VENTURA : Racist Leaflets Are Discussed at School

Administrators and student leaders at Buena High School have met to discuss concerns over racist flyers found stuffed in student lockers, Ventura Unified School District Supt. Joseph Spirito said Tuesday.

“The principal has assured the student leadership that we don’t tolerate this,” Spirito said.

The leaflets were stuffed into about 1,800 lockers at the school over the weekend, he said. Students discovered them Monday morning and immediately notified faculty members, Spirito said.

Similar flyers have been found in lockers at several east county schools in recent months. The propaganda ridicules Latinos and carries a message of white supremacy.

“It was the sickest piece of literature I’ve ever seen,” Spirito said.

Associated Student Body member Beth Denger said students were disgusted with the leaflets.

“I have a lot of friends who are minorities and they were very upset by it,” she said. “A lot of people just crumpled it up and threw it away.”

Police believe the flyers came from a white supremacist group based in West Covina. But officials don’t know who put them in the students’ lockers, Spirito said.

“It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to catch them,” Spirito said. “It’s an open campus and anyone could have done it.”

Similar flyers have appeared in soft drink packs, backpacks and pantyhose containers in stores in Ventura and Los Angeles counties since October, police have said.

The leaflets have been found stuffed into lockers at Royal and Simi Valley high schools in Simi Valley, and Westlake High in Thousand Oaks.