Latinos Urge School Be Renamed

OXNARD — Several Latino activists are pushing the school board to reconsider a decision to name the city’s newest school after a former superintendent, arguing that he helped thwart efforts in the 1970s to integrate campuses in the Oxnard Elementary School District.

Three years ago, the school board voted 3 to 2 to name the district’s 14th elementary school after Norman Brekke, a 36-year district employee who spent 20 of those years as superintendent. But with the school set to open in July, the issue has bubbled up again.

The controversy is resurfacing just as the school board gears up for a June 3 bond election, and trustees worry that it may put a negative light on the district at a crucial time.

Trustee Francisco Dominguez requested the new hearing.

“The question is when: Now? In a month? Maybe June?” said Dominguez, who has asked that the matter be placed on a future board agenda for discussion. Longtime resident Juan Soria said he talked to trustees individually for months about having a public meeting to discuss changing the name. He argued the name was not appropriate for the predominantly Latino school district.

Worried that the new campus on Martin Luther King Boulevard would remain Brekke School after the dedication ceremony in late June, Soria and Oxnard businesswoman Tila Estrada discussed their concerns during a recent school board meeting.

“We ask if this item can be put on the agenda,” Estrada told the five-member board, “maybe at a time when a lot of us could give you testimony.”

The debate centers around the integration of the district and Brekke’s role in that change.

Soria and several other parents filed a lawsuit in 1970 against the school district, charging it with keeping Latino students in the La Colonia area segregated in schools that provided a poorer quality of education than other district schools.

“The schools in the La Colonia area were not maintained as well as schools elsewhere,” said attorney Thomas Malley, who sued on behalf of the Latino parents. “There was a disparity in teacher experience and composition. The younger teachers tended to be sent to the Colonia.”

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A Los Angeles federal court judge agreed. In 1971, the court found the district responsible for creating unequal educational opportunities for the children of the La Colonia area.

After an unsuccessful appeal, the district began the turmoil of forced busing. Soria said Brekke carried out orders of the school board, whom Soria accused of going against Latinos by appealing the federal case and slowing down attempts at busing.

“He did everything he could to maintain the status quo,” Soria said. “The board didn’t want to follow the dictums of the court. They do things only when they reach the end of the ropes. . . . He was trying to get people to go against us, he went into the community to undermine our parents.”

It’s a view Malley does not share.

“Mr. Brekke was reasonable and professional,” Malley said. “He had marching orders from the board of trustees, but he did not do anything inappropriate. He took his orders from the board and also followed the court rules.”

Brekke, who moved to Portland, Ore., three years ago, could not be reached for comment. He is currently on the road, visiting campuses nationwide as a consultant for year-round schools, friends said.

Though trustee Mary Barreto opposed naming the school Brekke three years ago, she said Brekke was competent in the tasks he was given.

“He was the founder of the year-round school concept, which has given us the opportunity to save money and serve a lot of students,” Barreto said. “He was a master at networking in the community . . . . He was very good at being connected with the community.”

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Soria did not protest when the board took action three years ago, because he believed the board would not respond. At the time, three of the board members were white and often voted together. Latino trustees Susan Alvarez and Barreto were routinely outvoted on many issues, including the new school name.

In 1994, Arthur Lopez joined Alvarez and Barreto on the board. Francisco Dominguez became a trustee last year. So the board is now 80% Latino.

Soria said he brought up the name matter with board members earlier this year, but said he was given the impression he shouldn’t talk about it.

“They always say ‘Don’t say anything because we have a bond election,’ ” Soria said. “They say if you make any waves, they aren’t going to vote for it. But I said wait, this is a matter of principle. . . . Nobody is ready to face an unsavory situation.”

Board members have been reluctant to bring up the matter because they fear it might take away attention from the passage of their $57-million school bond on the June 3 ballot. The district is taking another try at a bond measure, having failed in a bid to pass one in March.

Lopez said he has given no thought to the matter.

“I’ll be very candid, my focus is where all my efforts have been going. It’s been on the current bond effort,” Lopez said.

Dominguez, who was on the naming committee three years ago, said he felt the board at the time had made up its mind to name the school after Brekke before any discussion.

“The board kind of wanted it and the path was set,” Dominguez said. “There was not much consideration about other names.”

Alvarez, who voted against naming the school Brekke three years ago, nevertheless said the board’s decision should stand.

“Even though I was on the losing end, as I have been on other occasions, it’s a process. I had the chance to say how I felt and that’s how the five-member board voted.

“I really feel it’s not the name of the school that’s important but what goes in the school,” Alvarez said. “How many computers you have, painted walls, how many books are there, that’s what kids really remember. . . . What’s important to me is the passage of the bond.

“The name is not important.”