La Quinta Took Steps to Soothe Ethnic Tensions : Education: High school is one of 10 in a county program that fosters understanding among diverse cultures.

WESTMINSTER —  For La Quinta High School Principal Mitchell Thomas, the stabbing of an 11th-grade Latino student by an Asian pupil was especially troubling and disappointing.

That’s because the attack occurred even though La Quinta is among a small number of high schools in a special program to reduce racial tensions.

“It’s frustrating,” Thomas said Wednesday. “You work with it every day. It’s racism.

“We can’t end it, but they are things we can do to cut away at it,” he said.

About 18 months ago, La Quinta became one of only 10 county high schools to participate in the Inter-Ethnic Relations Program sponsored by the county’s Human Relations Commission.

Started in 1988, the program’s main purpose is to foster better understanding among diverse cultures.

The yearlong programs, which cost about $7,000, use community mentors, team projects, parent-student-teacher task forces, seminars and weekend retreats to promote better ethnic relations, according to the commission’s executive director, Rusty Kennedy.

“The need for the program to build better inter-ethnic understanding is across the county,” said Kennedy. “But what is unusual about La Quinta is that the administration saw the need for it.”

Schools must request to be in the program, said Kennedy, who is considering expanding the program to middle and elementary schools.

“Many schools come to us after a crisis seeking to do something preventive,” said Kennedy. “All schools have incidents similar to La Quinta’s; the key is not to let it poison the school climate.”

The nine other Orange County high schools in the program are Cypress, Mission Viejo, Buena Park, Sunny Hills in Fullerton, El Toro in Lake Forest, Western in Anaheim, Marina in Huntington Beach, and Tustin and Foothill in Tustin.

Besides the Human Relations program, Thomas said he wants to bring incoming freshmen to school two to three weeks early to sensitize them to other cultures.