Letter - RALPH TUFENKIAN

This letter is in reference to the topic of 1,000 Armenians migrating

to Glendale that has caused a great deal of reaction in the community.

Yes, I do believe it is a news worthy item but I mind the underlying

assumptions made by the paper and some community members. I do expect for

the News-Press to print facts. If the following factors were included in

your coverage of this issue, then I would commend you for your non-biased

journalistic efforts.

My family and I have lived in Glendale for more than 25 years (I was

born in Los Angeles) and have respected the News-Press for its timely and

factual reporting most of the time. We know that in all public or private

publications, issues can be taken out of context or presented in such a

manner that can provoke and agitate community factions or have a calming

effect.

In this case, you began the agitation of community’s emotions be

reporting an influx of a minority group and did not continue reporting

related facts to create the calming climate so needed. Perhaps that was

not your goal. Therefore, I am taking the responsibility of reporting

some “givens and facts,” hoping to put some minds at ease. I have done

some research by calling the district office and the various schools

which has let me to the following information (by the way, this is public

information and it is available to everyone):

One thousand people includes babies, grandmothers and other extended

family members, concluding that it is only 200 to 250 families; certainly

does away with the enormity of the number 1,000. Many people keep

thinking there are 1,000 families arriving.

Two hundred of the children have been estimated to be of school age

ranging from preschool to 12th grade and college-age youngsters. Glendale

Unified School District has 30 schools; 20 elementary, four middle and

four high schools, a magnet school and a secondary continuation school.

This translates into seven students per school excluding the Clark Magnet

and Daily Continuation sites.

There are at least a dozen private preschools, elementary and

secondary schools in Glendale and adjacent areas that are not restricted

by school boundaries; if 25 of these youngsters go to private schools, as

evidenced by the increase of enrollment in Armenian students in private

schools, this leaves six students per Glendale Unified school.

Nine of the elementary schools in Glendale have already been on a

year-round schedule for more than five years; six students added to each

school is hardly cause for creating a public panic that the district will

go year round; one or two students per grade level can be absorbed

effectively by the district. It happens every day. For example, Edison

Elementary School, one of the most crowded schools in the southern part

of the district has approximately 11 classes in each tract (four tracts

per school year), absorbing six to seven students in 44 classes does not

seem to be a very challenging task.

The arriving families may decide not to stay in Glendale, yet we have

no assurance that Glendale is their determined destination for permanent

basis as so vividly pointed out by a brief article about a family on the

front page of your Aug. 14 issue.

The impact most felt would be at the GUSD’s Welcome Center where

students are tested, paperwork completed and then forwarded to schools.

Knowing the hard-working administrators and staff, I am certain that GUSD

can preplan and prepare a strategic process to conduct this endeavor

effectively.

This is just a simple mathematical calculation of who goes where and

how. I am hoping that the information provided above will help calm

community members’ reactions. I am also hoping that since Catholic

Charities is spearheading the welcoming activities, they will include

teaching the newcomers some of the positive ways of conducting business

in America and help them through acculturation by introducing them to the

community members, city officials, organizations, and its wealth of

resources.

RALPH TUFENKIAN

Glendale