The Thomas J. Pappas Schools were a series of related alternative schools located in the Phoenix, Arizona area. A part of the Maricopa County Regional School District, the Thomas J. Pappas schools provided primary and secondary education to homeless children in the area. They were named for Thomas J. Pappas, a prominent Phoenix businessman known for his strong support of homeless causes, who died in 1989. The schools closed in 2008 following several years of controversy and legal issues surrounding the schools' administrator, Sandra Dowling, the Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools.