Some Parents Need Lesson in Tolerance : Flap over Newhall school boundary changes exposes some unfounded fears and ugly beliefs

Up in the Santa Clarita Valley, in the Newhall School District, some school attendance boundary changes are in order, according to Supt. J. Michael McGrath. Specifically, the changes are needed to ensure that there are a sufficient number of students attending the new Stevenson Ranch Elementary School, set to open next September.

Well, what might be a routine bureaucratic exercise appears to be anything but to several parents. According to Times reporter Mark Sabbatini, those parents are worried that children from the poor side of this mostly middle-class, mostly white community will be coming to their school. Under the three student transfer proposals being considered, it’s possible that students from mostly Latino east Newhall would be moved to Stevenson Ranch.

That has spawned an ugly storm front of protests. Among the things said in public meetings on the matter was a fear that crime, drugs and drive-by shootings would be sure to follow. Some folks actually said that Latinos just don’t get heavily involved in parent-school activities. One parent even suggested segregating Latinos in their own “magnet school.� To the latter idea, Supt. McGrath pointed out that “we’d end up in court and we’d lose.�

And others insisted that the inevitable shift or expansion of bilingual programs would shortchange students whose native tongue is English.

Ah, tolerance.

Alba Steck, community liaison for the district’s bilingual program, tried to counter that last argument, but about 10 parents loudly, and rudely, shouted her down. Now, that’s a fine way to set an example for children.

We’ll finish what Steck might have said by quoting a director of a nationally respected consulting firm known as The McKenzie Group. Among other things, it conducts national superintendent searches for school boards looking to fill vacancies. It also conducts analyses of school systems, and it has done extensive work in California.

“If it is a well-run school,� said a McKenzie director, “there is no adverse impact from adding or strengthening bilingual programs. There is no drop in performance. It has less to do with the language and more to do with how good the teachers and administrators are. Good schools are good schools. It doesn’t matter where they are or who goes to them.�

A case in point: nearby Newhall Elementary School. Minorities make up 53% of its student body, and it was one of only 220 schools in the nation this year to receive an award from the U.S. Education Department for excellence in its overall curriculum.

Sounds like those students might be able to teach a few angry parents a thing or two as well.