Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 1,000 Racist Flyers Found at Placerita Junior High : Hate literature: It is believed to be the largest distribution of such leaflets in northern L.A. County.

More than 1,000 flyers containing derogatory remarks about Latinos and Jews were stuffed into student lockers at Placerita Junior High School in what authorities said was the largest distribution of hate literature in northern Los Angeles County in memory.

The leaflets, distributed on the campus before classes Monday, come on the heels of an incident in which racist flyers appeared late last year in soft drink cartons and other merchandise in area grocery stores.

“It’s a sad commentary that people are so hateful toward other people that they would do this,” said Santa Clarita Mayor George Pederson, whose grandson attends the school. “It’s a cowardly act.”

Pederson said the leaflets don’t indicate a city trend. Hatred and prejudice can, he said, be found universally.

The incident represents the largest distribution of hate literature that law enforcement officers can remember in northern Los Angeles County, and the first on a Santa Clarita Valley school campus, said Sgt. Howard Fairchild of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

But it was not the first such incident in the valley. About a dozen anti-Latino leaflets were discovered in soda packs, backpacks and female hygiene products in December at several Santa Clarita grocery stores.

Law enforcement authorities said that in both incidents, the flyers gave a phone number for the White Aryan Resistance group in Los Angeles.

“We haven’t seen these particular flyers before, but we know they’re coming from the same area,” Fairchild said.

Although hate literature is inflammatory, it is rarely illegal because of the Constitution’s First Amendment protections, authorities said. A person caught putting such materials in student lockers could only be charged with trespassing, Fairchild said.

“It’s just a real low-grade misdemeanor,” Fairchild said. “The flyers themselves don’t constitute a crime.”

At first, school administrators were angered by the leaflets, then decided to use the incident to launch discussions about racism, cultural diversity and tolerance. On Tuesday, teachers began lessons using “A World of Differences,” a program that shows how to confront prejudice.

School officials wanted to respond to the flyers without giving them unwarranted notoriety, said Placerita Junior High Principal Jim Tanner.

“Like so many things, you ask if you’re going to give more attention to it” by discussing the leaflets in class, Tanner said. “We felt there was going to be more good coming out of it. It was a natural hook.”

Teachers were trained to use “A World of Differences” materials five years ago, and enough of those staff members remain to present the lessons effectively, Tanner said.

About 1,300 students are enrolled in the Newhall school, including about 260 Latinos. Most youths characterized the 3-by-8-inch flyers, containing an insulting rhyme about Latinos and a derogatory reference to Jews, as stupid and threw them away, Tanner said.