Talks About School Plan Touch on Sticky Subjects: Like Peanut Butter

In the furor over the proposal that Los Angeles schools convert to year-round operation, much has been said about the potential effects on learning and extracurricular activities such as sports and band.

But probably few people have given thought to what might happen to the makers of mayonnaise, peanut butter and tents. After all, parents aren’t likely to pack sandwiches made with mayo into their children’s lunch pails for fear of spoilage in the hot Los Angeles summer. This could prove a boon to purveyors of peanut butter. With long summer camping vacations curtailed for many families, purchases of tents might wind down.

Such possible trickle-down effects were among many noted in a mothers’ focus group session held last week at Creative Data, a Van Nuys company that selects consumers for product-related interviews. The session was conducted by Alexa Smith, president of the Research Department, a New York-based firm that does marketing research for such giants as AT&T;, Campbell Soup, IBM, J. C. Penney and RCA. Such sessions help companies learn what products consumers need and want.

The participants were 10 mothers, identified by first name only, who live in the San Fernando Valley. Most described themselves as homemakers. In a lively, 1 1/2-hour discussion, they addressed questions about how year-round schooling would affect family life styles, their use of products and services and society at large.

“A lot of things will have to change--life style, day care. . . . Maybe it’s too much trouble,” said Sylvia, who has three children and works at home as a free-lancer doing architectural renderings.

In general, a year-round program divides a student body into several groups that attend school at different times. The program also splits up vacation time into several shorter periods throughout the year. As a result, many students do not get the summer off. The Los Angeles school board is expected to vote Feb. 24 on whether to approve year-round schooling as a way to cope with overcrowding in the district’s 618 schools.

Among the mothers’ biggest concerns were the effects on child care, recreational programs and summer employment for teen-agers.

“My kids are gonna have to earn money,” said Cathy, whose four children range in age from 6 to 15. She and others agreed that it would be easier on students to work during the summer months as opposed to holding down after-school jobs on a year-round schedule, when breaks will be much shorter.

Sylvia noted that parks such as Disneyland would feel compelled to adjust their schedules. Movie studios might abandon the concept of summertime releases geared to students on vacation.

One mother, clearly in the minority, expressed support for the plan and cited several “selfish” reasons. She said she would welcome shopping in malls during the summer without facing crowds of young people who go there for entertainment. Moreover, she would look forward to shorter breaks so that she could avoid the mad summertime dash from swimming class to Bible school to tennis lesson--all in an effort to make vacations more productive for her four children. The divorcee said she would welcome the change for one other reason, too: It would avoid the long separation from her children during the summer, when she is supposed to send them to stay with their father in Chicago.

Smith, the moderator, noted that parents in some parts of the country have passed along tips on dealing with problems that pop up for year-round students. To ease the problem of the warm lunch box, they include frozen juice cartons, reaping two benefits: The juice is still cold at lunchtime, and, as it thaws, it keeps the other contents cool.

Although most of the mothers are opposed to year-round schooling, they generally agreed that, if forced to make the adjustment, they eventually could.

Said Catherine, a mother of four: “Twenty years down the road, maybe our kids will say to their kids, ‘You won’t believe this, but we used to go to school only eight months a year.’ Maybe it will change the notion that school is just a part-time thing.”