GARDEN GROVE : Group Urges More Latino Teachers

The Garden Grove Unified School District has an inexcusably low percentage of Latino teachers and must broaden its curriculum to include a more complete history of all elements of American society, a group of 40 Chicano students said on Tuesday.

At a meeting of the district Board of Trustees, the college and high school students said about half of the student population is Latino while only 2.6% of its teachers are Latino.

The students represent local chapters of MEChA, which is an acronym for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement.

Ross Romero, who graduated from the district’s Lake Continuation School in the 1970s, told the board that the district must hire more Latino teachers and warned: “There are laws that do address this issue. If we have to go to the state or federal government or the courts, we will.”

District spokesman Alan Trudell has said recent recruiting drives for Latinao teachers both in and out of state have failed to substantially increase their numbers because qualified applicants are scarce nationwide and in great demand. In an interview Wednesday, he pointed out that 3% of the district’s teachers and 25% of the staff are Latino, while the Latino student population is actually 37%.

“We have an affirmative action plan with goals to hire teachers of all ethnic backgrounds, including Hispanic Americans, and we’re following the plan,” he said.

“The challenge of finding qualified teacher candidates of any ethnic group is a challenge that is a nationwide concern. It’s not isolated to Garden Grove or Orange County or California for that matter,” he added.

In 1990-91, there were 2,849 Latino applicants who took the California Basic Education Skills Test, which prospective teachers must pass. Trudell said that of those, 53%, or about 1,500 passed. That number divided by the 1,000 school districts in the state leaves about 1 1/2 qualified Latino teachers per district, Trudell said.

However, Romero told the board: “The argument that there are not teachers, I don’t buy it. We will not rest until we have parity with the student population.”

Lupe Lopez, 19, a Golden West College MEChA member who organized the protest, called for a committee geared toward implementing more Latino-oriented courses.

“We learn about the European culture, white culture,” she said. “Our history is not being told. We don’t need to be mainstreamed into white society.

Chicano and Latino history in school is usually limited to the fight at the Alamo, she said, and does not include, for example, Mexican historical figures. Lopez also urged the board to adopt a committee geared toward implementing a curriculum that includes Chicano art, literature and history courses.

At one point, Trustee Joyce Johnson told Lopez: “I’m getting the feeling you’re not wanting to become a part of society in the United States. Maybe we’re not reaching out to touch your hand but are you reaching out far enough to touch us?”

Trudell emphasized that the district follows the state’s multicultural instruction guidelines, which stress that other historical perspectives be included in the curriculum.