Latinos Say Bias at School Ignored Amid Controversy

Latino parents and others demonstrated before an elementary school Thursday, saying the uproar over the principal’s report that he was beaten by anti-white assailants has distracted public attention from their complaints of discrimination against Latinos at the school.

The demonstration--by about 20 parents, children and the leader of a Latino advocacy group--was also meant to challenge the assertion by some teachers and parents that the discontent at Burton Street Elementary School is the work of only five or six very vocal Latino parents.

The group demonstrated just two days after school district officials held two days of private talks, with outside mediators, among teachers, school administrators and a few parents to ease tensions.

The school has been in turmoil since Principal Norman Bernstein said he was beaten by two men, at least one of them a Latino, as he arrived for work Feb. 1.

Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime because Bernstein said one of the men said to him: “We don’t want you here anymore, principal. Do you understand that, white principal?”

Some parents from the school, which is 90% Latino, had been trying to remove Bernstein prior to the attack because he does not speak Spanish, carrying their campaign in letters and meetings to high-ranking school officials.

Tuesday, school officials invited a nonprofit dispute-resolution group to hold a series of public forums at the school.

But the demonstrating parents--some of whom participated in the conciliation talks earlier in the week--were clear Thursday they still feel slighted.

“We believe the attack on Mr. Bernstein is being used to lose focus on the issues here at Burton,” said parent Letecia Robles, who has a daughter in the second grade. “We as parents want the best education for our kids, and they are not getting it here.”

Parents, waving signs reading “Down with Violence,” cited a litany of complaints, ranging from physical abuse of their children to inattention from school administrators.

One parent, Araceli Torales, tearfully told reporters her 8-year-old son, Gerardo Lopez, had been systematically harassed by his teacher.

“It was to the point I would have to come to school two to three times a week to check on my child,” she said, as other parents listened and wiped away their own tears.

Robles and another parent, Lorena Aguilar, said their complaints were not followed up by school administrators, which they said was typical of the discriminatory treatment they said Latino parents have received at the school.

“Every time we come to the office for any type of incident, no attention is paid to us,” Robles said.

Robles said Bernstein and other school staff had been trying to prove to school district administrators that bilingual education is not needed at the school.

When police first described Bernstein’s account of the incident, they said it could be related to his efforts to bring about the reduction in Spanish language classes mandated by Proposition 227, passed by the voters last June.

“What [the parents’ complaint] amounts to in cumulative form is discrimination against the Latino youth of this school,” said Xavier Flores, president of the Mexican American Political Assn. of the San Fernando Valley. Flores said his organization would act as an advocate for the parents.

The parents also defended their request for Bernstein’s ouster on language grounds: “We’re not asking for anything other than a principal who understands our needs,” Robles said.

School administrators who observed the incident from behind the chain-link fence surrounding the school building denied they have been unresponsive or discriminatory.

“I’ve investigated everything that’s been put on my desk,” said Gene McCallum, a regional school district administrator. “There’s nothing that hasn’t been investigated.”