School district, city leaders argue over alleged discrimination
A community is divided on accusations of discrimination.
“I just thought it was crazy,” Arlene Vasquez said. “It was crazy because it’s not right.”
Vasquez’s children go to Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Coachella.
The Coachella Valley Unified School District claims students there were stopped from using Hispanic cultural references during a school performance at the La Quinta Branch Library on September 15, the eve of Mexican Independence Day and the reason students were performing.
CVUSD says the orders to stop using cultural references were sent down from the City of La Quinta.
According to CVUSD Superintendent Dr. Edwin Gomez, a teacher was told that if they wished to perform at the library in the future, “the group would have to change their songs and dances to a more Patriotic, more American performance.” Suggesting they sing “Yankee Doodle” instead.
“I’m a Mexican mother and that’s not right,” Vasquez said.
On Tuesday, City of La Quinta leaders addressed these accusations during a press conference at City Hall.
“I will open with what I, as mayor, our city council, and staff believe to be a hurtful act of misdirection, miscommunication, and misrepresentation without learning or stating all of the facts of the situation,” said Linda Evans, Mayor of the City of La Quinta.
Evans said the CVUSD’s claims that the city was behind this alleged act of discrimination are absolutely false.
“We don’t know and the library manager does not know what possessed the individual to make the change,” Evans said. “And if the easy answer was at the direction of the mayor, I call BS.”
Evans didn’t say this alleged discrimination didn’t happen, rather, that the city had no involvement in it.
Evans added that library services in La Quinta are provided by Riverside County via a memorandum of understanding. “It’s just something that was unfortunate,” Cesar Chavez Elementary School principal Emundo Barker said of the alleged discrimination.
Barker said the school is moving forward while having students celebrate their past.
“They love their culture,” Barker said. “We’re going to get ready to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.”
Riverside County is working to a organize a meeting with ‘all agencies’ involved in the incident, according to a statement released Tuesday. In the statement, Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said that the County stands against ‘any form of discrimination and/or intolerance.’
“The beauty of the 4th District is its diversity,” Perez stated in the release.
In the statement, County Librarian and Regional Director for LS&S stated that “La Quinta Library staff made program modifications that were believed to be consistent with the City of La Quinta’s direction to rename the event.”
“The intention and philosophy of our services is to be inclusive of the diverse communities that we serve,” Howison continued. And we apologize for any unintended offense in not displaying the Mexican flag from the program.”
Read the city’s response letter to the Coachella Valley Unified School District
A city letter to the CVUSD said the program was intended to be like the library’s event in 2017. The 2017 event celebrated Hispanic heritage and culture from many countries in Central and South America, not just Mexico.
The statement said the event was, “intended to be inclusive of the many peoples and cultures of Hispanic heritage,” and that the city’s goal was not to have an event, “focused on any one nation’s independence or culture.”
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