Panel Looks at Racial Tension in Schools : Ethnicity: Concerns are voiced that educators aren’t meeting problem even as Latino, Asian numbers surge.

A high school dean told of American-born Chinese students refusing to associate with recent immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong because the immigrants’ English wasn’t perfect.

A Latino high school student said his teacher never expected him to do well on tests but became concerned if an Asian classmate performed poorly.

A social worker talked about Asian and Latino teen-agers who resent their immigrant parents for imposing old traditions and culture on them.

These were the kinds of stories educators, students, community leaders and psychologists told the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations at a meeting Monday in Monterey Park to discuss racial tension in west San Gabriel Valley schools.

The meeting was prompted by concern among parents and others that, at a time when the area’s Asian and Latino populations are surging, schools are not equipped to address ethnic diversity and tensions.

Some speakers said they were upset at the way officials handled two fights last school year at San Gabriel High School, one in which two Chinese brothers were beaten by a group of Latinos, and another in which four Vietnamese students attacked two Anglos. In both cases, racial epithets were exchanged.

School officials suspended some of those involved, and the district attorney’s office filed misdemeanor battery charges against several. But some said the incidents were dismissed as typical schoolyard brawls that were not racially motivated.

“There was a lot of denial from district officials,” said Marina Tse, president of the Chinese American Parents and Teachers Assn. of Southern California. “One said: ‘Kids fight. These just happened to be of different races.’ ”

Stephen Kornfeld, dean of students at San Gabriel High School, acknowledged a host of racial problems on campus. In the early 1980s, he worked with the National Conference of Christians and Jews to set up a series of ethnic awareness programs. The group held a summer camp for 100 students and hired multicultural consultants to train teachers and staff.

But because of statewide budget cuts, the Alhambra district, which includes San Gabriel High, last year eliminated funding for such “non-essential” activities, Kornfeld said. Still, he cited several programs that remain at San Gabriel High: a club for gay and lesbian students--the second in the United States--and an international choir for immigrants to sing songs from their native countries.

The commission, a 15-member panel appointed by the County Board of Supervisors, works with school districts, cities or other agencies in quelling interracial conflict and hate crimes. It heard testimony from 20 people Monday.

The commissioners will meet Nov. 4 to decide what, if anything, to do about the issues raised. Eugene Mornell, the commission’s executive director, said one possibility is forming and training a team of school officials to intervene in racial conflicts.