MAKING MOST OF NEW VACATIONS; TASK FORCE TO EXPLORE ACTIVITIES OPTIONS FOR YEAR-ROUND STUDENTS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

A year from now, about 1,500 children will be on vacation every month from school, while their peers are in the classroom. Local community members are seeking ways to make the free time safe and constructive.

The Newhall School District will switch to a year-round calendar in July to combat overcrowding at its seven schools. Students will be split up in four ``tracks'' with varying vacation schedules, meaning 75 percent of the students will be in session while the other 25 percent are on vacation.

In other words, summer vacation as we know it will be a thing of the past. Children will go to school for three months and then have a month's vacation. The traditional mid-June to Labor Day summer hiatus could be replaced by breaks in November, March and July, or perhaps January, May and September.

Marc Winger, superintendent of the 6,000-student Newhall district, has formed a Multi-Track Year-Round Education Youth Activities Task Force to determine what recreation, sports and child care options will be open to children who have school breaks during the nonsummer months. Former Newhall Superintendent J. Michael McGrath is heading up that panel.

Representatives from the YMCA and the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services have been invited to an Oct. 9 meeting with Winger at Newhall School District headquarters.

The Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club is one segment of the community that Winger and district administrators hope will expand their programs and activities to accommodate the schedules of students who are ``off-track.''

With a valleywide membership of 1,400 kids ages 6 to 17, the Boys & Girls Club offers supervised after-school programs every weekday, 2 to 7 p.m. during the school year. In the summer, those hours expand to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, said Judy Belue , resource development director for the club.

For an extra fee, parents can even send their kids to the Boys & Girls Club as early as 7 a.m. during summer weekdays, added Mike Friscia , the club's program director.

What, if any, changes the club will implement when Newhall goes year-round haven't been decided, Belue said.

Summer allows the club to offer field trips, sports leagues, educational programs and recreational activities that typically can't fit in the five hours a day the club is open during the school year, Friscia said.

It would be a challenge for the clubhouse to keep its summer schedule - 12 hours a day, five days a week - January through December, not just June through September. ``We'll have to figure a way to serve families and offer extended care on a year-round basis, when the kids are off-track,'' Friscia said. ``We would have to find a way to open our doors at 7 a.m.''

City parks officials also have no definite plans about what to offer, every month of the year, when one-fourth of those Newhall district students will be on a school break. Summertime has always been the busiest season for city youth programs, said Jodi Jones, a city recreation supervisor.

``We run day camp programs, aquatic programs and family camps, where parents and their kids go camping for the weekend,'' Jones said.

But during the school year, programs for toddlers and adults dominate the morning and early-afternoon hours. ``We are always busy. Our facilities are heavily used,'' she said, noting the city offers sports and recreation programs at Valencia Meadows, Newhall, Valencia Glen, Santa Clarita, Canyon Country, North Oaks and Old Orchard parks.

How to accommodate those age groups, while still catering to the elementary schoolchildren on vacation, might be tough because much of the city parks staff is seasonal - such as college students home for summer break, Jones said.

Maybe, she said, the city could recruit stay-at-home moms, retirees and college students who go to school at night to staff some of the daytime city programs.

Sue Neiberger's two kids went through the Newhall district's last experiment with year-round education, from 1993-95. This time around, only one of her children, a student at Valencia Valley Elementary, will be on the schedule.

Neiberger, whom Winger asked to serve on the task force, said she thinks there will be strength in numbers this time, because the entire district will switch to the new schedule. Last time, only Valencia Valley and Wiley Canyon Elementary had the year-round calendar.

``It wasn't as much of an impetus for the child care and day care providers and the parks to get involved. This time around, we carry more clout. We've got 6,000 students on multitrack year-round education,'' Neiberger said.

``We're going to have children who need activities every month of the year,'' she added. ``Every month, there's going to be a group of children from the Newhall School District who are going to be on vacation.''

The multitrack, year-round system puts school buildings in use every month of the year, but with fewer students at any one time. That strategy allows the district to create schools that are less crowded, thereby buying some time until another school can be built.

The Newhall district sorely needs an eighth school, but construction funds aren't available. More than 100 portable classroom buildings have been added to district schools to create more space as enrollment continues to climb.