The school was founded by Tony Gerlicz, who originally planned to emphasize arts and music classes and a less rigid hierarchy.[5] The school received its charter in 1999 and began offering classes in 2000. During its first term the school operated out of the Santa Fe Boys & Girls Club. From 2001 to 2003 the school operated in a strip mall during construction of a new campus. Since the 2003–2004 school year, the school's campus has been on the southwestern edge of the city in the Nava Ade neighborhood.[1]
In 2008 Gerlicz left the school to head the American School of Warsaw, and was eventually replaced as principal by Angela Ritchie. Ritchie used a more top-down management style, emphasized improving the school's test scores, and worked to resolve the school's budget shortfall by cutting some art and music programs.[5] Ritchie left the school in 2011.