Eric Sahakian runs for Glendale School Board

by Vincent Lima

Published: Friday March 27, 2009

Eric Sahakian, who is running for Glendale School Board.

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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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