Ground Broken for Primary-Care Center

Although construction of a new primary center at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center officially began Friday, neighbors said things have improved already.

To build the new school, Vaughn purchased 10 lots of land, including a house on Vaughn Street that was a hangout for gang members and drug dealers.

“Things are a little more peaceful,” said Ines Arreola, 25, whose two daughters attend Vaughn. The neighborhood can still be rough, though. Several weeks ago, employees from the company that will build the new center were mugged while surveying the land, said Anita Zepeda, a Vaughn administrator.

But neighbors looked toward a brighter future Friday, when about 2,000 people, including city and state officials, gathered at Vaughn and followed a bulldozer to the construction site for a groundbreaking ceremony.

Expansions at Vaughn will ease overcrowding at other nearby Los Angeles Unified School District schools, said Principal Yvonne Chan. Once the center is completed, Vaughn’s preschool students will be transferred there, freeing up space for middle school students on the main campus, she said. Vaughn is also planning to build a new high school in two years.

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About 1,200 students in preschool to fifth grade attend Vaughn, which in 1993 became the LAUSD’s first charter school. Middle school students will start attending the campus after the new building is complete in July 2001.

It will cost $5 million to build the two-story center, which will serve about 600 preschool children ages 3 to 6.

“Anything for the community is welcome,” said Evangelina Barajas, 41, who plans to enroll her 1-year-old son, Antonio, at the primary center. “If there are primary-care centers nearby, you don’t have to go somewhere else.”

The community also celebrated the completion of the charter school’s Panda Village, a campus building housing a health clinic, community library, museum, science lab, a teacher-training center staffed by Cal State Northridge instructors and classrooms. “We figured out a way to build new schools faster, cheaper and better,” Chan said. “We built one building and then started digging for another.”

Students began attending classes at the $3.2-million Panda Village in August, but the building’s other features were only recently completed, Chan said. County doctors and nurses at the health center offer an array of free services, including pediatric care, immunizations and vision testing.

All area residents without health coverage are welcome at the health center, officials said.