MOTHER SNUBS PANEL ON RACE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

CASTAIC - A mother whose complaints of racism at Valencia High School and other local campuses shook the community has declined to participate in school district attempts to address her issues.

Dedra Alabi, whose daughter, Yetunde, is a senior at Valencia, said Wednesday that she doesn't find the William S. Hart Union High School District's solutions suitable, but refused to provide specifics.

``I've been fighting the race issue for quite some time,'' said Alabi, who is African-American. ``I appreciate what the district is trying to do, but there are other avenues. I'm not working with the ad hoc committee because I found out their procedure was to pull names out of a hat to participate. I'm not the only one not involved.''

Pat Willett, spokeswoman for the school district, said she had urged Alabi to participate in the committee, which held its first meeting Feb. 15.

``When she and her daughter came to the (school) board meeting in November, I made sure to send Mrs. Alabi applications and when I didn't hear from her, I called and asked for her input and background,'' Willett said. ``She told me she didn't want to participate. I thought it was unfortunate.''

Alabi said the district's formation of an ad hoc committee seemed sudden when the problems have been around for a long time. She said she had a police report, but refused to provide copies.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Howard Fairchild said the local station has one race-related assault on file that involved young men, some of them students at Valencia High, who attacked a black youth in a Castaic park. No other assaults have been reported, he said.

Nevertheless, Alabi and her daughter have battled to bring the issue to the forefront and said they want solutions.

In January, a letter signed by her daughter was sent to several government officials, including President George W. Bush, the Department of Justice, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 10 television outlets and Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. Copies of the letter were also circulated among the school district staff.

Valencia Principal Paul Priesz said the letter failed to acknowledge recent efforts by both the school and administration to address the problems raised by Alabi and other parents. Priesz said earlier this week that students involved in racist incidents have been suspended or expelled.

The letter also alleged that ``racial riots and fights have broken out, racial slurs are used on a daily basis and our African-American boys and girls are being provoked with the N-word ... My brother ... has encountered racial slurs as well, and my parents were forced to remove him from hostile mini-skinheads that were physically and mentally abusing him on campus.''

Reports obtained from the Castaic Union School District reveal that Alabi would not allow her son to tell school officials what happened to him, but statements by witnesses corroborate that the incidents alleged were the result of inappropriate behavior with hints of racial undertones at times and none at others. One student received educational consequences, but district diversity chairwoman Renee Williams stopped any investigation due to Alabi's unwillingness to cooperate.

``It is such a shame that one person can cause a hoopla without checking all the facts,'' said Northlake Hills Principal Rhonda Steinberg.

``The classroom situation was normal to begin with and the alleged incidents were nothing out of the ordinary,'' said Saheed Alabi's former teacher, Jenetta Thomas, who is African-American. ``I miss having this young boy in my class. He's missing out on a lot of learning opportunities.''

But Yetunde insisted in her letter that blacks are frequent victims of violence in the area.

``It is a known fact amongst the African-Americans in the community that they cannot be caught WWB (walking while black) in the Santa Clarita Valley without being brutally beaten by skinheads,'' she said in her letter.

Anna Pembedjian, who works as the justice deputy for Antonovich, said the supervisor was contacted by a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to set up a discussion of the issues. The result is a town-hall meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Hart district board room at 21515 Centre Pointe Parkway in Santa Clarita.

``We don't really know what's going to come up, but we have a lot of things we're recommending, but it's not my duty to share them with you,'' Alabi said in an interview.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com