In 2010 Pearl moved into a former special education center adjacent to Birmingham. Its current location is made up of the last buildings remaining from Birmingham General Hospital. The site had previously been occupied by West Valley School since 1970. During that year the school had 313 students, while it had a capacity of 500. Pearl is among the smallest high schools in the LAUSD. Most classes had 30 or less students, and some classes had 12 students each. Many LAUSD high schools have classes of 40 students.