Arlington School & Family Magazine June/July 2015 | Page 17

The New
Diane Patrick
Elementary School
Dr. Diane Patrick was surprised with what she called the
“highest honor of her life” in late March as she learned that
the new Arlington ISD campus on Timber Oaks Drive will
be named Diane Patrick Elementary.
“During the 12 years I served on the Arlington school
board, we opened 15 new schools, and we had the distinct
pleasure of bestowing this namesake honor to other school
namesakes,” Patrick told the 250-plus people in attendance
at the special called board meeting for facility naming on
March 30.

square foot campus on 18 acres in east Arlington. The
school will offer a variety of opportunities for students,
including outdoor learning venues, collaborative learning
spaces, a 21st century media center (library), a broadcasting
studio and the first two STEM labs in an AISD elementary
school. These spaces will not only create unique learning
opportunities, but they will also transform the very nature of
the instruction that students will experience.

“But never did I dream that one day I would be one of them.”

“The staff at Patrick Elementary will dedicate themselves to
providing innovative and rigorous instruction to students in
an exciting and interactive way to yield the greatest impact
on student achievement,” Brown said.

Throughout her career as an educator, PTA president,
AISD Board of Trustees member, State Board of Education
member and State Representative, Patrick was an advocate
for education and for students in the Arlington ISD.

In the coming months, mascots and colors will be selected
with the help of fifth-grade students from several campuses
that will feed into Patrick Elementary as the school opens in
the fall of 2015.

And it didn’t take long for her to visit the campus as she takes
on her new role of namesake.

Brown and his administrative team – and, of course, Patrick
herself – will be along each step of the way to ensure that
Patrick Elementary will be successful for years to come. †

Patrick and Patrick Elementary Principal Matthew Brown
walked the construction site just two days after the naming
ceremony to see the progress and visionary design of the
campus. Patrick Elementary is an approximately 116,000

June/July 2015 - Arlington School & Family 15