Patrick Henry High School (California)

Patrick Henry High School opened in 1968, and had a grant from the Danforth Foundation as an experimental public school. Founding Principal Donald W. Giddings designed the curriculum as experimental independent learning around a twenty minute modular system, independent study and an open campus. Within five years, Patrick Henry became more of a traditional school benefiting from its experimental foundation by the early adoption of advanced placement courses including Art History.

In 2019, Patrick Henry High School was ranked in the top 4% of the most challenging public high schools in America (888th of 22,000). The rank was determined by the Challenge Index defined as the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests taken in a year relative to the number of seniors who graduate. Patrick Henry High School offers Advanced Placement and Honors courses in World History, Art History, English, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus. The school offers a modern Visual and Performing Arts program in theater, tech theater, band, orchestra, and choral music. Through a longstanding collaboration with Mesa College, high school students can take introductory college courses for credit. Patrick Henry High School has Engineering Academy to support students’ science, engineering, architecture, design electronics and design interests. In 2017 the school's robotics club, the Patribots, won the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) San Diego Regional and competed at the international championships in Houston. In 2019, the Patribots won the Utah Regional and competed in international championships.

Patrick Henry High School offers a School Within A School program focused on psychology and child development classes called the Teaching Academy. The Teaching Academy is specifically designed to prepare students for college and career experiences in teaching and early childhood education.

The high school has long established exchange partnerships with the Institution Saint Michel located in Solesmes, France. Common projects were carried out with Saint Michel for the World Forum Lille where cohorts of Patrick Henry High School students presented their work in France on water pollution and the environmental impact of pesticides.

On January 5, 1984, the San Diego Police Department executed a narcotics raid arresting 63 Patrick Henry High School students, who had allegedly sold drugs to an undercover officer posing as a student. On January 3, 2007 the San Diego Police Department executed a narcotics raid resulting in the arrest of 15 students from Patrick Henry and University City High Schools who allegedly sold narcotics to undercover San Diego Police Department officers posing as students. In October 2011, Patrick Henry elected the nation's first lesbian couple as homecoming king and queen. The story was covered internationally and led to both support and opposition. In February 2012, a teacher allegedly told a female student who asked to go to the bathroom that she would have to urinate in a bucket in a back room, and the student obliged; the teacher was consequently fired. On March 17, 2012, a campus police officer was arrested on charges of auto theft and driving under the influence, after taking the wheel of a shuttle bus while intoxicated. On March 22, 2012, three Patrick Henry students organized a protest to defend their teachers who had recently been terminated by the San Diego Unified School District.