New entrepreneurship high school named after educator Phillip Patiño

A new entrepreneurship high school under construction in central Fresno got its name Wednesday night.

Fresno Unified trustees voted 5-2 at their Wednesday meeting to name the school located on North Clark Street where DeWolf Continuation once sat after beloved educator and longtime district administrator Phillip J. Patiño, who died in 2012. The school, which features an entrepreneurial project-based curriculum, opens in August.

Patiño was picked from a list of more than three dozen finalists — teachers, business owners, and entrepreneurs — that were submitted by community members over the past few weeks.

At the meeting, family and friends of Patiño lined up one by one to speak on his behalf, calling him a dignified, hardworking man who gave of his time and talents to anyone who needed it.

Patiño was an alumnus of Fresno State who began his teaching career in Woodlake. He spent most of his career in Fresno Unified, however, working as an educator and administrator at nearly a dozen schools across the district.

The two no-votes came from Trustees Brooke Ashjian and Carol Mills, who said they wanted to table the conversation and take a deeper look at other candidate names. Both said they would have liked to see the school named after a business owner or local entrepreneur.

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 10:56 PM with the headline "New entrepreneurship high school named after educator Phillip Patiño."