Born in New Hampshire the mid 19th century, Colonel Parker was influenced by pedagogical views of many philosophers of the Enlightenment, particularly those of Johann Friedrich Herbart.

The original campus opened in December in a Mission Hills bungalow with an enrollment of 3 students, two of the Johnsons’ sons and one other child.

By the end of the decade, however, the school expanded to include 10-12th grades, and the entire K–12 student population of around 500 was packed into the five-acre Mission Hills campus.

The need for additional space drove headmaster Dr. Doug Crone to search for land on which to establish a separate campus for grades 6–12.

[9] In September 2021, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of former student Grace Winn claiming that three school administrators failed to report sexual abuse by a former teacher.

According to the suit, Winn's history teacher and basketball coach Miguel Cembrano groomed and then sexually abused her from 2014 to 2016, beginning when she was 13 years old.