Desert View High School opened in 1985[3] with 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade classes.

The new school was designed with the philosophy that it was an educational regime, focussed on itself and set apart from its community.

The building was thus designed with no windows, and a single entrance that would present an "impregnable face to the world".

[7] In 2007 the school pioneered a Native American Literature class curriculum.

This was developed because the school recognised that Native American students were harmed when none of the curriculum reflected their own culture, and that other students were studying American literature absent Native authors.