School Official Apologizes for Comments

Facing mounting criticism, Alhambra School Board Vice President Dora Padilla has sent letters of apology to San Gabriel High School’s all-Asian Academic Decathlon team for the firestorm that followed her remarks about the team’s ethnicity.

But, in a separate statement issued Wednesday, she expressed regret only for taking away from the team’s accomplishments, stopping short of apologizing for her controversial remarks that the team does not reflect the high school’s diverse enrollment and that coaches did not encourage or recruit non-Asian students.

“I remain concerned that the doors and windows of opportunity be opened wider so that all students at all our schools are encouraged to participate in programs in which they have an interest,” Padilla’s statement read.

Padilla made the controversial remarks at a December school board meeting. At the Jan. 19 meeting, members of the Chinese American Parents & Teachers Assn. of Southern California asked her to be more specific in her remarks. Padilla did not elaborate, saying to one critic, “You just don’t get it, do you?”

On Feb. 2, the association and 21 other Asian community groups wrote Padilla, asking her to resign or apologize for her remarks.

But Padilla has not backed away from expressing her concern that the decathlon team has only Asian students.

“I felt it was my duty as a board member to report community concerns that the team did not reflect the enrollment of the school and that recruitment would encourage broader participation,” she wrote in her statement.

Team members are picked on the basis of test scores. Coaches said tryout notices are distributed throughout the school, whose 3,200-student body is 44% Asian, 43% Latino, 9% Anglo and 4% other.

Marina Tse, a spokeswoman for the 22 Asian groups protesting Padilla’s remarks, said the coalition is planning to meet again to discuss whether to drop the matter or press forward. Tse said she could not comment on Padilla’s statement until she has read it.