CHARTER SCHOOLS OBSERVE 10 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

A decade after gaining control of their failing schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District, Principals Yvonne Chan and Joe Lucente are celebrating 10 years of independence, innovation and resolve as pioneers of the flourishing charter school movement.

Located in gang-ravaged neighborhoods of the east San Fernando Valley, their elementary schools once suffered from classroom overcrowding, underqualified teachers and dismal test scores.

Today, Chan's Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima and Lucente's Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace are recognized as national models of academic excellence and catalysts for change in their impoverished neighborhoods.

Exploiting their independence as charter schools, the two campuses have pioneered everything from educational technology to performance pay for teachers and extended school calendars.

``They have done great. We have data to support that,'' said Grace Arnold, who oversees charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. ``As compared to what the schools were like prior to their charter status, they have done a remarkable job.''

Both Vaughn and Fenton's charters are up for their third five-year renewal, with the deadline set for June 30.

Charter schools are public schools operated by educators, community leaders or parents under contract with school districts to meet specific educational goals. In exchange for freedom from most state and local education laws, they promise to raise student achievement. If they fail, they can be shut down.

Currently, 406 charter schools and seven all-charter districts exist statewide. More than 50 charter schools have sprung up in the Los Angeles area to serve 27,800 children in mostly poor neighborhoods.

The Valley has nine charter schools - including two middle schools and a high school. This year alone, the district expects to process 15 to 20 charter school applications.

El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, Granada Hills High School and Pacoima Elementary School all plan to convert into charters starting this fall. And a nonprofit group led by Los Angeles' civic elite is working to launch a network of charter schools that would serve 50,000 students within five years.

``I think 10 years later, what we are seeing is it's not an experiment. It's a reality, and it's one that's catching on,'' said professor Simeon Slovacek of California State University, Los Angeles.

And, more often than not, educators are turning to Vaughn and Fenton for inspiration - including those who once viewed the schools with suspicion and distrust.

A year-round, overcrowded school for many years, Vaughn is now on a traditional school calendar, offering students 200 instructional days, versus 180 days provided by the district. And with a performance pay system, recruiting qualified teachers is no longer a problem for Vaughn, where 16 faculty members hold master's degrees compared with two before charter conversion.

``Basically, we have resolved a lot of the urban-school big-district problems,'' said Chan, who once drove through the streets of Pacoima, leaning out of the car's sunroof with a bullhorn to urge residents to attend a school meeting.

Called the ``Little School That Could,'' Vaughn has constructed a classroom building, library and community clinic - all on its own. Now it is building an $11.5 million preschool center at Vaughn Street and Herrick Avenue on the site of trash-strewn, dilapidated homes.

The former elementary school is also adding middle-school grades and plans to build a new high school by 2006 - one that will focus on nurturing the next generation of teachers.

With nearby Pacoima Elementary School applying to become a charter school, Chan envisions an educational hub along Herrick Avenue, where her school already occupies key properties on the quiet residential street dotted by modest homes and church buildings.

``We are going to make this a corridor - an educational corridor in Pacoima,'' she said. ``This northeast corner - this poor area - is going to rise above.''

In nearby Lake View Terrace, Fenton also is thriving.

Every third, fourth- and fifth-grader has an iMac personal computer, and the school has pioneered multimedia education by creating ``virtual learning systems'' - classrooms featuring networked computers with Internet access, voice amplification systems for teachers and advanced video and document projection systems.

``We're trying to stay cutting-edge. We're probably the most high-tech elementary school in the nation,'' Lucente said. ``Our teachers have access to any technological innovation possible.''

Fenton, now on a year-round calendar, plans to build an addition that would help it return to a traditional calendar. The school is building a $2.6 million early childhood development center for 250 children. Science laboratories and a broadcast academy for its older students are also in the plans.

Third-grade teacher Julie Button, a 16-year veteran educator, can remember what the school was like before conversion.

``When I first came here there was no support from the administration, there was no resources for the children,'' she said. ``Now it's like a private school; it's amazing. People who leave the area still bring their kids back here because they like it so much.''

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Photo:

First-grade teacher Lupe Pacheco works with pupils at Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer