 The school officially opened for classes for the first time on September 13, 1937, with 437 students enrolled in grades 7 through 11.Verdugo Hills High School was built on the site of a lemon orchard next to the original Plainview Avenue Elementary School.The school district was going to name the new school Calvin Coolidge High School, but Congressman John Steven McGroarty and others lobbied successfully to have the name changed to reflect the "green Verdugo hills" to the south which the campus overlooks.