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Eric Sahakian Runs For Glendale School Board

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  • Eric Sahakian Runs For Glendale School Board

    ERIC SAHAKIAN RUNS FOR GLENDALE SCHOOL BOARD
    by Vincent Lima

    The Armenian Reporter
    www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-03-27-eri c-sahakian-runs-for-glendale-school-board
    Friday March 27, 2009

    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 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 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 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 class-size 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, an 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.
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