By Laura Hackett

To ensure that the Armenian Genocide is taught properly, the PUSD will provide teacher-training workshops and educational resources to all of its high school social studies teachers and students. PUSD stated that it “recommits itself to engaging teachers in extensive discussions about best practices around teaching the subject of genocide and the most effective ways of communicating the important society themes that run through the continuum of genocides of modern history.” The PUSD, in collaboration with the City of Pasadena Human Relations Commission, “commends its conscientious educators” who teach about human rights and genocide.

The PUSD Board resolution reads as follows:

The Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, 1.5 million men, women, and children of Armenian descendants lost their lives at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in their attempt to systematically eliminate the Armenian race. PUSD recognizes that the genocide of the Armenians constituted one of the most atrocious violations of human rights in the history of the world; and despite the overwhelming proof of the genocidal intent, the Republic of Turkey has inexplicably and adamantly denied the occurrence of the crimes against humanity committed by the Ottomon and Young Turk rulers; and in response to the Genocide and at the behest of the President Woodrow Wilson and the U.S. State Department, the Near East Relief organization was founded and was provided unprecedented complete access to all U.S. Government documents and files concerning the plight of Christian minorities; and the Near East Relief was the first Congressionally-sanctioned American philanthropic effort created exclusively to rescue the Armenian Nation and other Christian minorities from annihilation after U.S. Ambassador to Constantinople Henry A. Morgenthau, Jr., pled for assistance upon personally witnessing the systematic massacre of Armenians; and Near East Relief efforts resulted in delivering $117 million of assistance between 1915 and 1930, including the delivery of food, clothing, and materials for shelter, setting up refugee camps, clinics, hospitals, and orphanages; and the generous philanthropy of the American people, including many Californians, directly resulted in the salvation of the Armenian and Assyrian refugee nation from being completely annihilated by the Genocide by saving more than one million refugees, including more than 130,000 orphans through their humanitarian assistance; and the Near East Relief evolved into the Near East Foundation in 1930, and continues to provide humanitarian aid to people throughout the Middle East and Africa; and on April 24, 2013, the President of the United States stated, ‘A full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all of our interests. Nations grow stronger by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past, thereby building a foundation for a more just and tolerant future’; and the State of California has been at the forefront of encouraging and promoting a curriculum relating to human rights and genocide in order to empower future generations to prevent recurrence of genocide.

The concern for human rights is a major element in the History-Social Science framework for California public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade.  The PUSD noted the significant Armenian student population in Pasadena, and that many students have family members who experienced the Armenian Genocide first-hand, as well as the years of denial.

This PUSD Board resolution coincides with the decision to place an Armenian DLIP (Dual Language Immersion Program) at Blair High School. Superintendent Dr. McDonald stated that the Armenian DLIP program would raise money to make sure that it had necessary resources, including an Armenian teacher, optional smaller classes, and a crossing guard that would assist students going between Blair Middle School and Blair High School. Due to COVID-19, the PUSD is closed for the rest of the school year; students are being educated through distance learning. The Governor of California, in accordance with Assembly Concurrent Resolution 51, proclaimed each April 24 as the State Day of Remembrance in recognition of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.