Jesus Segovia treasures the annual Cinco De Mayo festivities at his daughter's elementary school.

Each year at San Bernardino's Monterey School, the mothers start teaching their children the folklorico dances in anticipation for the big day, Segovia said. Then the school, which is 65 percent Hispanic, is adorned with bright paper decorations to create just the right ambiance for the hourlong, food-filled Cinco de Mayo dance festival.

For the coming school year, however, Principal Carlton Bell was toying with the idea of enlarging the event into a Hispanic festival -- a celebration that would touch the cultures of more children.

Bell wanted to retain the Cinco de Mayo dances, but also to elevate the event into an educational day where children could visit a different country in each classroom and absorb the area's history and customs.

Many parents weren't embracing Bell's vision. In fact, about 150 had signed petitions demanding that their Cinco de Mayo celebration be left intact.

"We've been having this celebration for years, and the children's grandparents and parents and aunts and uncles are happy about it," said Segovia, one of the most vocal parents campaigning for the holiday. "This is what the parents want, and there's no reason to change it."

Dominga Medina wants her children to have their own special day at school where they can learn about Cinco de Mayo.

"That's important to our family," she said.

Some of the parents took their concerns to a school board meeting Tuesday night, where Superintendent Art Delgado announced that Cinco de Mayo will be the only Hispanic festivity celebrated on May 5 at Monterey School.

The issue illustrates a trend in Inland area schools of moving away from celebrating specific holidays and ethnic groups in favor of more wide-reaching multicultural festivities. A recent assembly to celebrate Black History Month at Redlands East valley High School had a decidedly multicultural flavor, encompassing a Korean martial arts demonstration, a Spanish duet and an Arabic belly dance.

Bell said though his campus is largely Hispanic, many of the students come from such countries as El Salvador, Ecuador and Guatemala, so a Hispanic festival is appropriate. But he would abandon his ideas for change if parents continued to resist, he said.

Antonio Duarte, a Spanish professor at San Bernardino Valley College and adviser to Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano De Aztlan, a campus organization, said he can relate to both sides. It's good to celebrate the diverse cultural aspects that make up the Hispanic race, he said. But at the same time, Duarte is not surprised by the objections.

"Some Mexicans from the older generation see Cinco de Mayo as something they've earned, and now they view it as something that's being taken away from them," Duarte said. "That means there's going to be some resistance."

Carlos Cortes, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Riverside, and a Mexican, does not want to see Cinco de Mayo expanded into a broader Hispanic festival.

"If you told a group of Irish students that we're going to turn St. Patricks Day into European day today, I don't think it would go over very well," said Cortes.

Sherry Parmet can be reached by e-mail at sparmet@pe.com or by phone at (909) 890-4459.

Published 8/18/1999