In the summer of 2006, Anthony Tovar, a Mexican American raised in Dallas who was previously an assistant principal at W. H. Adamson High School and Moises Molina High School, began work as the principal of Sunset. He gained a reputation of being an excellent principal partly due to his hands-on, involved approach in which he actively communicated with students. In 2013, he planned to resign due to frustration with DISD central office reforms, but he later rescinded his resignation. That year Tovar had been placed on a "growth plan" (a DISD notice asking the principal to improve his school's metrics or face termination). Tovar left DISD in 2013 but stated that he was not forced to resign; in 2015, he returned as an interim assistant principal at Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy.