerships throughout the year."

The next milestones are already on the calendar: the remaining upper grades and eventually i3 Academy's first graduating class. The leader who opened the middle school those students passed through now runs the network they will graduate from.

Enrollment counts come from the Alabama State Department of Education.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.