By Eliza PARTIKA and Mikaela STONE

This election the CV Weekly presented the candidates for various offices. To read the responses posed to congressional candidates, visit www.cvweekly.com to learn more about Senator Anthony Portantino and Representative Laura Friedman, both running for the 30th congressional district, and Representative Judy Chu and William Patterson, who are running for the 28th congressional district.

The GUSD has been divided into separate areas. Running for a seat in Area A are Jordan Henry, Shant Kevorkian and Telly Tse.

Running for a seat in Area E are Neda Farid and Aneta Krpekyan.

      Jordan Henry

Jordan Henry is a landscape architect working on projects for the City of Los Angeles. He lives in La Crescenta. Henry grew up in Indiana and moved his wife and children to Glendale for the schools. Henry said his family has always invested in education. His opinion is that if his tax money goes to the schools they should do a better job at providing transparency to the Glendale community and should respect the privacy of parents and students.

“These students are talking, for instance, what we’re talking about is all very divisive, controversial stuff. We already have this board policy; teachers are required to be non-biased, they’re required to present multiple points of view in a very, very honest way that doesn’t make a prejudgment and doesn’t lead children to make a conclusion that they wouldn’t have done so on their own,” he said.

He also said it is the responsibility of the board of education to provide parents with enough transparency to understand what is happening to their child at school while encouraging parents to be involved in what’s happening with their child in the classroom.

“You’re saying that’s the responsibility of the parents to actually go and read this stuff, right. And too often they don’t. And too often the school board doesn’t actually disclose what they’re doing, even though you can go read it. And then when you do and actually quote it back to them, they deny it,” he said.

To amend this, he said he will enforce engagement with parents through curriculum nights and more regulation on how and what teachers are allowed to teach. However, he believes there is a disconnect between state law and the reality of education on the ground. He would want to first create oversight of teachers and teachers unions by amending board policies he said are preventing parents from knowing what goes on in the classroom – mainly board policies that require teachers to cover what he calls controversial issues in a non-bias way – and board policies – as well as state policies – that states students do not have to disclose information about their mental health to parents.

The recent California bill being debated, AB 655, would amend an existing California law, Family Code 6924, that allows children 12 and older to obtain mental health services without parental consent. No mention of gender exists in the current iteration of the bill.

Henry said if the law isn’t what parents want, then it should be opposed.

“These schools don’t offer that information on the fact that they’re pushing socialism. Marxism says that the natural state of man is socialism; it’s guaranteed that parents are going to be given this information and they’re going to be held accountable,” he said.

For Henry, part of this accountability is more severe punishment for teachers and staff that do not align themselves with increased oversight, including mandatory fulfillment of PRA requests and monitoring of counseling offices.

“I absolutely agree that mental health services need to be available. But again, parents need to be involved with that,” he said.

When it comes to books available in libraries, Henry said he would support increased parental involvement with more opportunities to opt out children from checking out books.

Presently, elementary parents have the opportunity to opt out their child from checking out books if they are uncomfortable with the books in the libraries. More information about the review process, and the opt out forms, are available on the school board website. Titles are reviewed by the Elementary Library Review Committee, which agrees on whether books are appropriate for students.

         Shant Kevorkian

Shant Kevorkian is a 20-year-old lifetime Glendale resident who graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 2021. After landing a job as an administrative coordinator for Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center post-graduation and attending Cal State Northridge, he felt it was time to return to GUSD to help his community. He is a commissioner for the City of Glendale Parks, Recs and Community Services Commission and a community partner for the superintendent’s office at GUSD. As a recent GUSD student, Kevorkian feels he is uniquely qualified to translate student experiences with curriculum and school services into actionable items for the board. He is the founding member of the GUSD Alumni Association.

Kevorkian believes his experience as a GUSD student uniquely qualifies him for the position. His young age would allow him to connect with students more, providing a direct path and voice for them on the board.

“When we talk about school safety, curriculum and career pathways, the decisions the board makes about topics such as these directly impacted my experience as a student. I want to be able to make those very same decisions for current and future students. Being the only candidate who has attended GUSD schools, I understand how those decisions truly will impact the students. I have a deep understanding of the culture at GUSD, and that’s something no other candidate has. I think that brings a unique and fresh perspective that the board needs in this critical time,” Kevorkian said.

Student and Family Support

For Kevorkian, supporting students means being in tune with the student experience while also making families aware of what is happening at school. He wants to expand student voice panels into elementary schools and include parents in the conversations.

He said student voice panels and encouragement of collaboration in the classroom are ways for students to feel safe to bring up questions, comments or issues with teachers, staff and administration.

“I want to find ways that students can know that this is an open place for you to feel safe and speak about any concern that they feel impacts their experience at GUSD. If you have a concern or want to introduce a new opportunity for the district, know that there is support, that someone says, ‘Okay, I hear you, and let’s see how we can find solutions to these issues.’ Creating a collaborative ecosystem where at times, seems difficult is really important. Let’s get the parents involved and have parent-focused panel discussions to continuously address their needs as well.” Kevorkian said.

Kevorkian values input not just from students but parents as well.

“Without the involvement of my parents during times that I wasn’t able to advocate for myself, I wouldn’t be where I am at this young age,” he said. “It was part of the motivation for me to run for a seat on the board of education.”

College Readiness

“Often we don’t ask [students] where we can improve, or what can we do to help students the most. I want to talk to the students as well. I want to see how happy they are in these programs, how happy they are at school and what’s next for them. With the ever-changing landscape of college and trade pathways; are we preparing them not only for college but also for career and life?”

         Telly Tse

Tse states his priorities are “making sure our students graduate from our district with high academic achievement and strong social skills as independent and critical thinkers ready to be productive members of our democracy … Within my platform, the first [step] is inclusion and racial and social justice. To me, this means protecting our LGBTQIA+ children, our children of color, our children with special needs [and] prioritizing increased green spaces, environmental justice, moving away from punitive [punishment] systems toward evidence-based restorative and positive approach, properly funding our special ed services, prioritizing our dual-language immersion programs.”

Tse said he thinks there is much he can accomplish in his first term as a school board member.

“[It] is important to me to make sure our school district continues to be a place where students feel safe and seen and heard. I think it is important to support the educators [who] are supporting our kids in that matter. I think by speaking publicly that this is my position and … voting and supporting policies regarding all this will be very important for me as a school board member; making sure the things that are happening in the school district continue to happen and defending it against those who would want to see a change.

“I think a couple of areas of improvement in our district would be making sure we value our labor partners, our educators, our staff in the decision-making process as well as at the bargaining table. I want to make sure our district shows in its statements as well as its actions that it prioritizes and values our labor partners and does so in the form of salary increases. I think salaries should be proportional to the excellence they bring to the district. Right now, our salaries for both our GTA and CSEA are below average when compared to all other school districts in LA County. That needs to change. If it doesn’t change it will bring long term harm to our employees, which in turn brings detriment to our students. That’s important to me, and also communication – making sure the way we communicate and engage with our families, our students, is something [that we improve], making sure that not only are we giving information but engaging with it differently, making sure [there is] accurate information. This will help to preemptively address some of the issues going on with misinformation and disinformation … to solve a lot of problems before they happen.”

Tse has been a special education teacher for about 20 years.

“I started at a non-public school after college. If you are not familiar with a non-public school, it’s a school that public school districts will send their kids [to] … usually for severe emotional disabilities when they’re not able to succeed in the mainstream environment … which sometimes can cause them to try to self-harm or to harm others, so it’s a fairly restrictive environment. I did that for about two years.

“My original plan was to become a general education history teacher. After two years in this experience, I felt that special education was my passion. It was an area of high need in education and I felt like had the patience and the temperament to be successful working with the students in that population. I went on to teach [at the] middle school level for a couple of years and then, for the last 15 years, at the high school level in the Beverly Hills Unified School District. As a special ed teacher, the one thing that is very important to me is making sure that our students feel included … making sure they receive justice in schools.”

To read more, including Tse’s response to the Beverly Hills Weekly’s accusation regarding the misappropriation of funds within the Beverly Hills Education Association, visit www.cvweekly.com/NEWS.

Running for a seat representing Area E are Neda Farid and Aneta Krpekyan.

         Neda Farid

Neda Farid believes that “the measure of who you are is where you roll your sleeves up … what you’re doing at school sites and what you’re doing in the community [for] the organizations you serve, the students you serve and the parents you assist.”

Farid has rolled her sleeves up as a band mom, where she drove students to meets, chaperoned on school buses, provided snacks, washed dishes, cleaned floors, and organized on a tight budget. Between Farid and her fellow volunteers, there is “teamwork and collaboration, all the things we teach in the classroom in action.” For her, volunteering is about giving back to a community that has “shaped the formative years of [her] child’s life … we want our children [as students] to be happy, to thrive, and find their way in life.”

For her volunteer work and leadership, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Parent Teachers Association (PTA), during which the CV marching band played in her honor. She considers the moment her proudest achievement after the birth of her son. Although that son is grown, Farid still attends Crescenta Valley theater and band performances, including the recent jazz night.

“If I could leave one mark, it would be a standard space for arts education,” she said. “It’s the greatest equalizer. It allows every person to contribute in a non-confrontational, non-pressured, welcoming way.”

She believes arts should be available regardless of language, level of ability or economic status and that education should be “more than reading, writing and arithmetic.” The core of her campaign is the “want for all kids [to receive] the basic fundamental liberties we enjoy” within the “lush tapestry” that is the GUSD.

Farid said he thinks there is much she can accomplish in her first term as a school board member.

“It is my hope that we can go back to twice a month meetings because it is my belief that the more opportunities to engage … that we afford our community … the richer the accomplishments will be. The whole purpose of a public meeting is to hear from the public and to have that interaction, even if it is for measured doses. As a community member, I will be everywhere whether I am elected or not, and that is not going to change [but for some school board members that is their only interaction with the community]. The most important job is hiring a qualified superintendent, your secondary job or [that is] equally important, is making sure you can balance the budget. If you are listening to the community or out and about in the community … then you will channel that input into the policies that you bring forward and you will have those conversations with your superintendent.

“As a board member you have to be looking at ground zero to figure out how to deliver on the needs of the community. When we talk about preparing our kids for the future, we have to prepare all our kids to the future. It’s not the kids that happen to be in one pocket of the community, of one background, or in one socioeconomic area … as a unified district, [it’s] all of our kids.”

Farid believes there is not a shortage of teachers, but rather there is a retention issue and teachers deserve to be paid enough to live in the community they serve if they so choose. A teacher rushing back to their own child’s school for pickup misses after school events, as well as shouldering the burden of planning their day around more time spent traveling. She noted local teachers have an advantage to understanding their students because “their students are the peers of their own children.”

Teachers who live outside the community either miss out on sharing community-wide experiences, such as club events and the Montrose Christmas Parade, with their students and colleagues or miss out on the comparable events in the community in which they live. While Farid acknowledged proper compensation should be reflected in the salaries of teachers, she also believes that there is more to supporting teachers than just money. Many communities have partnerships where housing opportunities are available to educators. While the GUSD looks at how to bolster students’ mental health, Farid points out that social and emotional needs apply to teachers too, as teachers’ mental states trickle down into their students.

Aneta Krpekyan
Ms. Krpekyan declined to interview with CV Weekly.