Diversity Day opens minds at a private prep school

Dave Velasquez, assistant headmaster, organized and presided over Diversity Day, an opportunity to grapple with the complexities of race and culture that continue to inflame young people and loom large in multifaceted Los Angeles.

In a way, the event, held last week, was a natural step in his 27-year career at the private college-prep campus.

When Velasquez arrived as director of admissions and college counseling, there were few students or faculty members of color. Today, minority students represent 27% of the 900-member upper and middle school student body. And of 111 faculty members, 15% are people of color. Nationally, about 14% of employees at private schools are minorities, according to the National Assn. of Independent Schools.

Velasquez could be Exhibit A in a story about the changing face of private schools. He grew up poor in El Paso, Texas, with parents who had not attended college. Through grit and determination, he landed in the MBA program at Stanford University. His trip to California was the first time he had stepped onto an airplane.

When he was recruited to Brentwood in 1980, he was aware that he would be entering a fairly exclusive environment and asked if he might encounter problems as a Mexican American. He was surprised by the bluntness of the response. It was time, the head of the school told him, that students and their families confront the fact that Latinos could be more than just their gardeners and maids.

Now, the school reflects a greater ethnic and socioeconomic range: 15% of students receive financial aid and a school bus picks up and drops off students from South Los Angeles. There are more activities to promote diversity, such as a potluck that attracted more than 130 of the school's Latino students and a celebration of Black History Month. Also addressing topical issues and reinforcing the school's core values as a diverse and vibrant community are assemblies like the one featuring Dr. Drew Pinsky, a medical doctor who hosts a radio show that offers relationship advice for young people.