Activists Will Visit Schools to Discuss Trials

A coalition of civil rights and legal groups is preparing to fan out into the Los Angeles Unified School District to help the city’s youth better understand the complex, emotional issues surrounding two potentially volatile trials.

The Los Angeles Board of Education Tuesday formalized its commitment to solicit the help of community groups to offer lessons, speakers and teacher training aimed at defusing tensions that may emerge during the federal trial of the police officers accused of violating Rodney G. King’s civil rights and the upcoming state trial related to the beating of trucker Reginald O. Denny during the spring riots.

Leaders of the groups--which include the Asian Pacific Legal Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference--said they will volunteer their services. In addition, community-relations lessons are already being organized by other district officials.

The school board unanimously agreed to make the groups’ program a district priority in approving a motion Tuesday by board member Warren Furutani. Board member Barbara Beaudreaux and Assistant Supt. Ruben Zacarias have initiated similar efforts.

Supt. Sid Thompson said the district intends to make an array of educational programs and assemblies available to principals and teachers.

There was no organized districtwide support in place last year to help teachers and students understand the trial of the four officers accused of beating King. In the aftermath of the verdicts and riots, counseling teams were hastily organized, but principals and teachers were left largely on their own to deal with increased tension on campuses.

“I was surprised that after the riots some teachers were too afraid to even bring up the subject in their classrooms,” said Majorie Green, western states education director for the Anti-Defamation League.

She said her group’s World of Difference program, which focuses on helping students understand discrimination issues, will provide lessons for interested teachers.

Kathy Imahara, a staff attorney with the Asian Pacific Legal Center, said her organization will provide speakers to explain the legal issues in the cases.

“We want to prepare young people to be able to responsibly respond to whatever the verdicts will be,” Furutani said. “Things are really difficult and, frankly speaking, any number of different things could be a flash point.”

The school plan comes after Mayor Tom Bradley organized his Neighbor to Neighbor program, which brings hundreds of volunteers together to quell tensions.

“There is no excuse for us not to be prepared this time,” Furutani said.

In other actions Tuesday, the board postponed a decision to hire Arthur Andersen & Co. to conduct a $500,000 management audit of the district.

Thompson said the audit has become a bargaining issue between the district and United Teachers-Los Angeles, which is threatening to strike on Feb. 23.

“We are discussing it with them and felt it would be better to let (the union) get a shot” at viewing the audit agreement before the firm is hired, Thompson said.

The pledge to conduct a management audit was part of the district’s last contract offer to the union. UTLA President Helen Bernstein has pushed for a stronger voice over how the audit will be conducted. The union has long complained that the district’s central administration is inefficient. Thompson has promised to streamline bureaucracy and said he will heed the audit’s recommendations.

Officials of the district and the union are scheduled to meet tonight with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who is mediating the dispute. Brown has expressed optimism that a strike can be averted.

Thompson said Tuesday that the district has detailed plans to help ensure student safety in the event of a strike. But, he said, “I cannot guarantee anything. . . . I am reasonably sure that students will be safe inside schools.”

A handful of union teachers marched in front of district headquarters Tuesday in an attempt to turn away substitute teacher applicants. They handed out letters warning potential strikebreakers that they would be photographed by striking teachers.

Assistant Supt. Irene Yamahara said that more than 150 people applied for work despite the picketing, which she said gave the potential substitutes a glimpse of what they will be confronting if they cross union picket lines.