Dear Diary

The rumours are true. The school has been told not to enroll any new students as of September 2004, in a bid to realise the AGBU Central Board’s “mission” to gradually close down the boarding section, and subsequently the school itself. Teachers were told of this decision on Friday, while despite being offered a sweetener of blind renewal of contracts five months earlier than usual, some of the learned teachers were outspoken against this decision. It is obvious that the AGBU itself has no idea what ITS mission should be and is going ahead with its own little agenda of “sweeping the problem under the carpet.” Despite the school’s and the AGBU’s stubborness not to cooperate with the Melkonian Alumni, not even with a shred of information that would help us professionally prepare our own alternatives to save the school and make it a center of excellence that it deserves to be, we are faced with two simple facts:

- the AGBU insists that the school’s mission has been defeated, while it refuses to accept that this is the ONLY school within the AGBU that has a clear mission and conforms to it;

- while, on the other hand, the AGBU insists that the financial aspect is not a problem, whereas we know for a fact that this IS the thorn in the side of the AGBU leadership. Instead of renewing the contracts of all teachers, at least seven teachers and staff must be replaced by those producing much better academic results, while some positions should be made redundant altogether.

A solid plan of action recommending reforms in the school’s executive administration had been proposed to the AGBU Central Board in early December with no response as it seems that apart from the President, none of the other members even care to check their mail. If the Central Board is truly meeting before the end of January, as rumoured, our proposal should be discussed and approved immediately for work to start on the new era for the Melkonian. Otherwise, we cannot judge the state of mind and reasoning of the Central Board members and some powers higher above…

Could it be that by wiping out the Melkonian’s existence from the face of the earth, all past mistakes will be forgotten? Do the Central Board members not realise that they will go down in the history books as the ones who caused the split and downfall of the Union itself?

The family of Melkonian Alumni will attend church service in Nicosia on Sunday (January 18, 2004) to commemorate the memory of the Melkonian Brothers. On Wednesday (January 21, 2004), a ceremony will be held in front of their Mausoleum followed by a special event at the school’s auditorium.

Finally, the Melkonian Alumni of Cyprus is holding a General Meeting on Saturday, February 7, 2004, where the past and present activities will be reviewed, the new strusture approved and a plan of action will be adopted. All Melkoniantis should be there.

Masis der Parthogh, VP Melkonian Cyprus Alumni