Return of the Holy Crusade (but Jerusalem was lost …)

Messrs Bedros Kalaydjian and Hratch Manoogian, as well as former Principal Akabie Nassibian concluded their visit to New York, where the AGBU Central Board, headed by Chairman Louise Simone, reiterated its intent to shut down the Melkonian’s boarding section, sell off chunks of the land and use the money to build a new project in Armenia, in the style of Camp Noubar.

Trouble was, the AGBU Central Board once again failed to argue any rationale behind this decision, apart from the constant jabs of “we’ve been meaning to shut it down since 1975” or “you don’t have enough new enrollments” or even the classic “most of the students are not qualitative.”

This proves our initial concerns that the Central Board, that so vehemently seems to strive towards “azkah-bah-banoom”, hasn’t got a clue about the purpose of this or any of its other 20 or so schools dotted around the world. It seems the rebuilding of Armenian communities by teaching the youngsters their language and national identity at the Melkonian is not of interest. However, building a Camp Noubar in Armenia is a priority, as only this will save the Armenian Diaspora from extinction…

The Central Board also was not keen to listen to arguments by the trio, ranging from why the boarding section should not shut down, to the adverse effect this will have on a fragile Union, as is the AGBU today. It seems they did not even want to listen to Bedros Kalaydjian’s argument, based to a large extent on the Melkonian Alumni proposal for a new local executive board, on a transitional mandate, and operating the boarding section, with the financial feasibility of reducing the AGBU’s increasing debt to service the rising costs at the school.

No wonder they refused to meet with the Alumni delegation, that had raised some serious issues of concern prior to leaving for New York.

Someone has to go…

What’s sure though is not that the Central Board members are fed up of giving the school’s Governors yet “another chance”, but rather, that the Central Board members have not been told the whole truth. And Educational Director Carol Aslanian is to blame for this whole mess. It seems she has endorsed every expense (or lack of it in some cases), has ignored the Melkonian Board of Governor’s requests over the years, has not audited the school’s accounts for the past decade or so, allowing costs to spiral out of control, with many wrong decisions going unchecked. No wonder Louise Simone and Berge Setrakian go ballistic every time they see the Melkonian accounts (even though they maintain that the financial aspect is NOT the problem here.

The falling number of new enrollments is solely blamed on the Central Board that gave clear instructions last September, effectively turning back students from enrolling.

In that case, what is the problem? The mere CYP 138,000 that is budgeted for the maintenance of the Boarding section, whereas the rent income from the Melkonian Commercial Complex is put at a mere CYP 175,000, a far cry from real market prices? Or the fact that payroll and administration costs do in fact account for 70% of the school’s budget of CYP 1.25 million. The cost of running the boarding section is peanuts and none of the arguments raised are justifiable.

(NB: These figures were not released from the AGBU Central Board, the Melkonian Governors or the Principal, who have yet to cooperate with the Alumni on this vital matter of helping devise alternative plans to keep the Melkonian afloat)

So, then, what IS the problem? Should all schools be run on a profit scheme, as are Carol Aslanian’s pet schools in California? Just because major donors enjoy tax write offs from their corporate earnings, does not make them “benefactors” of our national educational system? The last true benefactor in the AGBU was none other than Alex Manoogian (God rest his soul) who would have given the Central Board an earful over they way they are running the AGBU nowadays.

Perhaps, then, the question should be WHO is the problem? Is it the AGBU’s very own Education Director that has been put in charge of all hirings and firings of late? Who refuses to accept any of the blame for any wrong footing, while the school progresses on automatic pilot? Let’s not hide behind our fingers.

Public High School

Little do the “experts” realise that shopping around for people to undertake the management of the Melkonian is not the right line either. The Nareg school board was approached to consider taking over and running it as a day school for 40-50 kids. But the state-appointed board has a clear mandate – to oversee the three elementary public day schools fully sponsored by a government budget. Approaching private schools to consider adopting the Melkonian grounds as their new campus is also like the neighbourhood prostitute shopping around for the best price. 

Had the Melkonian Governors had any dignity, as they are being neglected in the whole matter, they would resign from their non-executive collective, en masse, during their board meeting this weekend.
 

Which comes to the Alumni proposal sent to Mr Setrakian and all other Central Board members since last December 8.

Appoint a new local executive board, help implement an emergency budget cut (due mainly to the falling student body as a direct result of the Central Board’s uncertainty over the school’s future), reduce the AGBU deficit to a third of what it is today and introduce a new era of good financial house keeping and corporate governance. And all this while NOT selling any of the land, that, in the long run, could become a net contributor to the school’s budget and the Armenian diaspora in general through various revenue earning schemes, such as leasing for sports facilities, etc.