Paul Krekorian
Member of the Burbank Board of Education
1900 West Olive Avenue
Burbank CA 91505
818-848-7750 office tel
818-848-7749 office fax
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
April 5, 2004
PAUL KREKORIAN ENSURES INCLUSION OF COMMEMORATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
IN COUNTY SCHOOLS CALENDAR
At the request of Burbank Board of Education Member Paul Krekorian,
the April 24 commemoration of the Armenian Genocide will be added to
the annual calendar of important educational events published by the
Los Angeles County Office of Education. In response to Krekorian’s
request, the County Office agreed that the commemoration of the
Genocide is a `significant educational event.’ Expressing regret that
it had previously been excluded, the County Office gave written
assurance to Krekorian that the commemoration of the Genocide will be
included in all future editions of the educational events calendar.
The calendar is distributed to educators throughout Los Angeles
County. It is an important tool for teachers and administrators
because it identifies important religious holidays and cultural
commemorations that occur during the school year. When Krekorian
learned that the calendar currently omits the April 24 remembrance of
the Armenian Genocide, he immediately contacted the County
Superintendent, Dr. Darline Robles, to remedy the omission.
In his letter to Robles on February 17, Krekorian wrote:
`April 24 of each year is the annual worldwide commemoration of
thebeginning of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. As you may know,
approximately one and a half million Armenians were killed at the
hands of the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia between 1915 and 1923, in the
first genocide of the 20th Century. In fact, it was the mass
killings, `ethnic cleansing’ and attempted extermination of the
Armenians that caused Polish jurist Rafael Lempkin to coin the very
word `genocide.”
`In the Burbank Unified School District and many other parts of the
County, notably including the Los Angeles, Glendale and Montebello
unified school districts, a significant number of Armenian-American
students recognize April 24 as a day of mourning and attend church
services, community gatherings and other commemorative events on that
day. Further, instruction about the Armenian Genocide is now mandated
in high school world history classes, and April 24 provides an
opportunity for teachers to address important issues involving bigotry
and intolerance as well as the historical facts of the Genocide. I
believe it is imperative that all teachers in the County be informed
about the tragic significance of this date to Armenians and to the
world.’
Paul Krekorian, a lawyer, was elected to the Burbank Board of
Education in April of 2003. He is believed to be the first
Armenian-American ever elected to any public office in the city of
Burbank.
This is a media release from the office of Paul Krekorian, a member of
the Burbank Board of Education. It does not necessarily reflect the
policies or opinions of the Burbank Unified School District or of its
Board of Education as a whole.