Principal Works From Grass Roots Up

She has won accolades for turning a lackluster elementary school into a powerhouse learning center.

She has earned the respect--and the enmity--of fellow educators for tirelessly promoting her beloved campus.

She has even become a national spokeswoman for school charter reform, making speeches at education conferences across the country.

As principal of Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, Yvonne Chan rarely shies away from a good challenge--and the publicity it promises.

Chan, 52, is equal parts educator, politician and spitfire saleswoman--raising money to build classrooms, haggling with Los Angeles Unified School District administrators over finances, always searching for new ways to improve the school, which serves students through the fifth grade.

Vaughn is among a handful of charter schools in the school district. Such campuses set their own educational agendas and enjoy a large degree of freedom from the rules and bureaucracy that govern most public schools.

Under Chan’s direction, Vaughn was one of the first schools in the district to reduce class sizes for first through third grades. The school also has juggled schedules, extending the school year and allowing all students to attend simultaneously.

The school’s innovations have drawn interest from reporters, education reformers, even Hillary Rodham Clinton. The first lady visited the campus in February 1996 and touted the school as a model for improving education.

Now Chan, a first-generation Chinese American who lives in Northridge, is embarking on her latest projects. One of them involves building a campus learning center that will allow the school to extend class-size reduction to fifth grade by early next year, she says.

“I’m going to be here until all this happens,” Chan said. “You always need someone at the grass-roots level to make sure that this happens.”