Ethnic Balance at School

Re “Parents Angered Over School Boundary Proposal,” Jan. 24.

The trustees of the Moorpark School District are to be congratulated for their courageous stand against the vocal parents who exhorted the board to re-create a racially segregated school district.

It also was encouraging to note that The Los Angeles Times backed their stance in an editorial (“Ethnic Mix Still Matters,” Jan. 25), which defended the board’s decision to ensure that the individual Moorpark schools continue to reflect the area’s racial / ethnic mix.

Because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision, racially segregated schools are still unconstitutional in the United States, and Moorpark trustees made a wise decision.

It was not only the proper decision legally, but of even greater importance it provides the students with the opportunity to relate with youngsters who are different from themselves. This is one of the most crucial experiences that children need to have in a pluralistic society such as ours.

BRUCE M. MITCHELL

Oxnard

* In T. Bruce Graham’s Jan. 25 letter about the Moorpark school district’s attempt to create ethnic balance in the schools, he inadvertently shows his ignorance about the subject.

He makes the racist assumption that the schools are unbalanced because of a flood of foreigners into the school district.

I have worked in Moorpark for more than 21 years, back when the population was 4,000. The schools were and had been balanced for many years. The races got along very well because they were integrated and had played together since kindergarten.

The current imbalance was caused by a flood of mostly “white heterosexual Anglo-Saxon Christians of Western European decent,” as Mr. Graham calls them, moving into town.

I can understand why the parents want their kids to go to a neighborhood school. They should be aware, however, that these kids may turn out to have the same narrow outlook that Mr. Graham has.

ALEX MAGDALENO

Camarillo