The total among of money spent to build the school was $91.8 million, including $6.9 million for the gymnasium. During the design process, PGCPS Chief of Schools Andre J. Hornsby successfully campaigned for the school district to add $6.5 million to the funding for the gym even though some of the members of the PG County Council believed that existing campuses should get the money for refurbishments. The school was scheduled to open in 2006 with 112 teachers and 1,900 students in grades 9-11. Monica Goldson was the first principal. Wise was constructed to relieve overcrowding in several surrounding high schools, mainly Largo High School and Frederick Douglass High School. The school has a total student capacity of 2,231. The school displaced Northwestern High School, another county school, as the largest high school in Maryland, although it's notable that Northwestern has a higher total student capacity. Wise hosts a Technical Academy signature program. In 2014 the Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards gave Wise High the best high school award; the award winner is determined by a vote among a group of people. The acting principal at Wise is Mr. Jeffery Parker.
Campus
The school is on Brooke Lane, between Brown Station Road and Ritchie Marlboro Road, in the Westphaliacensus-designated place in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, with an Upper Marlboro postal address. The campus had a cost of $92 million; the campus includes a main building with of space. The school has three computer laboratories, three lecture halls, and a greenhouse. Nick Anderson of the Washington Post wrote that many of the aspects of the design of Wise's campus were similar to that of Charles H. Flowers High School; he wrote that Wise's campus "far surpasses the other 21 major high school campuses in the county" and that only the Flowers main building "comes close to the quality of" the Wise high main building. The school was constructed to become the largest high school in the State of Maryland. The school also has the largest gymnasium of any non-university school in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The gymnasium has a capacity of 5,000 seats, making it the largest of any PGCPS school; the gym's second floor has a running track. The attached parking lot has 525 spaces as of 2012. In 2012 the Washington Post reported that area community members complained that the parking lot was too small for use for major events; there was a desire to have the Wise gymnasium used for such events so the county government would not have to rent venues of similar sizes, and therefore spend less money. The students also have an auxiliary gym as well as rooms for cardio fitness, aerobics, weights, and dance; the dance room has mirrors. The fine and performing arts facilities include a black box theater, a performing arts center with 950 seats, and a room for vocal music; Nick Anderson of the Washington Post stated that the acoustic system in the performing arts center is "similar to the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda."
