DON KOCHI
Glendale
Nahabedian stood up for the students
We, the undersigned, are writing to clarify the March 26 Glendale News-Press article “School board refutes claims.”
In the article, school board President Mary Boger insinuates that Nayiri Nahabedian was against saving energy and money for Glendale schools.
Boger’s assertion is an untrue political ploy — we know because we served on the district’s Energy Committee with Boger and watched every board meeting on the subject.
The only disagreement the teachers on the committee had with the Energy Committee’s recommendation was concerning the allowance of small appliances in teacher classrooms.
Teachers spend snack/recess time doing yard duty/supervision and often stay in their classrooms at lunch as club advisors or to hold make-up sessions for students. The decision to change the usage of small appliances in classrooms to save less than 1% of the district’s total budget was not cost effective, as it would negatively affect teacher support of students and their learning. It was an imposed action that the teachers did not support.
We as teachers presented other strategies to reduce energy in a collaborative and respectful manner. In fact, we supported all of the committee’s recommendations except the one on small appliances in the classroom.
Nahabedian was the only school board member who recognized the negative effect such minuscule savings would have on our students. She, like the teachers, supported the committee’s recommendations except for the one concerning small appliances in the classroom and said as much when the vote was taken.
