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8 The Armenian Reporter | March 28, 2009 Eric Sahakian runs for Glendale School Board by Vincent Lima GLENDALE, Calif. – “Having been across the desk as an administrator from parents, especially English-learning parents, I know that they’re a little bit reluctant, anxious to be going and discussing their concerns about the school board during a meeting, timed, five minutes, at a podium, on live TV. It creates anxiety in anyone. It’s not a very inviting situation.” So says Eric Sahakian, who hopes to win a seat on the Glendale Unified School District Governing Board in the election scheduled for Edward D. Jamie, Jr. Funeral Chapel, LLC 208-17 Northern Blvd. Bayside, NY 11361 Tel. 718-224-2390 Website: www.jamiejrfuneral.com. Serving the Armenian Community Since 1969 April 7. A main plank of his platform is improved communication between the district and parents. “Not a survey,” he explains. “No assessment. Just open dialogue.” His campaign office, across the street from Glendale Community College is full of energy, as it has drawn many former students who Edward D. Jamie, Jr.-NY&NJ Licensed Funeral Director N. Lael Telfeyan, Ph.D., LCSW Counseling and Psychotherapy with Individuals, Families and Couples Adults and Adolescents 140 West 97th St. New York, NY 10025 By appointment 917-975-3109 remember him fondly as a counselor at Hoover High School or a vice principal at Toll Middle School. Mr. Sahakian now works for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, where he oversees the career technical education programs of four districts and nine high schools. Voters will choose three school board members on Election Day. The three incumbents are facing a challenge from Mr. Sahakian and Chris Walters. The two challengers have been endorsed by the Armenian National Committee of Glendale Political Action Committee, California State Assembly member Paul Krekorian, and the Glendale Teachers Association (gta) – which has had contentious relations with the district administration. Asked whether he hopes to see changes in the administration of the school district, Mr. Sahakian said he respected current board 24 Windsor Road Great Neck, NY 11021 e-mail: nlael@aol.com Eric Sahakian, who is running for Glendale School Board. members and school administrators, but intended, if elected, “to bring forth more proactiveness.” In a nod to tight financial times, Mr. Sahakian is careful about the costs of initiatives he advocates. Thus, for example, he does not call for smaller classes across the board. Rather, he suggests specifically that Algebra I for 8th and 9th grades should be targeted for classsize reduction. Indeed, he argues that such a targeted step would save the district money. Remedial classes for juniors and seniors constitute an important expense for the district, and Mr. Sahakian expects that greater teacher time with students in the 8th and 9th grades will reduce the need for expensive remedial classes later. Likewise, Mr. Sahakian showed concern about fiscal discipline when asked whether he would support gathering data about the performance of students by background. The point of such data collection would be to identify problems that may be particular to members of specific immigrant groups or subgroups. Mr. Sahakian preferred to gather information at no cost by encouraging partnerships with civic organizations. The district could achieve the same result, he said, “if we have opportunities where we could actually start working with and communicating to community organizations within Glendale, whether it’s a Korean community organization, and Armenian community organization, communicating with them for them to pretty much assist us in assessing needs of a particular group of folks we serve in Glendale Unified, and then working with them and dialoguing with them about the feedback we’re receiving.” Mr. Sahakian was born in Los Angeles and attended Armenian school. A product of the Cal State University system, he holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology. His civic involvement includes working collaboratively in identifying at-risk youth for the agbu Generation Next mentorship program. Visit us at new reporter.am
The Armenian Reporter | March 28, 2009 9 Community In Glendale city elections, Armenians are everywhere Continued from page 1 counts Ms. Asatryan, whose family is from Armenia. “He came to recruit people from the Armenian Club. I was Armenian Club president at Hoover High School. I started volunteering. Because I was volunteering, anc made me ‘Youth Activist of the Year.’ It gave me an award. So that’s how I found out about anc. Then I worked on several campaigns after that, not just on a volunteer basis.” City Council election Twelve candidates, including seven Armenian-Americans, are running for three seats on Glendale City Council. How are Armenian-Americans to choose? In the last election cycle, the large number of Armenian-American candidates split the Armenian-American vote, and the number of Armenian-Americans on the City Council actually declined. The ancg-pac has endorsed Ara Najarian and Bob Yousefian, both Armenian-American incumbents. They “are the ones that are very likely to get elected,” Ms. Asatryan says. For the third seat, the organization has not made an endorsement. If three candidates had been endorsed, people with a favorite unendorsed candidate would split their vote different ways, increasing the chance that no endorsed candidate would get elected. The ancg-pac’s choice of Mr. Najarian and Mr. Yousefian was not dictated by the relatively high likelihood that they would win reelection, Ms. Asatryan says. She describes the vetting process. The organization submitted background information forms to all the candidates running for City Council and other offices. After studying the responses they met with all the candidates. For City Council, “we talked about the city’s budget, the current economic status, the absence of parks in South Glendale, affordable housing, staff diversity, cultural sensitivity within the staff, and community outreach, as well as issues within the Police Department and the Fire Department, and the lack of Armenians there,” Ms. Asatryan says. She notes, for example, that only two of 280 firefights are Armenian- Americans. School Board Among the candidates for three seats on the School Board are two Armenian-Americans. But the ancg-pac has endorsed one, Eric Sahakian (see profile), and Christine Walters. For the third seat, again, it has not endorsed anyone. The other Armenian-American candidate, Greg Krikorian, a native of Hartford, Conn., has not won the support of the ancg-pac – notwithstanding a background of active participation in the Armenian Youth Federation. He told the Armenian Reporter that the burden is on the Armenian National Committee to explain why it chose a non-Armenian over him. He suggested that adversity between the school board and the teachers’ union may be a factor in the anc’s choice. Ms. Asatryan said Mr. Krikorian “has done a lot when it comes to the Armenian Genocide,” and was not willing to criticize Mr. Krikorian directly. She preferred to focus instead on the reasons her organization threw its weight behind Mr. Sahakian and Ms. Walters. Former Glendale mayor Rafi Manoukian, who is running for city treasurer, with his wife Tsovig and Elen Asatryan of the Armenian National Committee of Glendale PAC shown at an event on October 21, 2007. Photo - Helena Gregorian for the Armenian Reporter. In their interviews, Mr. Sahakian and Ms. Walters raised the very issues the ancg-pac was focused on for the Glendale schools: staff diversity and promotion; active outreach to immigrant parents in their native language to help their children succeed at school; and efforts to track the collective progress of Armenian-American students so that strengths and weaknesses can be identified and addressed. Other offices Four candidates are running for three seats on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees. The ancg-pac has endorsed Armine Hacopian, Anita Quinonez Gabrielian, and Ann Ransford. An Armenian-American candidate, Vrej Agajanian, did not receive the committee’s nod. Mr. Agajanian has run more than once for City Council, without success. The ancg-pac also endorsed Mr. Manoukian for city treasurer. He is running against one other candidate, the incumbent treasurer. Also endorsed is city clerk Ardy Kassakhian, who is running unopposed. Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian. Photo: Jason Sands. The offices of the Armenian National Committee of Glendale pac are abuzz with volunteer activity, while other volunteers are out canvassing voters door to door.
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