CENTINELA VALLEY PROTEST: A SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

Jacqueline Carrera, School Board Member

Jacqueline Carrera, 25, was elected to the school board on Nov. 7. An accountant from Lennox, Carrera was one of two challengers in last year’s school board campaign who received the strong support of the district’s 200-member teacher’s union, which has been sharply critical of district Supt. McKinley Nash.

Q: What do you think has caused the racial tension and student unrest in the district?

A: I think it was somewhat related to our election. The fact that certain individuals supported the incumbents and certain individuals supported the new board members, that issue right there created some problems. The fact that it came to this was all tied into the election.

I’m not saying there is no racial problem, because overall in the U.S. there’s some degree of racial problems. But as to why there’s this particular problem in our district, I feel that it’s tied to the elections. Obviously, there appears to be some type of tension between the administrators and the staff. You’re asking me questions I’d love to (answer in) detail but can’t.

I wasn’t on the board when these incidents supposedly began. From the point that I have been on the board, from Nov. 28, everything I see is very much tied to the election. Most of the accusations have been very political. It’s rumors and allegations. How can you stop rumors?

Q: To what extent is there racism among white teachers?

A: Most of the teachers we have in this district have been here many, many years. I was taught by many of these teachers. I’m a graduate of Lennox High. They have seen the transition within our community toward more minorities. I believe they handled it and have done a good job. I myself was taught by a mostly white teaching staff and never felt discrimination because I was Latina. . . .

There’s a little bit of racism in everyone. To say a person has never had a racist thought in their life would be a lie. At some point someone may make a statement that may be racist or sound racist, but that doesn’t mean that the person is racist. I’m not saying we don’t have some problems. But I think it’s greatly enlarged by miscommunication and rumors.

Q: What about the racially offensive notes and cartoons sent to minority administrators?

A: If we knew a name, believe me I am sure this board would take action. How can we take action against someone when we don’t know who they are? It’s hard to say it’s the teachers. These notes were unsigned. I walk into my office every day, and I assume mail on my desk is from the mailman, but anyone could have put it there. What can we be expected to do when we don’t know who they are?

Q: How effectively have the school board, the administration and the teachers responded to the situation?

A: I think we’ve done a good job. I’ll tell you why. This tension has been there for a couple of years. We’ve been in office three months. One, we had to be informed. That took a month and a half. We requested an investigation by SDE (the state Department of Education). They’ve come down, and they’ve started their investigation. And it was not just because of the walkouts. We had requested SDE to do the investigation in January or February. We voted on it in public. We instructed the superintendent to write them. He did, and they were here last week. The superintendent gave the state a list of the problems.

I don’t think this board was even given a chance. In our first meeting we were more or less accused of everything in the book. We didn’t even have time to sit down with attorneys and see what we were accused of. I welcome parents to come speak (at board meetings). But whether every parent who comes up listens to us when we say, one, we are not racist, two, we are concerned, and three, we are not trying to get rid of programs is another question.

Overall, I think the administration is trying to do their best, just like we are. But we are having problems in communications (with the administration). It makes it difficult for us to get certain information. But overall, they’re doing all they can. Everyone in the district is doing all they can to make sure that education continues.

Q: Some charge that the recent student unrest resulted in part from the new board’s failure to respond decisively to signs of racial tension in the district.

A: If they’re going to try to blame the walkout on this board, then I would take offense. These racial incidents started in 1987-88. After three months in office, we have to take the entire responsibility? Maybe we have to, but I don’t think it’s fair. . . .

We’re trying to open communication with everyone. We’ve sat down with the kids, and we’re planning to set up meetings with more students, with parents and members of the community. It’s just going to be a step-by-step process. We can’t have 15,000 things happening at the same time.

The thing that’s hurt this board the most is misinformation, all the untrue things that have been said about us personally. There are so many rumors, it’s incredible. Obviously someone is providing a lot of wrong information. I have never said I wanted to get rid of minority administrators. First of all, I’m a minority. And I judge people for what they are, not the color of their skin. I’m very frustrated. If I say the sun is red, someone will say, ‘She said the sun is burgundy.’

Everything we say gets twisted. It’s very hard to try to talk to people and say what you see in the media is not who we are. If they would take the opportunity to stop yelling at us, they might find a totally different person than they expected. People say we hid (personnel issues, such as those involving Crowe) from them. It’s not that we are hiding. It’s that what we are asked we are not always permitted to discuss.

Q: What do you think should be done to address the problems in the district?

A: We’ve taken the first step, calling in the SDE. We also have the 10-point plan, and we have asked the superintendent to provide us with a program to implement the 10-point plan.

Q: Has any good come from the controversy?

A: Some good has come out of it. One thing is that students now know they can come to the board and express their opinions. I believe they walked out because they thought that was the only way they could get our attention. And there’s the fact that we were able to explain to them something about the process under which the board functions, such as why we have to say “no comment” when we’re discussing a personnel matter or an expulsion hearing. Once we told them, they realized that they as individuals would have the same rights (to confidential hearings) that we’re giving Crowe.

Other than those two things, everything else I think was negative for the district. One teacher told me, “I was always proud to belong to Hawthorne High, but now people say, ‘Oh, you belong to that school.’ ”