PACOIMA : Vaughn Center Plans Classroom Addition

Flaunting its financial success after just one year of independence from the massive Los Angeles Unified School District, the Valley’s first charter school is moving forward with ambitious expansion plans, hoping to begin construction on a 12-classroom addition as early as January.

Expanding classroom space to accommodate the school’s 1,170 students has been a top priority for the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center since the school took charge of its finances last year.

Like many overcrowded schools in the district, Vaughn operates three rotating tracks year-round to make room for the children it serves.

Using money saved by reducing administrative costs and boosting student attendance, Vaughn has hired a Santa Monica architectural firm to design the addition.

It will be built on two properties adjacent to the campus, which were purchased earlier this summer.

In the spring, Vaughn surprised district officials by announcing it had saved more than $1 million in its first year of operation.

Almost immediately, Vaughn began looking at properties next to the campus, and purchased two--for a total of about $200,000--with part of the money.

“We shocked the heck out of ourselves that we could do it so fast,” said Yvonne Chan, Vaughn’s principal.

Chan said the staggered, 163-day school year, with its “off-track” periods and frequent classroom changes, hurts student performance.

Because teachers must pack up their belongings before going “off-track” to make rooms available for other teachers, instruction time is only about 148 days, she said.

“This is not working,” Chan said. “Anybody can tell you that.”

The charter school’s goal is not to return to a traditional academic schedule with an extended summer break, but to offer students 200 days of solid instruction with fewer interruptions.

“This is not a community where parents can afford to take their kids somewhere in the summer and winter,” Chan said. “Parents need child care.”

The 16,000-square-foot addition will cost an estimated $700,000 to build. Chan said the school plans to apply for a matching-funds state grant earmarked for construction at overcrowded schools to help pay for the addition.