Van Horn High School 4.79

Van Horn High School is a comprehensive high school located at 1109 Arlington in Independence, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Independence School District.School backgroundVan Horn opened in 1955 and its first class graduated in 1956. Van Horn was named the first "A+ designated school" of the Kansas City, Missouri School District. It was originally constructed in 1955 on the site of "Honeywood", the house of former Civil War era Kansas City mayor Robert T. Van Horn, a prominent newspaper publisher and statesman. William Midgley with HMN Architects redesigned Van Horn's building facilities in 2002.Van Horn serves sections of Independence, Sugar Creek, and Blue Summit.Prior to the redistricting, Van Horn covered sections of Independence, Blue Summit, Sugar Creek, and sections of Kansas City.2008 change of districtIn November 2007, the voters of Independence, the city in which Van Horn and its feeder schools are located, and Kansas City, the district that housed the school, voted for Van Horn, its feeder middle school, and three elementary schools to be taken over by the Independence School District. The change was made because of the poor performance of the Kansas City Missouri school district. Independence won after an election and a court battle.