The new Paint Branch High School will be bigger and more spacious than the original building,  which Montgomery County constructed in 1969 and added onto in 1985. It currently holds a population of 1,832 students in a space designed for no more than 1,598 students.  According to Ms. Newell, the Relocation Coordinator at Paint Branch High School, the new building will hold 2,200 students. The projected 2012-2013 figures for Paint Branch High School’s student population depict the population to be from 1950 to 2000 students. The new building will have three floors and will have a larger hall for both the Academy of Finance and Medical Careers.  Besides these new features, the building will have enough space for all students to attend their classes inside the building. At present time, many students have to go outside to a large set of portables for some of their classes.

    Paint Branch Signature Coordinator Mr. Eichenlaub explains that the new school is “built in a signature image,” meaning that the design of the new building is focused on supporting the school’s signature programs as well as its other important courses.   

    While the current school is, according to Mr. Eichenlaub, overpopulated by at least 300 students, it is necessary to utilize portables to arrange for the students’ needs.  The new school, though,  will “easily fit all of the population,” says Mr. Eichenlaub.   “We will be getting rid of all the portables.”  He goes on to say that, since it is the newest of all of the schools in Montgomery County, this school will receive more attention from people throughout the Paint Branch community.

    Paint Branch students Randy Opuni and Haregnesh Haile both have strong feelings about the new school they will graduate from. Opuni, a tenth grade student, says that he’s been talking to many of his friends who currently attend middle school and others who attend other high schools in the locale. He is sure that “many of them would come to Paint Branch next year” because of the capacity and the size of the school. Haile, an eleventh-grade student, also feels that the new school will attract people from all over, as it is going to be “something new and better.”

    Ms. Newell recognizes the new Paint Branch as the “newest kid on the block,” and says that it will have state-of-the-art equipment. She is sure that students from Springbrook High school will be fascinated by the new school and all that it has to offer, but is unsure of the students who attend Blake High School due to the fact that Paint Branch doesn’t have some of the programs that Blake offers. “Blake High School, in fact, has a fine-arts program and competes just as fine with Paint Branch High School with its current programs,” she explains.

    The new school is definitely something that everyone is looking forward to as it rises slowly in the distance. As the new school takes over with its “new and better” features, the old school will become just a memory to all those who had some kind of connection with it. New schools are always attractive, and I’m sure that Paint Branch will certainly rise to be “the new kid on the block,” giving the population to the school a significant boost with its rising popularity.