In what could become a model for building Los Angeles public schools, charter school Principal Yvonne Chan announced a deal with Los Angeles Unified on Friday to use public funds and private donations to build a primary center. Chan, principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, said her school will sign a memorandum of understanding with the district Monday that permits charter schools to use Proposition BB funds to secure private sector loans for school construction. The new school will replace a row of dilapidated houses that Vaughn bought across the street from its existing campus. Scheduled to open in July 2001, the new primary center will feature 30 classrooms, a computer lab, library and literacy center, child care center, parent center and outdoor theater. The 600-student school will reserve 150 seats for children from surrounding elementary schools that are overcrowded.
Primary centers are small schools that serve children in kindergarten through third grade.
They require less land than full-scale elementary schools and are cheaper and faster to build. The construction of Vaughn's new primary center comes as the Los Angeles Unified School District struggles to build 150 new schools to accommodate swelling numbers of students during the next five years. Howard Miller, the district's chief operating officer, said Friday that the district can learn a lot from Vaughn's creative solution to overcrowding. This school is an example of what we can achieve when we empower principals. Chan said the school was able to buy the land from local homeowners because the new primary center will serve the community as well as students.