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Bernalillo County is moving after-school programs for children from its community centers into nine South Valley schools, citing safety concerns over transportation.

The move could cut kids out of the programs, however, because most of the affected schools can only take 50 children each. If more students enroll, there might not be room, county officials say.

About 500 children are usually enrolled in the programs, which depend upon 15-passenger vans the county says no longer meet federal and state regulations.

The vans are involved in more rollover crashes than any other vehicle, national studies indicate, and a recent audit of county programs by state officials revealed the vans did not meet standards, County Commissioner Alan Armijo said.

Armijo said county officials looked into buying new vans, but they decided it would be too expensive and would take too long.

County personnel will now go to the elementary schools to run the after-school programs, he said, but that means capping the number of students who could be enrolled in the program.

"Somebody in the (Albuquerque Public Schools) district talked about shutting programs down, and I said, `That's not acceptable. We've got to work something out,' " said Armijo, who is a lobbyist for the district.

Parents scrambled to react to the change, worried they may not be able to enroll their kids in programs upon which they have long depended.

County officials said they would be forced to limit attendance to 50 children at seven of the nine schools. Some schools have had as many as 80 students enrolled in the past, school staff say.

The last two of the nine affected schools can take 75 to 80 students each, school officials say.

Registration is being offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Parent Irma Hernandez, whose two sons participate in the county program, said all children should be allowed to attend.

"They shouldn't have a limit" on the number of children who attend, Hernandez said, adding school buses should be used to take children to the community centers.

Armijo said he expected complaints from parents.

"Unfortunately, we can't take care of every individual issue, and, of course, the county and APS will be blamed," Armijo said, noting that much of the county's money is going to pay for costs at the Metropolitan Detention Center. "But we're under federal mandate, and we can't do business the way we used to do it."