News

City of La Quinta ‘fully supports’ investigation into alleged library discrimination

Published November 7, 2018 6:32 PM

One day after the Riverside County Board of Supervisors ordered a 3rd-party investigation into the alleged instance of discrimination at the La Quinta library, the City has come out to voice its support for the decision.

“The City fully supports Supervisor Perez’s leadership on this matter and a third-party investigation,” read the statement, issued by La Quinta City Manager Frank Spevacek. “We hope that this investigation is performed quickly and thoroughly so that we can end the speculation of what occurred and identify the measures to prevent this from happening again.”

The incident in question was on September 15, when a group of students from the Cultural Club at Cesar Chavez Elementary School prepared to perform at an event at the library for Hispanic Heritage Month. The event, which would take place on the eve of Mexican Independence Day, was organized by Mrs. Hassan. a teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary.

But before Mrs. Hassan’s students performed, library staff allegedly told Hassan to not fly the Mexican flag during the event, and ” to change their songs and dances to a more Patriotic, more American performance.”

The staff member who spoke with Hassan allegedly suggested they sing ‘Yankee Doodle” instead of the traditional ballet folkorico songs that celebrate Hispanic heritage.

“It is important to determine exactly what happened and why the library program was changed,” Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said. “We have to make it up to the community, especially to the kids.”

The investigation is expected to take a month to complete, once the 3rd party firm has been retained.