CHALLENGER HAS TRACK RECORD HELPING KIDS.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

Surrounded by foster children in her family's Encino home, Caprice Young grew up trying to help other children succeed.

Her parents - one a teacher, the other a juvenile probation officer and part-time minister - were on a mission to rescue kids one at a time. And they enlisted their own four children in the effort, taking in 20 foster kids over the years.

Now Young wants to save Los Angeles' children en masse.

The 33-year-old IBM executive and former assistant deputy mayor is vying for a seat on the city's school board, trying to change an education system she said has lost its way. She is one of four candidates picked by Mayor Richard Riordan to try to seize control of the seven-member board.

``People completely believe we've got an emergency in public education, and the current board doesn't realize that,'' she said.

Young faces a tough opponent, an incumbent with his own high-profile endorsements, including the state's superintendent of education and three Los Angeles City Council members.

And although some might consider this year's election hostile territory for those already on the board, Jeff Horton plays up his eight years of experience, saying that's what separates him from his challenger. While Young demands reforms, Horton says the board has already made several key changes under his guidance and must now see them through.

``I have been an active leader in reforming the school system in developing plans that are beginning to pay off,'' Horton said. He cited the recent plan to end the automatic promotion of underachieving students as an example.

Young's platform in many ways echoes the recommendations made last month by the Committee for Effective School Governance, a group of civic and business figures led by Harold Williams.

She wants a multiyear plan for educational priorities, with an emphasis on reading. She wants the board to give the superintendent greater rein in running the district.

Young also wants to create an inspector general with subpoena power to investigate the district's finances, a pet proposal of fellow Riordan candidate David Tokofsky, an incumbent on the board. School board members voted down the proposal last week.

``We have to restore a culture of honesty and integrity at the district,'' she said.

Young's friends and colleagues say she may have the tenacity needed to turn around the immense district. They describe her as a compulsive multitasker with a record of finishing what she starts.

Judy Nelson, executive director of a Hollywood home for abused or orphaned children, credited Young with creating a computer lab for the kids after Young joined the home's board. The whole process - finding companies to donate the equipment and having it installed - took about seven months, Nelson said.

``Once the goal was set, she delivered,'' she said. ``I've never seen anybody so focused and clear.''

Robin Kramer, a former chief of staff for Riordan, praised Young for her leadership of a city technology task force that revamped the Police and Fire departments' computer systems. That ability to manage a major project within a vast bureaucracy, Kramer said, could prove invaluable in reforming the school district.

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2 photos

PHOTO (1) YOUNG

(2) HORTON