Responding to outrage over tortillas being flung at a largely Latino team after it lost a championship basketball game at Coronado High School, the visiting team’s school board will take up a resolution denouncing racism Thursday.
The Escondido Union High School District plans to consider a resolution denouncing racism and racial discrimination, and affirming its support for equity, safety and well-being of all students.
On Saturday, after a California Interscholastic Federation championship game, which Orange Glen High’s team lost to Coronado High in overtime, some members of the crowd threw tortillas at Orange Glen athletes.
Coronado Unified School District’s board held an emergency meeting on Tuesday night to address the incident. The board voted to terminate head basketball coach J.D. Laaperi, and local police and the California Interscholastic Federation are investigating the incident.
“In our district, or in the greater community, there is no place for hate,” Escondido board President Tina Pope said at her board’s regular meeting on Tuesday. “What there is a place for is building stronger understanding, greater cultural appreciation and compassion for all of us as human beings, and greater understanding of our differences.”
The special meeting in Escondido is set for 5:45 p.m. on Thursday at the district offices.