Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Schools Move to Year-Round Child Care : Education: Summer months will be included in after-school program at Wiley Canyon School.

City officials hope to cut down on the number of latchkey kids as local schools move away from traditional schedules.

With two campuses in the Newhall School District starting multitrack year-round programs this month and a third slated to begin next year, Santa Clarita is expanding its after-school child-care program at Wiley Canyon School.

Instead of offering after-school programs from September to June, the summer months will be included.

Two years ago, Pinetree Elementary School in the Sulphur Springs district became the first campus in Santa Clarita to switch to the four staggered tracks that have students alternate between 12 weeks of classes and four weeks of vacation.

Parents have complained about a lack of sports, recreation, academic and child-care activities that would normally be available during the traditional summer vacation, said Marc Winger, chairman of Santa Clarita’s Becoming a Year-Round Community committee.

A survey of 663 parents in May by the Newhall, Saugus and Sulphur Springs school districts indicated that 22% of respondents want child-care services year-round. Even higher interest was shown for recreation activities (57%), academic enrichment (57%), sports (56%) and swimming (46%).

“When we surveyed the parents after the first year, what they felt was missing for students was to be involved with things they would otherwise have in the summer,” said Winger, who is also assistant superintendent of instructional services for Sulphur Springs.

Wiley Canyon and Valencia Valley elementary schools in the Newhall district began operating July 6 on a multitrack year-round schedule. Each of the two schools has an enrollment of more than 950 students, and the multitrack schedule means that 725 students are on campus at any time of the year.

The district’s Old Orchard Elementary School is scheduled to go multitrack year-round in July 1994.

Santa Clarita’s after-school program is aimed at children in grades four through six. Two staffers from Santa Clarita’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department will supervise children from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., leading them through a series of crafts, games and sports activities. Eighteen students have enrolled for the program, which costs $25 per semester.

“The feedback on this has been quite favorable. The parents seem happy to have this option instead of having their children go home to an empty house,” said Jodi Jones, city recreation supervisor.

Other after-school child-care programs are to begin in the fall at two elementary schools, Canyon Springs in the Sulphur Springs district and Emblem in the Saugus district. They will be coupled with free recreation programs at Newhall Memorial, North Oaks, Valencia Meadows and Santa Clarita parks.

“This is all part of a concentrated effort to offer parents and their children as many options as possible for them in order to participate in supervised activities on a regular basis,” said Rick Putnam, director of Santa Clarita’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services.