Is it a request, a plea, a wish, or a demand — but certainly a REVISION. This is the Word of the day, of the week, hovering among students, parents, alumni, teachers, union members, and every Armenian with a caring heart, so that once again the case and future of the AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Secondary School are placed on the table.
The sudden decision to close the school as an institution and merge its student body with the AGBU’s sister school has stirred a storm among the Armenian community of Los Angeles.
Two weeks have already passed. Protest gatherings continue in various forms and sizes, while social networks are clogged with accurate, semi-accurate, and sometimes inaccurate news, with well-founded and unfounded ideas.
Facing the grave reality are the members of the AGBU, the union members active in various units, who naturally have opinions and viewpoints. They are not others; they are us, the respected personalities of our surroundings, active members of national, cultural, political, and youth structures.
Requesting, we demand, and demanding, we request of the three bodies that decided to close the Pasadena educational complex, that they SUBJECT their decision to REVISION and feel the pulse of the people.
If it is necessary to take one step back, let us take it, so that tomorrow we may advance two steps together. This is the stance of our circle, and we believe that by coming together, our differences will diminish, understanding will prevail, and within the AGBU center of Pasadena, the daily school will keep its doors open.
The Armenian General Benevolent Union is an organization with a tremendous record of more than a century, whose philanthropic activity is known throughout the world in history. In the last three decades, since Armenia’s independence, the AGBU has also been engaged in the reconstruction of Armenia, which in itself is an exemplary step. But tomorrow, who will continue to support Armenia, if we do not have patriotic, devoted generations across the diaspora, if we do not have schools, clubs, young people… around us.
With these reflections we close our words, repeating: REVISION.
