Parents Camp at Year-Round School to Beat Vacation Rush

They may be called campuses, but no one takes the camp part literally.

No one, that is, except hundreds of Valencia families competing for limited summertime vacations under a controversial, new year-round school calendar.

In a scene reminiscent of an army readying for battle, they started pitching tents Friday afternoon on the campus of Valencia Valley Elementary School--more than 16 hours before a first-come, first-served registration for schedules began early Saturday.

“I only slept 15 minutes the whole night,” said parent Kim Mielkus, the 134th of more than 500 parents who eventually lined up. “Like everyone else, I got here early because I wanted my kids to have at least one month off during the summer.”

Valencia Valley is one of two schools in the Newhall School District that is scheduled to convert to a year-round calendar in July to alleviate overcrowding.

The plan is opposed by a group of parents who argue that, among other things, it divides families with older children enrolled in other districts with traditional schedules. They recently came 1,216 signatures short of collecting the 6,870 signatures necessary to put the issue before the voters in June.

Under the multitrack plan, students attend classes for 60 school days, then vacation for 20 school days, in four staggered schedules.

Most parents prefer their children to have July or August off rather than September or October, school officials said.

A committee of parents, teachers and administrators considered several methods for assigning tracks, including a lottery, before deciding to allow families to register their preferences Saturday on a first-come, first-served basis. The same method was used--and a camp-out also resulted--during registration in November for multitrack schedules at Wiley Canyon School, where year-round classes also are planned.

Under a plan endorsed by the committee and advertised in flyers sent to parents, families were not supposed to arrive for the registration before school was dismissed at 3 p.m. Friday. But by 2:30 p.m., about 100 people had already lined up on the sidewalk in front of the campus, said school board member Candace Fleece.

Concerned that the crowd would become unruly, school officials called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which sent six deputies to keep the peace, Sgt. Rick Doan said.

Despite the presence of the deputies, when “one of parents yelled, ‘It’s 3 p.m.,’ they charged 30 yards or so” to line up at the auditorium door, where they waited all night to register, Doan said. “Fortunately, no one got trampled.”

The rest of the camp-out was uneventful, participants said.

“We played Pictionary and word games, talked a lot and got to know our neighbors,” said Jenny Sawyer, a proponent of the year-round schedule who bedded down in a sleeping bag on the pavement until her husband relieved her at 5:40 a.m.

But opponents were less enthusiastic about the camp-out.

“I think it’s very sad that parents have to be treated like cattle,” said Linda Garofalo, the leader of the drive against the new schedule. Garofalo was among those who camped out.