Blacks-Only Campus Event Draws Fire : Education: Cleveland High conference is intended to foster academic success. But critics say it could lead to racial tension.

African American students at Cleveland High School are being invited to a conference aimed at encouraging them to be more academically successful, but the event is being criticized for excluding students of other races.

The sponsors of the Jan. 20 event acknowledge that they are excluding other students, but they say the criticism is unwarranted because the conference is intended to discuss ways African Americans at the school can be better students, academically and socially.

“I’m doing this knowing it could be controversial and ready to face the criticism, but also knowing and thinking I’m right to do it,” said Donna Hill, a teacher and one of the sponsors of the conference. “To me it would be a different conference if everyone came.”

Hill said she wanted the event to be open only to African American students because they might feel more secure in such an environment and because an integrated meeting could stifle discussion.

About 300 African American students, including those at a magnet school on campus, will be sent invitations this week and the school’s faculty will be sent memos explaining that the two-hour conference is intended to motivate those students.

Some teachers, students and district officials, however, say the event is exclusionary and could lead to racial tensions on campus. They say the meeting should be open to all students who wish to attend.

“I think it’s very ill-conceived,” said Marty Kravchak, a teacher and journalism adviser at the school. “We have excellent cross-cultural friendships on this campus. I don’t know what this assembly will do to those relationships. It’s scary.”

District officials say they are concerned about the event and that, though it is not illegal, it is not common district practice to restrict an event to just one group of students.

“I would hope the school community would get together and make some other decisions,” said Board of Education President Leticia Quezada. “In the final analysis, others (students) who might be interested should be allowed to attend.

“The district as a public school system cannot be exclusive,” Quezada said. “But we do have to compromise sometimes.”

Others active in multicultural education say the criticism is largely the result of the sensitivity felt by many ethnic groups in Los Angeles and that even a positive event could come under attack for not being inclusive.

“It’s a sign that everyone is feeling alienated,” said Kenyon Chan, chairman of the Asian American studies department at Cal State Northridge. “Non-minority people get threatened when minority people talk among themselves. . . . I don’t think this is meant to plot or scheme against people. It’s meant to help people gain support and deal with the world.”

Cleveland Principal Ida Mae Windham said the event was proposed by three teachers involved in the Brothers and Sisters United club, which is made up of African American students. She said that the event is considered a conference, rather than a schoolwide assembly and that she does not believe it will lead to racial problems.

“This is really something that is more instructional as opposed to entertainment,” Windham said. “It was a concerted effort on the part of these teachers to bring these kids together. If there is exclusivity, it’s because of that.”

The school has about 1,750 students, of whom about 12% are African Americans, 57% are Latinos and 19% are white. African American students hold about half of the 32 student leadership positions on campus, officials said.

Most schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District hold annual assemblies for such things as African American History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. Several of those events at schools across the district have resulted in racial problems, ranging from jeering and heckling to serious brawls.

The Cleveland High event, however, is being billed as a conference to encourage African American students to fill positive roles in the school. A slide show about Cleveland’s student activities will be presented and a teacher will discuss ways African American students can take a more active and positive role on campus, Windham said.

Additionally, juniors and seniors will be asked to become mentors for incoming African American students and seniors will be given awards for attendance and achievement, Windham said.

About 300 students will be invited to the Jan. 20 event. They will be taken out of their regular classes--with their teachers’ permission--to attend.

Jeff Schwartz, a Cleveland science teacher and teachers union representative, said he feels uneasy about the event. But he said he does not believe it will inflame tensions.

“It’s not something I’d like to see happening . . . (but) I don’t think it’s going to help or hurt whatever problems we have on campus.”

Maria Pupo, a sponsor of the Latino Club at Cleveland, said she believes it is often necessary for minority groups to hold meetings to discuss specific problems.

“I think it’s necessary--definitely,” Pupo said. The African American students “need to feel comfortable and they need to know they can have important roles here and in the community.”