`IT'S LIKE, HE'S OLD, BUT HE STILL HAS A KID IN HIM' : LOS ENCINOS FOUNDER TO RETIRE.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

The tiny, elite Los Encinos School had a crisis on its hands.

It involved french fries. One student got them for lunch, another didn't. The fry-less youngster plunged into the depths of despair.

Who are you going to call? Christopher Holabird, the school's Harvard-educated founder and director, who's set to retire at the end of the school year.

Holabird - who has white hair and twinkling eyes - called the youngster into his office, soothed him - ``sometimes life's just like that'' - and sent him on his way.

During 17 years at the helm of the 90-student Los Encinos School, Holabird's daily duties have ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.

He has unlocked for students the mysteries of alchemy, ``but he still takes care of things like clogged toilets,'' said alumna Melissa Kravetz, 19, of Tarzana.

It all ends in June, when the 70-year-old Holabird retires.

The Chicago native plans to spend time at his June Lake Sierra cabin with his wife, Rhoda, but he'll leave behind plenty of parents, teachers and students disappointed to see him go.

``He's fun to be with. It's like, he's old, but he still has a kid in him,'' said Henry West, a Los Encinos fifth-grader.

Parent Laurie Pearlman appreciates Holabird's easy manner and unpretentious style.

``This guy is brilliant, but unassuming,'' she said.

His replacement has not yet been selected.

After teaching for many years at Oakwood School in North Hollywood, Holabird opened Los Encinos in 1980 in an unused church school on Ventura Boulevard.

With Los Angeles public schools in their last year of mandatory busing, Holabird's little school, with only four classrooms, immediately filled up and has stayed that way ever since.

The school's atmosphere is nurturing and noncompetitive. There are no prizes and few contests. At a recent ``invention convention,'' each child got a blue ribbon.

``You want the motivation to be intrinsic rather than extrinsic,'' Holabird said. ``It doesn't mean we don't acknowledge good work, it just means we don't make an issue out of who does the best.''

Holabird offers a strong arts program alongside a meat-and-potatoes academic curriculum.

``There's a saying: `A man who has creativity without knowledge is like a bird that has wings without feet,' '' he said.

``I think I got that from a fortune cookie.''

With annual tuition at $8,850 per student, Los Encinos has many students who come from wealthy homes. Holabird pushes his kids to give back to the community.

As part of their Los Encinos program, they spend time with low-income children from a Head Start program, and volunteer at a North Hollywood homeless shelter.

He hopes they carry that spirit with them all their lives. Asked to point to one of his stellar graduates, Holabird selected a Peace Corps volunteer in the Ukraine.

Still, he may be able to claim a business mogul or two in the future.

``They haven't had a chance to go out and conquer the world yet,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO Harvard-educated Christopher Holabird, 70, is retiring in June as director of the Los Encinos School, which he founded in 1980.

Phil McCarten/Daily News