Firms Wary of School Switch : Jobs: Change to year-round classes has businesses worried that students who provide summer staffing won’t be available.

Local businesses fear the switch by Los Angeles schools to a year-round schedule that reduces traditional summer vacations will shrink the seasonal supply of students they rely on as customers or employees.

The new school year--approved by the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday--begins as early as July 5 for some San Fernando Valley elementary and junior high school students, and Aug. 19 for most students, including those in high school. This year’s summer break will be reduced for most students by only a couple of weeks, but in years to come students will lose six of their current 12 weeks of summer vacation.

While school administrators grapple with the academic difficulties of the change, executives at Magic Mountain near Valencia are worried about losing both young customers and the high school students who traditionally staff their park from June to September.

Day camps, which make most of their money while the sun is shining, fear that their facilities will be empty.

“We have a real concern for the future of camping,” said Pam Hawley, director of the Cali-Camp Summer Day Camp in Topanga Canyon. Her 22-acre facility is leased to an elementary school during much of the year, and the camp could not afford to revoke the lease just to run a short winter session.

“Camp is not only for fun, camp is also education in the out-of-doors,” Hawley said. “What we can do for these kids in an 11-week session sometimes can’t be done in an entire school year.”

Most Valley schools will adopt a single-track schedule that has a six-week summer recess and an eight-week winter recess after Christmas, a time when few employers are hiring. Some schools are going multitrack: Students are divided into three or four groups with one group on vacation at any given time.

The blow to employers might have been harder were it not for a slumping economy, one state official said.

“Unemployment is up, so there are a few more adults who will take some of the jobs that the kids normally take,” said Ruth Kronenfeld, an assistant manager with the state Employment Development Department. Each summer, the department’s North Hollywood office matches high school students with companies--from fast-food restaurants to engineering firms--that need seasonal help.

“Now there are adults who will work for $4.25 an hour,” Kronenfeld said.

That prospect worries high school students, who earn college tuition and pocket change during June, July and August. Jon Iverson, a junior at Granada Hills High School, said he believes employers won’t want to hire someone who, for this summer at least, can work only two months.

“I think you have to be there for a while and learn what to do,” Iverson said.

United Way officials in the Valley are hoping to persuade employers to adapt to the rotating schedule of the multitrack schools.

“They are going to be reluctant to hire different people every six weeks,” said Laura Atoian, a United Way educational consultant. “We need to talk about job-sharing.”

The reaction of Valley administrators and parents was more subdued than that of their business counterparts. The school board had been promising to require the districtwide change for more than a year and several dozen schools had already implemented the plan.

“We had no choice,” said Dan Rodrigues, an assistant principal at San Fernando Junior High School. Rodrigues said the benefits and disadvantages of year-round classes were hotly debated among teachers. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”

At Sherman Oaks School--where a bitter protest was staged by parents last year--teachers and administrators displayed guarded optimism.

“A lot of teachers like the fact that they’ll have a vacation in the winter,” Principal Grace Snipper said. “Also, during the shorter summer, children will retain their learning.”

Parents in the surrounding neighborhoods had been worried about finding child care during the winter break, which runs from Dec. 23 to Feb. 13 for single-track schools. The United Way has formed a task force to help coordinate supervision during vacations.

Still, parents remained bitter about the switch.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy,” said Jewel Jaffe Ross, president of the school’s Parent Teacher Assn. “But it was inevitable.”

At a parents’ meeting at the school Tuesday night, Stephanie Tolbert, who has a son in the second grade, said she found a winter camp that will provide care for him but fears summer classes will interfere with her vacation.

“It’s just inconvenient,” she said. “I just don’t like it.”

Other parents also said a rotating schedule makes it hard to plan vacations and other family outings, and predicted difficulties coordinating vacations with relatives in other parts of the country who have traditional summer vacations.

Lorraine Gish, whose son is in the first grade, said that going to a camp in January or February would not replace summer camp.

“That’s the cold time,” she said. “If kids do go to a camp, it will be a stay-indoors-and-watch-TV type of thing.”

TRACKING THE VALLEY’S YEAR-ROUND SCHOOLS

The Los Angeles Board of Education has adopted a schedule that will put all 191 of the district’s San Fernando Valley campuses into some form of year-round operation by this summer. Some Valley campuses have already implemented the year-round plan. Most schools will operate, for a while at least, on a single track, with all of their students on campus at one time.

The rest of the schools will also be operating year-round but on so-called multitrack scheduling in which students are divided into three or four groups, with one group on vacation at any given time. Related stories on B1, B3 and C10.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Anatola Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Andasol Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Apperson Street: multitrack now

Arminta Street: multitrack now

Balboa Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Bassett Street: multitrack now

Beachy Avenue: multitrack now

Beckford Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Bertrand Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Blythe Street: single track Aug. 19

Brainard Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Broadous, Hillery T.: multitrack now

Burbank Boulevard: multitrack now

Calabash Street: single track Aug. 19

Calahan Street: single track Aug. 19

Calvert Street: single track Aug. 19

Camellia Avenue: multitrack now

Canoga Park: multitrack now

Cantara Street: single track Aug. 19

Canterbury Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Canterbury Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Capistrano Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Carpenter Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Castlebay Lane: single track Aug. 19

Chandler: single track Aug. 19

Chase Street: single track Aug. 19

Chatsworth Park: single track Aug. 19

Cohasset: single track Aug. 19

Coldwater Cyn. Avenue: multitrack now

Colfax Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Danube Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Darby Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Dearborn Street: single track Aug. 19

Dixie Canyon Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Dyer Street: multitrack now

El Dorado Avenue: multitrack now

El Oro Way: single track Aug. 19

Emelita Street: single track Aug. 19

Encino: single track Aug. 19

Erwin Street: single track Aug. 19

Fair Avenue: multitrack now

Fenton Avenue: multitrack now

Fernangeles: multitrack now

Fullbright Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Gault Street: single track Aug. 19

Germain Street: single track Aug. 19

Gledhill Street: single track Aug. 19

Glenwood: single track Aug. 19

Granada: single track Aug. 19

Gridley Street: single track now, going to multitrack July 5

Haddon Avenue: multitrack now

Hamlin Street: single track Aug. 19

Harding Street: multitrack now

Hart Street: single track Aug. 19

Haskell: single track Aug. 19

Hazeltine Avenue: multitrack now

Herrick Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Hubbard Street: single track Aug. 19

Justice Street: single track Aug. 19

Kester Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Kester Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Kittridge Street: single track Aug. 19

Knollwood: single track Aug. 19

Lanai Road: single track Aug. 19

Langdon Avenue: multitrack now

Lankershim: multitrack July 5

Lassen: single track now

Lemay Street: single track Aug. 19

Liggett Street: single track Aug. 19

Limerick Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Lockhurst Drive: single track Aug. 19

Lorne Fundamental: single track Aug. 19

Lorne Street: single track Aug. 19

Mayall Street: single track Aug. 19

Melvin Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Monlux Fundamental: single track Aug. 19

Monlux, John B.: single track Aug. 19

Montague Street: multitrack now

Morningside: multitrack now

Mountain View: single track Aug. 19

Napa Street: multitrack July 5

Nestle Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Nevada Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Noble Avenue: multitrack now

O’Melveny: multitrack July 5

Osceola Street: single track now, going to multitrack July 5

Oxnard Street: multitrack now

Pacoima: multitrack now

Pinewood Avenue: multitrack July 5

Plainview Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Plummer: multitrack now

Pomelo Drive: single track Aug. 19

Ranchito Avenue: multitrack July 5

Reseda: single track now

Rio Vista: single track Aug. 19

Riverside Drive: single track Aug. 19

Roscoe: multitrack now

San Fernando: multitrack now

San Jose H. Gifted: single track Aug. 19

San Jose Street: single track Aug. 19

Saticoy: single track Aug. 19

Serrania Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Sharp Avenue: multitrack now

Sherman Oaks: single track Aug. 19

Sherman Oaks CES: single track Aug. 19

Shirley Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Stagg Street: single track Aug. 19

Stonehurst Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Strathern Street: multitrack now

Sunland: single track Aug. 19

Sunny Brae Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Superior Street: single track Aug. 19

Sylmar: multitrack now

Sylvan Park: multitrack July 5

Tarzana: single track Aug. 19

Telfair Avenue: multitrack now

Toluca Lake: single track Aug. 19

Topanga: single track Aug. 19

Topeka Drive: single track Aug. 19

Tulsa Street: single track Aug. 19

Valerio Street: multitrack now

Valley: single track Aug. 19

Valley View: single track Aug. 19

Vanalden Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Van Gogh Street: single track Aug. 19

Van Nuys: multitrack now

Vaughn Street: multitrack now

Vena Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Vena Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Victory Boulevard: multitrack now

Vinedale: single track Aug. 19

Vintage Fundamental: single track Aug. 19

Welby Way: single track Aug. 19

Welby Way Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Wilbur Avenue: single track Aug. 19

Winnetka: single track Aug. 19

Woodlake: single track Aug. 19

Woodland Hills: single track Aug. 19

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

Byrd Jr. Fund.: single track Aug. 19

Byrd, Richard E.: single track Aug. 19

Columbus, Christopher: single track Aug. 19

Frost, Robert: single track Aug. 19

Fulton, Robert: single track Aug. 19

Hale, George E.: single track Aug. 19

Henry, Patrick: single track Aug. 19

Holmes, Oliver W.: single track Aug. 19

Lawrence, Ernest: single track Aug. 19

Maclay, Charles: multitrack July 5

Madison, James: single track Aug. 19

Millikan, Robert A.: single track Aug. 19

Mt. Gleason: single track Aug. 19

Mulholland, William: single track Aug. 19

Nobel, Alfred B.: single track Aug. 19

Nobel Jr. Fund.: single track Aug. 19

Northridge: single track Aug. 19

Olive Vista: single track Aug. 19

Pacoima: multitrack July 5

Pacoima Jr. Math: single track Aug. 19

Pacoima Jr. TV: single track Aug. 19

Parkman, Francis: single track Aug. 19

Porter, George K.: single track Aug. 19

Porter Jr. Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Portola: single track Aug. 19

Portola Jr. H Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Reed, Walter: single track Aug. 19

San Fernando: multitrack July 5

Sepulveda, Francisco: single track Aug. 19

Sepulveda Jr. Gifted: single track Aug. 19

Sun Valley: multitrack July 5

Sutter, John A.: single track Aug. 19

Van Nuys: single track Aug. 19

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

Birmingham: single track Aug. 19

Canoga Park: single track Aug. 19

Chatsworth: single track Aug. 19

Cleveland, Grover: single track Aug. 19

El Camino Real: single track Aug. 19

Francis, John H., Polytechnic: single track Aug. 19

Granada Hills: single track Aug. 19

Grant, Ulysses S.: single track Aug. 19

Kennedy, John F.: single track Aug. 19

Monroe, James: single track Aug. 19

North Hollywood: single track Aug. 19

Reseda: single track Aug. 19

San Fernando: single track Aug. 19

Sylmar: single track Aug. 19

Taft, William Howard: single track Aug. 19

Van Nuys: single track Aug. 19

Verdugo Hills: single track Aug. 19