Latinos Win 1 and Lose 1 Over Names for Schools

Family and friends of the late Juan Soria said they were pleased Thursday that Oxnard School District trustees had decided to honor the longtime Latino activist by naming a future school after him.

But they were still disappointed that the trustees agreed to name the district’s newest campus after former Supt. Norman Brekke, something Soria had adamantly opposed.

Before his death from a heart attack earlier this month, Soria urged the trustees to reverse a 1994 decision to name the new school after Brekke. Soria had charged that Brekke had slowed down efforts in the 1970s to integrate the campuses in the primarily Latino La Colonia neighborhood.

During their meeting Wednesday night, the five-member school board stood firm on the earlier decision to name the school after Brekke. But as part of a compromise, the panel agreed to name a future school after Soria.

“[Soria] would not have liked what happened in my opinion,” said Tila Estrada, an Oxnard businesswoman and a friend of Soria. Estrada and Soria spearheaded efforts to have trustees consider the name change.

“We were not there to name the school after Soria,” Estrada said. “They lost sight of that. The issue was to reverse a decision that had been taken previously because of inequities, because [previous trustees] did not follow the rules.”

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Supporters of Brekke, however, expressed great relief and satisfaction that the name of the school would not be changed.

“To do anything less would have been incredibly rude, and I’m very pleased that they stuck by the previous board’s recommendation and moved on,” said John McGarry, a friend of Brekke and a former trustee of the county Board of Education.

“I’m glad to see the school board honor someone who justly deserves it, because he was an incredible leader in the field of education here in Oxnard and he was an outstanding teacher. Norman was highly regarded by all superintendents in the tri-county.”

Some Latino activists, including Soria, had charged that Brekke was an inappropriate name to represent the 77% Latino school district and that the previous board had violated its own policy when naming the school.

In 1970 Soria, along with a few other parents, filed a lawsuit against the school district, forcing them to start busing. Soria charged that Brekke did everything he could to slow down busing efforts.

Brekke’s supporters however, say Brekke, who served as the district’s assistant superintendent at the time of the integration efforts, was only following board orders.

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“Norman saw the city through one of the most difficult integration periods that we’ve ever had and he did it peacefully and did it under tremendous pressure,” McGarry said.

Many Latinos charged that the school trustees did not follow the district’s own rules. According to board policy, trustees can name a school only after a geographical site of historical importance or after a person who has died, they argued.

“The most effective way to lead is to lead by example, and what they are showing is that they are not following their own rules,” said Michael Rodriguez, former president of the local chapter of the Mexican American Bar Assn. “How can they expect their own students to follow the rules they set forth?”

Soria’s brother Manny agreed.

“If you ask me if I’m pleased they honored his memory, yes I am, but I don’t think that was his intent. His intent was to right a wrong that they violated their own policy. That issue was not resolved.”

Mike Dillon, who served on the school-name committee three years ago, said its policies are intended only as a guide.

“We were instructed we could use part of it [the policy], or none of it,” Dillon said. “It had been so long that a naming committee had been assembled, that we didn’t have any cut-and-dried way of doing it.”

Dillon voted to have the school named Vista Del Sol. But he said the decision made three years ago was done through the proper channels and should be honored.

“I think the energy that we put into the process, by throwing that out the window would have been a slap in the face of some intelligent people,” Dillon said.