COUNTY PANEL SEEKS FUNDING FOR STUDY OF ETHNIC CONFLICTS.Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer The racially charged beating Feb. 1 of a white Panorama City school principal prompted the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Commission on Human Relations human relations npl → relaciones fpl humanas on Tuesday to unanimously request funding for a broad study of ethnic conflicts in schools. Principal Norman Bernstein said he was beaten by two Latino men outside Burton Street Elementary School elementary school: see school. who told him ``We don't want you here anymore, principal. Do you understand that, white principal?'' No arrests have yet been made. Commissioners said the county's changing population means a study that looks beyond ethnic tensions at Bernstein's school makes sense. ``This is going to happen in a hundred different ways in a hundred different schools,'' said Commissioner Donna Bojarsky. The commission would like to survey conflicts in the schools as well as the programs at each school to foster good human relations. It would make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and school districts, including on which programs work best and should thus be used as widely as possible. Ron Wakabayashi, the commission's executive director, tentatively estimated the study would cost no more than $200,000. ``I think we're going to have to make quite a pitch to the board'' for the funding, he said. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , the commission is preparing a report on the Burton Street Elementary School situation - what occurred and its larger context. It will present this report to the Board of Supervisors in early March. Commissioner Roberto Lovato said the commission needs to get to the bottom of what happened. ``It's too simple to say this is some brown guys beating up on a white guy,'' he said. The Board of Supervisors on Feb. 9 offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the two assailants responsible for the attack on Bernstein. It also asked the commission to investigate ethnic problems at the school, where some Spanish-speaking parents have been unhappy with Bernstein. ``We will be pulling out implications for other schools,'' Wakabayashi said of this short-term report. But commissioners agreed ethnic tensions exist all over the county so they voted to seek funding for a more comprehensive study. ``If you're going to have fires, you want to be able to put them out quick,'' Wakabayashi said after the meeting. Schools should have mechanisms that allow them to suppress To stop something or someone; to prevent, prohibit, or subdue. To suppress evidence is to keep it from being admitted at trial by showing either that it was illegally obtained or that it is irrelevant. conflicts when they break out, contain them so they don't break out again, defuse de·fuse tr.v. de·fused, de·fus·ing, de·fus·es 1. To remove the fuse from (an explosive device). 2. To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile: the situation that provoked pro·voke tr.v. pro·voked, pro·vok·ing, pro·vokes 1. To incite to anger or resentment. 2. To stir to action or feeling. 3. To give rise to; evoke: provoke laughter. the conflict and lead to mediation mediation, in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, or problem resolution, he said. |
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