The Network for Public Education Action Fund is pleased to endorse Dr. Suzie Abajian for the South Pasadena School Board
Dr. Suzie Abajian is an educator, in every sense of the word. She has sixteen years of experience as a teacher, field supervisor, educational researcher, and professor, and holds a Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. Dr. Abajian taught Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University for four years, and is currently a professor of education at Occidental College. She has been a committed supporter of public education throughout her career, and will bring a profound understanding of education policy, effective teaching, and education research to the South Pasadena School Board.
NPE President Diane Ravitch has offered Dr. Abajian her unqualified endorsement, stating, “Dr Suzie Abajian is exactly the kind of person who should run for school board and be elected to serve. She is a well-informed advocate for students and for educational change. I hope that the people of South Pasadena turn out to elect her for their school board.”
Abajian has already demonstrated that she can successfully work within the system to bring about positive change for students. She was on the steering committee for the Save Adult Education campaign that kept the Adult Education Program in Los Angeles Unified School District open. She is also on the steering committee of the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition that made Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement in select school districts in California.
Teacher, El Rancho School Board Vice President, and fellow Ethnic Studies Now Coalition member Jose Lara has also endorsed Dr. Abajian, stating, “Dr. Abajian championed Ethnic Studies in our schools, which meant that having the literature and history of students of color, Latino, Black, Armenian etc. in the classroom is as essential as expanding STEAM programs.”
“She has been a champion for students and educators from many years now,” Lara continued. “She has been an advocate for equitable funding of public school and maintaining essential programs like Adult Education, music, arts, and expanded Pre-K education.”
A strong proponent of small class sizes, Dr. Abajian stated, ‘Class size definitely matters! Class size should be kept under 20. I will do whatever I can to support legislation and policy changes that reduce class size.”
Dr. Abajian immigrated to the United States from Syria with her family when she was 12 years old. “I can identify with the struggles of students who don’t quite fit into our school district. Our school board needs to have individuals from more diverse backgrounds that better represent the diversity of the city in which we live.”
NPE Action agrees that Dr. Abajian is an ideal candidate for the South Pasadena School Board. Please visit her website to learn more about her, and do what you can to support her campaign by donating or volunteering.
Diane,
Thank you for endorsement of Suzie Abazian. I am a member of NPE, UOO (one of the Ca reps), and BATs (I’m the “mature” former University Elementary School, UCLA teacher who hangs around at the UOO and NPE conferences). I am also a member of the Occidental Alumni in Education (ALOED) and we have the privilege of including Prof. Abazian as part of our panel following a Wednesday, November 11th showing of “Education, Inc.” (Flyer below) A second member of the panel will be Karen Wolfe, an activist parent from Los Angeles, whose superb articles you’ve recently featured in your blog. Karen has been active in several of the L.A. School Board elections and is very aware of the role outside financial contributions play in these elections. The final participant in this three-member panel (who teaches a class at Occidental) is Steve Zimmer, President of the Los Angeles U.S.D. School Board. He must be classified as an expert on the influence of outside funding for these elections.
It should be quite a night!
A flyer for the event can be found at the ALOED website:
http://alumni.oxy.edu/s/956/index.aspx?sid=956&gid=1&pgid=1703
Larry Lawrence
Dr Abajian would be an asset to any school board. I applaud NPE’s endorsement and I hope it helps to activate voters in South Pasadena.
I’ve seen many signs supporting her when Ive passed by South Pasadena. Hopefully she gets the job. South Pasadena is fairly wealthy area. I wonder why they don’t want to make their schools better by allowing charter schools. At least that’s what the education reform logic would imply. I don’t see the neoliberals coming to South Pasadena, Arcadia or San Marino and telling them they can get way better schools by privatizing them. I guess it’s not the case that charter schools are better than public schools, as the many studies show. This is similar to mothers in the suburbs leading the op-out movement – they know standardized testing will not lead to better schools so why go through so many hours of test prep on how to fill in bubbles. Neoliberals know their reforms are rubbish and will only push them on neighborhoods that are most vulnerable.