Originally located in the Nolan Estes Educational Plaza, A. Maceo Smith HS was moved in 1989 due to complaints about the unsuitability of the physical plant at the plaza, a former
shopping center. After the school moved, the attendance boundaries between Smith and
South Oak Cliff High School shifted, with students zoned to Stone Middle School and Zumwalt Middle School, except for students also zoned to Bushman Elementary, moving from SOC to Smith, and students zoned to Storey Middle School, except for those who began their educations at Marshall and Oliver elementaries, would be zoned to SOC. After the closing of the
Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District, Smith took in students from the former school district boundary and continued to serve former WHISD areas until its repurposing. For several years, A. Maceo Smith was a
Texas Education Agency "unacceptable" ranked school. In 2011 the district converted A. Maceo Smith into a technology magnet,
A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School. The majority of students in its attendance zone were reassigned to
Wilmer-Hutchins High School, and the previous Smith football team mostly became the new Wilmer-Hutchins team. Some areas of the former Smith zone were reassigned to South Oak Cliff. Since Smith was reconstituted as a magnet school, it avoided the possibility of the TEA reconstituting or closing the school itself due to its poor performance as a zoned school. ==Students and programs==