After hundreds of suggestions and multiple school board meetings, a name has finally been chosen for Prince William County’s 13th high school.
The school, which will be located at 13150 University Boulevard in Gainesville, has been named Gainesville High School. The naming was approved at the Prince William County School Board’s June 10 meeting, where the board also named the school’s library media center in honor of Officer Ashley Marie Guindon and its Student Services Center in honor of Lillian Orlich.
“When our students [at Gainesville High School] go and win statewide awards people will know that is Gainesville, that is Prince William County,” said school board Chairman At-large Babur Lateef.
Guindon is a fallen Prince William County police officer who died during her first day on the job in February 2016, and Orlich is a retired Osbourn Park High School guidance counselor who worked for the county school division for 64 years.
The high school’s name, as well as the names for its library media and student services center, were chosen from a top ten list of names submitted by county residents. The suggestions were collected by the high school’s naming committee, comprising of school board Chairman Babur Lateef, Brentsville District Representative Adele Jackson, and Gainesville District Representative Jennifer Wall.
Selection preference was given to the names of individuals who ‘have made significant contributions to the field of education, especially within Prince William County,’ according to documentation from the school board.
The high school, which is planned to relieve overcrowding in Battlefield, Patriot, and Stonewall Jackson High Schools, is expected to open in August 2021.
The naming comes as Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts has called for renaming Stonewall Jackson high and middle schools, near Manassas, on the heels of riots in the Manassas area following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd who died on May 25 during an arrest attempt by a former city police officer.
