Once the Prince William County School Board chose the name for the 11th high school as Patriot High School, a portion of the identity of the school was determined. As the planning principal, one of the responsibilities was the selection of school colors, the coordination of those colors within the building, and the selection of a mascot for the school. It was important to select colors and a mascot that would help to create an identity within the community as well as within the northern Virginia area. The mascot needs to be approved by the PWCS school board.
The new school would be (1) the first school in the county with wireless devices available for staff, no desktop PC’s would be positioned in the classrooms, (2) Promethean boards were installed in every classroom for instructional purposes, (3) the building’s design was significantly different from the other 10 high schools as it incorporated natural lighting, wide open spaces, and a variety of instructional spaces for students and staff into the design of the building, and (4) it was set to have two artificial turf practice/multi-purpose fields for athletics use on the site.
Going forward, this manual was created to guide the next planning principal in the process of opening a high school in PWCS because there was not a manual/guide for completing the process in 2010-11. The information contained in this manual was specific in some cases to the site design and/or limitations/expectations for the school and should not be considered as the definitive collection of “how to open a school.” But it is comprehensive in nature and should provide the new principal with a plan to implement and modify as needed.
