The principals of the Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School and the AGBU Manoogian-Dermirdjian School, Sossi Shanlian and Arpi Avanesian, together issued a letter expressing their gratitude to the community, which, in the wake of hate crimes on the schools’ campuses, expressed its solidarity and support to the schools.
Below is the text of the letter, which was circulated Thursday.
On behalf of Holy Martyrs Ferrahian Armenian School and AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School, the school administrations would like to extend their deepest gratitude to all those who expressed their solidarity, provided their support, and allocated resources following what authorities described as a hate crime, after school officials reported Turkish flags hanging all over each respective campus.
The school administrations would like to extend special thanks to the numerous elected officials and community organizations who condemned the hate crime and stood in solidarity with the Armenian community of Los Angeles.
Congressman Frank Pallone
Congressman Adam Schiff
Congressman Brad Sherman
CA State Senator Anthony Portantino
CA State Assembly member Laura Friedman
CA State Assembly member Jesse Gabriel
CA State Assembly member Adrin Nazarian
Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti
LA City Attorney Mike Feuer
LA City Council member Bob Blumenfield
LA City Council member Paul Koretz
LA City Council member Paul Krekorian
LAUSD School Board member Scott Schmerelson
LAUSD Police Department
We also would like to thank the Los Angeles Police Department for their work on the ongoing investigation, numerous media representatives, ABC7, CBS, KTLA, Fox, NBC, LA Times and Armenian Media outlets, that accurately and carefully reported on these hate crimes.
As a reminder, we would like to assure that the safety of our Schools is our primary focus and all our efforts and resources are being utilized to ensure the safety of the students.
Mrs. Sossi Shanlian Ms. Arpi Avanesian
Holy Martyrs Armenian AGBU
Ferrahian High School Manoogian-Demirdjian School
Principal Principal
