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  • Glendale: Mother Fights Schools on Cable TV

    Los Angeles Times
    Jan 2 2004

    Mother Fights Schools on Cable TV

    The woman speaks in Armenian about the Glendale district's
    English-learner policy. Officials say she spreads fear and mistrust.

    By Erika Hayasaki, Times Staff Writer


    The Glendale mother appeared on local cable TV station Channel 26,
    much like a veteran news anchorwoman. In Armenian, she laid into the
    Glendale Unified School District: Teachers don't teach. Board members
    don't listen. School officials don't translate.

    "We are here because we care about our children and what is going on
    in our schools," she said, looking distinguished in her sparkly green
    earrings and matching scarf. A phone number flashed across the
    screen. "We are live. You can call."

    Using cable access time paid for out of her own pocket, Naira
    Khachatrian, 44, has become an influential voice among Armenian
    parents whose children make up about half the 29,400-student Glendale
    district.

    A mother with two children enrolled, she believes the district is
    shortchanging Armenian students by placing many of them in
    English-learner programs or special education courses and failing to
    reach out to immigrant parents.

    The district dismisses Khachatrian as a gadfly who has spread fear
    and mistrust among parents. School officials say she does not explain
    the extensive programs it offers to Armenian-immigrant students,
    including translation services for parents and special academic
    tutoring.

    Schools Supt. Michael F. Escalante said that over the last year
    Khachatrian has spread "rumors about outlandish information. I don't
    speak Armenian and it's done all in Armenian."

    Khachatrian has singled out teachers and questioned their
    credentials.

    She once compared school district officials to those who committed
    atrocities during the Armenian genocide, the killing of 1.5 million
    people by the Turks between 1915 and 1922. School officials said they
    have given up on countering her numerous statements.

    One official says Khachatrian has made positive contributions.

    School board President Greg Krikorian said the show has bridged a
    communication gap with Armenian-immigrant parents who are struggling
    to navigate district bureaucracy.

    "There are things we do have to improve," Krikorian said, although
    he, too, is frustrated by the comments on her show. "Maybe they're
    not understanding the information we give to them."

    Khachatrian, who immigrated to the United States in 1991, has seized
    on the lack of communication between Armenian immigrant parents and
    the district.

    A former engineer who is married to a contractor, her involvement in
    school district politics began when her oldest son was placed in
    English-learner classes more than a decade ago. She said she did not
    understand what the classes entailed or that she had a choice in her
    son's enrollment.

    About one-third of Armenian students in the Glendale district are
    enrolled in English-learner classes, a separate track in which math,
    science and history are taught while integrating English skills into
    the required curriculum. Teachers use more pictures, gestures and
    simple English to better communicate lessons

    Without such a program, district officials say, students struggle
    through regular coursework because they have not mastered English.
    Parents must give their permission before children are enrolled in
    the voluntary program.

    Once enrolled, a student typically stays on the English-learner track
    until he or she passes a proficiency test.

    Khachatrian says the district is shortchanging some students who she
    believes are being placed in the program unnecessarily.

    Khachatrian said she can relate to Armenian parents who do not
    understand the rules.

    "The one way we can change these people is we have to educate the
    parents," she said. "That's why we came up with that idea" of going
    on television.

    Every few days or weeks, Khachatrian pays $500 to $800 for an
    hour-long slot on the Armenian Media Group of America Inc. cable
    channel, which serves more than 27,000 viewers in the Los Angeles
    area. Khachatrian co-anchors with another Glendale parent and friend,
    Hasmig Aslanian.

    During a recent broadcast, more than a dozen parents phoned in asking
    about translators, college admissions rules and the federal No Child
    Left Behind law - issues that the district does not believe she is
    qualified to answer.

    She said she has become a self-made local celebrity. "Now when I go
    to the store," Khachatrian said, "everybody is stopping me." The
    show's popularity also prompts about 50 parents a day to call her at
    home with more questions, she said.

    "People call Jerry Springer" too, Escalante said. "This is America,
    so people have those rights. It requires us to do additional work to
    properly inform to those people."

    Krikorian says the district is making progress in its outreach
    efforts.

    He has organized Armenian community forums for parents and groups to
    talk about the schools. The district also aired television programs
    on an Armenian station, but Khachatrian would call in live and
    criticize district officials, he said.

    Though he supports the English-learner program, Krikorian said the
    district should evaluate its progress and the length of time students
    are enrolled in it.

    "What concerns me is she's getting people [who] belong in this
    program out," Krikorian said.

    District officials are "scared of her. They're scared," said Vazken
    Movsesian, a Glendale priest who runs an after-school program and
    supports Khachatrian. He said he noticed many students "hitting their
    heads against the wall because they were frustrated, because they
    couldn't move ahead."

    He met Khachatrian at a school board meeting. "For the first time I
    saw a woman, Naira, who was really advocating for the students," he
    said. "She had no other motive."

    Some parents said the TV broadcast is their main link to
    understanding district policies.

    Eskouhi Irzakhanian, the mother of a fifth-grader in Glendale
    Unified, called Khachatrian after watching the program earlier this
    year.

    She believes the district unfairly placed her son in special
    education classes and did not explain why. "He's just lazy," she
    said, "but laziness is not disability."

    She signed consent forms without knowing what they meant. It was
    Khachatrian who explained her rights.

    "In my country, Armenia, we know what's going on. We know the laws.
    We grew up there," Irzakhanian said. "But here, we are new. We need
    someone to explain." Without the TV show, she added, "how would we
    know?"

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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