Simi Schools Will Add Tolerance to Curriculum : Vandalism of Black Family’s House Prompts Emphasis on Human Relations

In response to a summer vandalism attack against a local black family’s home, the Simi Valley Unified School District will try to bolster the teaching of human relations in its classrooms and increase sensitivity among teachers and administrators, school officials said Wednesday.

School principals will be urged to raise the issue at staff meetings, specialized teachers will train colleagues in the use of extracurricular materials, and the coverage of prejudice, race, and ethnicity will be emphasized when new social science textbooks are chosen, said Allan Jacobs, the district’s assistant superintendent in charge of instruction and curriculum.

In addition, a special human-relations program developed by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith will be introduced in one junior high school on an experimental basis and monitored for possible districtwide use, according to school board President Lewis Roth.

The district now includes some instruction on human relations in English classes, he said.

Low-Key Approach

Roth said the changes are subtle, but more effective in the long run than any special class or dramatic program.

“It’s an attempt to do more, but not any overt, attention-getting device or banner-waving,” Roth said. “Those kinds of things tend to lose luster pretty quickly.”

Jacobs outlined the district’s three-point plan at a school board meeting Tuesday. It was developed in response to a request by board member Diane Collins that the district put more emphasis on race relations in the wake of an August attack on the home of Northridge Junior High School teacher Louis Boss and his family.

The attack, which is under investigation by the Simi Valley Police Department and the FBI, left the home heavily vandalized and defaced with racial epithets. No arrests have been made, but police have said they believe the damage was done by neighborhood youths who knew the family would be away on vacation. Graffiti spray-painted on interior walls included the word “skinheads” and the family’s surname.

Early Age

Collins originally proposed that a special program be developed and taught on a regular basis in elementary schools, when students are at an age she described as being still untainted by prejudice. She was out of town on a business trip Wednesday and unavailable for comment on the plan presented by Jacobs.

Janice DiFatta, president of the Simi Valley PTA Council, said the plan sounded adequate. The PTA Council represents the city’s 24 Parent Teacher associations.

“It’s doing something about it without going overboard,” DiFatta said.

She said she does not favor the district doing much more because she believes the subjects of prejudice and how to get along with others should be addressed at home. “It should be reinforced in school, but not taught in school,” she said.

Jacobs said he preferred to use the term “human relations” instead of “race relations” because the latter term “carries too much emotional weight.” He said the phrase “race relations” is also limiting because it does not include prejudice based on the basis of religion, ethnicity or handicaps.