Principal Sought Help as Hostility Grew

A Panorama City elementary school principal who said he was beaten unconscious by anti-white assailants asked the Anti-Defamation League last month for help in dealing with discrimination against him at his school, where he faced protests that he was not a Latino, a lawyer for the league said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, parents of children at Burton Street Elementary School--including some who have called for the principal’s dismissal, a school administrator said--met at the school Wednesday and protested they were not connected to the beating.

Police have said they are investigating the attack on Principal Norman Bernstein as a hate crime, perhaps motivated by discontent over his efforts to scale back bilingual education at the school in line with the mandates of Proposition 227.

“There is no relation between the crime and bilingual education at the school,” said one of the parents at Wednesday’s meeting, who asked not to be identified. “We are upset that people are blaming the parents.”

“We want the truth,” said Lorena Aguilar. “Don’t just say Hispanics are involved. Don’t just fault us.”

Bernstein told police that as he stepped from his car on arriving at the school early Monday morning, two Latino men punched him, splitting the skin above his eyebrow, held a sharp object to his throat and left him unconscious in the car.

Bernstein told detectives that one of the men said, “We don’t want you here, white principal.”

Some of the parents at Wednesday’s meeting--some of them Bernstein’s longtime critics--challenged his account of the beating. They said it was strange that the first call Bernstein made after the attack was to his office, not 911 for emergency or police help. They expressed doubts that a Latino would call him “white principal” and not “gringo” or “guero,” more common Spanish slurs for white.

Police said they were investigating the incident as Bernstein reported it.

For the past year, a group of parents has been calling for Bernstein’s removal because, among other reasons, he doesn’t speak Spanish. Tensions at the 750-student school--90% Latino--rose after voters last June passed Proposition 227, requiring that most students be taught in English, not Spanish, according to some teachers and parents.

As hostility between Bernstein and some Latino parents grew, Bernstein called upon school district administrators for help, Eli Brent, president of the principals’ union, said Wednesday.

Instead, Bernstein “was told that he might be receiving a letter indicating dismissal or demotion,” on the grounds that blame for the unrest might lie with his administration, Brent said.

Bernstein, who is recuperating at his Burbank home, declined to discuss his job status. He said he expected to return to work in a couple weeks. After the attack, Bernstein was treated at a hospital for bruises to his face and side and injuries to his neck and released, police said.

Bernstein called the Anti-Defamation League in January, saying he faced growing anti-white sentiment at the school, said Sue Stengel, Western states counsel for the league. He wanted “advice regarding what was potentially a discriminatory situation he felt he was experiencing,” Stengel said.

The league sent him complaint forms to fill out but he has not so far returned them, she said.

The league also joined school union leaders Wednesday in criticizing comments made Tuesday by Los Angeles School Board President Victoria Castro. After the attack, Castro expressed sympathy for the parents who wanted to remove Bernstein.

“I do not think that is an unreasonable request,” Castro told a reporter Tuesday. “Any time there is a community that feels they are in a conflict and they are primarily Spanish-speaking, they’ll ask for a Spanish-speaking principal and preferably a Latino.”

“We can’t understand how anyone within our school family can make statements that gives validity to mob action,” said Brent, head of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents principals.

Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles, said: “You have to look beyond the simple question, does or doesn’t the administrator speak the language of the parents? There have been many great principals in East L.A. who didn’t speak a lick of Spanish.”

The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement criticizing Castro for not explicitly condemning the beating.

In an interview Wednesday, Castro said she opposes violence under any circumstances, but reiterated her stand that she thinks it’s reasonable for the Latino parents to want a Latino principal.

Castro joined board member Julie Korenstein on Wednesday in asking the school board to approve a $25,000 reward for information leading to conviction of Bernstein’s assailants. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said he will ask the Board of Supervisors to approve an additional $25,000. Both motions are expected to be voted on next Tuesday.

Times staff writers Louis Sahagun and Jeffrey Gettleman and Times Community News correspondent Diane Wedner contributed to this story.