Centinela Approves Anti-Bias Plan

Two weeks after a rancorous meeting delayed a vote on the issue, the Centinela Valley Union High School District’s board of trustees Tuesday unanimously adopted a 10-point plan aimed at providing long-term solutions to the district’s racial tensions.

However, tempers flared again when the board refused to discuss its plans for Hawthorne High Principal Kenneth Crowe, a black administrator whose planned resignation sparked massive student walkouts early last month.

“What is going to happen to Mr. Crowe?” community activist Don Jackson demanded at Tuesday’s meeting. “As I see it, the board is drifting towards not making a decision. . . . This is precisely why we have a crisis on our hands.”

The meeting, like the session two weeks before, was prematurely adjourned, this time after questions about the board’s openness sparked an argument between Trustee Michael Escalante and members of the audience.

The 10-point plan was proposed by a group of citizens and school officials brought together by state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) after students walked out at two of the district’s high schools to protest Crowe’s resignation and long-standing allegations of racial discrimination.

The citizens group recommended that the board develop communitywide training in race relations, ensure that any racially offensive literature is removed from classrooms, and appoint an ombudsman to handle complaints in the district.

Board members say they will not appoint an ombudsman or initiate racial sensitivity groups until the state Department of Education’s Office of Intergroup Relations completes an assessment of racial tensions in the district. State investigators began conducting interviews this week.

The board’s approval of the plan--more than a month after it was first proposed--was no surprise because many of the suggestions had already been put into effect.

But many black parents and community leaders said after the meeting that they regard the vote as largely symbolic and that they see the board’s treatment of Crowe as the biggest issue dividing the district.

Crowe said Tuesday that he agrees. “I really believe, given the climate, that unless they make a gesture of conciliation--my reinstatement--there will continue to be turmoil in the school district,” he said after the meeting. “They (board members) keep dealing with everything else but my status.”

Racial tensions had been simmering in the district for years, and were aggravated by a divisive school board election and rumors that the new Latino majority on the board intended to fire black administrators. Fears came to a head after Crowe announced Feb. 27 that he would resign. He later said his action was forced by the board’s plan to reassign him.

Crowe later asked the board to rescind his resignation. Instead, he says, he was ordered placed on medical leave.

Board members have refused to confirm or deny Crowe’s contention, citing board policy to keep personnel issues confidential. But in a letter to board members dated April 16, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, Supt. McKinley Nash reported that he carried out a March 21 order to inform Crowe that “he would immediately be placed on paid sick leave through the end of the school year.”

“Mr. Crowe has informed me that he was not sick, and that he had not requested sick leave,” Nash’s letter added. “In a subsequent conversation, Mr. Crowe presented me with a copy of an examination by a physician indicating that he was in good health.”

In late February, Crowe filed a job discrimination complaint against the district with the state Fair Employment and Housing Commission. The complaint is under investigation, according to Crowe’s attorney, Artis Grant.

Grant described the board’s request to place Crowe on medical leave as “very peculiar” and said he would seek a court order to return Crowe to work if the board persists in trying to remove him.

Compared to other gatherings, Tuesday’s board meeting, which drew more than 100 students, teachers and parents, was relatively quiet until the board opened the floor to public comment. Some members of the racially mixed audience jeered at a white Hawthorne teacher who accused Nash, who is black, of inciting the walkouts. But it wasn’t until community activist Nancy Marthens accused the board of trying to “black out” its meetings that the meeting dissolved into shouts.

When Marthens questioned why the last several board meetings were not broadcast over the city’s cable channel, Trustee Escalante yelled, “I’m telling you, the board is not responsible! Read my lips. . . . It’s the superintendent’s responsibility.”

The comments drew angry responses from the audience, though Nash did not respond. Within minutes, board President Ruth Morales adjourned the meeting.