8-Year-Old’s Speech Quiets Alhambra Dispute

Parents, students, board members and employees of the embattled Alhambra City and High School districts finally found something they could agree about: Adrian Casas.

Their conclusion: the 8-year-old Granada Elementary School sec ond-grader knows what he’s talking about.

At a February board meeting, the 4-foot-tall 60-pounder strode to the front of the Garfield School Auditorium to deliver the speech that had won him first place in a contest sponsored by the Los Angeles region of the California Assn. of Compensatory Education.

Normally, board meetings are quiet, but the financially troubled district’s proposed program and staff cuts had brought out a crowd of about 350.

Up stepped Adrian to talk about his 10-year-old brother, Tino, who has cerebral palsy. “I love him,” Adrian said. “I don’t think of him as handicapped.”

Adrian has taken his brother to class with him so other students can interact with a disabled child. “I said this (cerebral palsy) could happen to any one of you,” he said.

Tino and other special-education students are sometimes belittled by other children at school, Adrian said in a clear, strong, high-pitched voice. “If they don’t treat others with the respect they should, they, too, are handicapped,” he added. “They just don’t know it.”

For the only time that night, all those on opposing sides in the budget dispute joined for a standing ovation.

Adrian, whose first language is Spanish, wasn’t finished. “I’m going to say the same speech” again, he said, “but in Spanish.”

“He can go night and day,” said Granada Principal LaVonne Wood. “He can fill an auditorium with his voice.”

Adrian said he plans to be a dentist, using his speaking skills to tell children “if they have to brush their teeth more.”