Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Melkonian alumni hire California lawyers to fight school's closure

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Melkonian alumni hire California lawyers to fight school's closure

    Melkonian alumni hire California lawyers to fight school's closure
    By Staff Reporter

    Cyprus Mail
    1 Sept 04

    THE worldwide alumni of the Melkonian Educational Institute (MEI)
    have hired a group of California lawyers to challenge the closure of
    the Nicosia-based secondary school, they said yesterday.

    Under their recently established umbrella body, the Melkonian Alumni
    and Friends, a non-profit US foundation, the alumni have hired legal
    counsel MacCarley & Rosen of Los Angeles to oppose the planned closure
    of the 78-year old Armenian school in June 2005.

    This alumni is working in parallel with the local Melkonian Alumni
    Associations in Cyprus, Greece, the UK, Canada, the US, Armenia,
    Lebanon, Australia and elsewhere.

    Similar legal actions are also expected to be filed in Cyprus, as
    well as other jurisdictions, a statement issued yesterday said.

    The loss making MEI, which is sitting on 40 acres of prime real estate
    worth around £40 million in the capitalâ's commercial district,
    has been slated to close next year by the New York based Armenian
    General Benevolent Union (AGBU), which administers 22 Armenian
    schools worldwide.

    The AGBU said last November that the school was not for sale but then
    changed tack and announced the closure three months later.

    Teachers at the Melkonian have said that last year the school's
    population was reduced from 260 to 210 after the AGBU unilaterally
    decided to reduce scholarships to underprivileged children from the
    Armenian Diaspora.

    By claiming that standards are not up so scratch, staff say the AGBU
    is trying to use the them as a scapegoat for their decision to close
    the school in order to sell the land and that they are using devious
    methods to reduce the student population of the school in order to
    turn it into a non-viable school and ultimately to close it.

    "The MEI has educated and nurtured more than three generations
    of Armenian professionals and leaders and is a unique educational
    institution in the Armenian Diaspora," said yesterday.

    "It provides superior academic training with Western standards to
    a diverse group of Armenian boys and girls from different countries
    and social backgrounds."
Working...
X