Chapter 10: Meeting the Melameds

Dan thanked Howard and followed the receptionist as she escorted him to the administrative side of the school through doors off the reception area. She found her way down a corridor with a half dozen small offices not unlike those in the Queens school, and eventually got to one of two large corner offices facing each other at the end of the hall. The corner office to the left had the name Benjamin Melamed emblazoned on an impressive, gleaming golden plaque with the title Chief Executive Officer immediately below the name. The office to the right sported an identical golden plaque on its own massive cherrywood door with the name Martha Melamed and the title Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.” Turning to the left, the receptionist knocked lightly on the partially open door and received a prompt “Come in” from a male voice inside. She opened the door all the way and escorted Dan to a massive oak desk polished to a high gloss behind which sat a portly, balding man in his middle to late 50’s. To his left, sat a handsome woman perhaps ten years his junior on a large brown leather chair. Both rose and the man extended his hand to Dan. “Dean Amor, I presume” he said, cheerfully. “I’m Benjamin Melamed, and this is my wife, Mrs. Martha Melamed.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Melamed,” Dan responded, shaking the man’s offered hand and then extending his to Mrs. Melamed.”

“Please have a seat,” the man motioned to a plush leather chair across from his desk as the woman sat back on her own just a few feet to the left, at the right side of her husband’s desk. As Dan did as he was bid, the man continued affably. “Jerry, our V.P. for Administration, and Marvin were both very impressed with you on paper and in person and highly recommended you. We are very happy to have you onboard.”

“I’m very pleased to be here, and grateful for the opportunity and vote of confidence. I’m very much looking forward to my new role.”

“So tell us, how is your meeting with Howard going today?” Mrs. Melamed asked.

“Dr. Green has been very helpful and I appreciate his guidance before taking on a role about which I have much to learn. But I’ve always been a quick study, so I’m confident I will hit the ground running starting tomorrow at my new post, if that is acceptable to both of you, and to Dr. Green, of course,” Dan offered.

“Fine, fine,” Mr. Melamed answered. “We have every confidence in you, but you are welcome to spend a few more days with Howard if you would find that helpful. I know they’re eager to have you at the Queens campus, but we want you to be comfortable in talking on your role there. There's no rush as another day or two will make little difference.”

“Dr. Green has been very helpful to me today, but as I said, I’m a quick study and he has graciously offered me his assistance by phone whenever I need it, so I think I’ll be ready after today to assume my duties without further delay, as long as he concurs.”

“That’s wonderful,” Mrs. Melamed intoned, as Mr. Melamed smiled an apparently genuine smile. She then added, “We’re a family business and PEMTI is pretty much our only baby these days, so we are deeply invested in the success of each of our branches. We reward talent and like to promote from within when opportunities arise, so you can expect a rewarding and lucrative future with us both at the corporate and branch levels if as we suspect you prove to be a good fit for our organization.”

“Absolutely,” chimed in Mr. Melamed almost before his wife had finished speaking. “As Martha said, you can have a rewarding and lucrative future with us. We were very impressed by your credentials and background and more so now that we have the opportunity to meet you. We’re curious, though. Why does a bright, young attorney want to be a proprietary school dean at a salary that is far less than he should be able to command in his field?”

“Money has never been a primary motivator for me. It is important, and I do expect to be reasonably compensated based upon my performance, but salary is not a major consideration in my career choice. I can always make a decent living practicing law, even if I decided to hang a shingle and do a solo practice. I am honest and hardworking and in this city the mere fact that I have native fluency in Spanish would get me all the clients I could ever want to start a practice simply by advertising in the Spanish language media. I love the law in an abstract sense. Maybe someday I’ll teach law or consider running for a judgeship. But that is not in the immediate future for me. I want to devote myself to educational administration and I believe I am a good fit for the dean’s position at the Queens campus where I think can make a real difference.”

“How, specifically, do you think you will make a difference?” Mrs. Melamed asked not in a challenging way but rather with apparent genuine curiosity, tilting her head slightly as she observed Dan.

Dan immediately wondered if he should have said that as it could be misinterpreted as either arrogance or, worse, empty hyperbole. Fortunately he really meant what he said, so he was able to answer earnestly without hesitation.

“Please forgive me. I know it must sound silly for someone who has not yet taken on the job to claim he thinks he can make a real difference. But I really believe I can. For example, I noticed that our programs run from six to twelve months. And I think it would be useful to create at least one new program that runs for only three months and concentrates on the emerging computer technology that is exploding in all sectors of business. I’d envision a course entitled something like “Computerized Office Support Specialist” that would allow students to learn MS-DOS, the WordPerfect word processing software, the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software and the Paradox or dBase III database management software packages. They seem to be the leading software packages actually used in most business today. And I think advertising that particular program and highlighting the software competency that students would acquire would make our students more marketable upon graduation.”

Neither of the Melameds said anything for what seemed to Dan a long time. Then Mr. Melamed spoke. “That sounds like an intriguing idea, but our longer programs are our bread and butter, and we wouldn’t want to lose those students.”

“I don’t think you would, sir. I envision such a program running on a rolling enrollment basis as I would only create it to run exclusively as a self-paced course with students learning primarily by following step-by-step self-study workbooks guided by an instructor and a work-study student assistant. This means that rather than having to wait for six, nine or twelve months for a program to end before starting a new cohort, students could be enrolled at any time. And though the course would of course be much less expensive, I think the volume and the rolling enrollments could actually make it more profitable in short order. It would also resolve any attrition issues we may have with students dropping out prior to completing the course. If the 12-month courses now command about $10, 000, a $2, 000 three month course with classes filled to capacity would generate revenue of $8, 00 per year per,” Dan said.

“But we now get $10, 000 for the 12-month programs, as you noted” Mr. Melamed objected.

“That’s true, sir. But in the 12-month programs, each cohort must run for an entire year. You may start with 40 students, but there will be attrition. Partial tuition refunds and no government support for students who drop out means that on average you may have 30 students complete the course, and I’m being very optimistic here. I’m sure you know the actual numbers and that actual attrition is more than 25 percent. So a 40 student cohort may produce $300, 000 in total revenue. My rolling enrollment which would allow students to enroll at any time in the program means that if one student drops out after a week or a month for any reason, she or he can be immediately replaced by students waiting for a seat to open. I am also confident that you would have an easier time recruiting for a three-month program than for the 12-month programs. So 40 students enrolling in the program will actually yield $80, 000 every three months or $320, 000 per year. Conversion of labs from Apple II computers to IBM-PC or PC-compatibles would be needed, but that cost would be significantly less than the $20, 000 it would take to create a new PC compatible lab. The investment would pay off in less than one year.”

The Melameds exchanged looks with one another when Dan had finished speaking. After a short pause, Mrs. Melamed asked, “But how do you know that you can find appropriate self-paced software or a workbook-driven format that could make that work?”

“That’s right,” Mr. Melamed said. “And you’re forgetting about the cost of the software itself. Licenses for PC-DOS and the application software packages you mentioned are very expensive.”

“I have a technical background in the emergent technologies, though most of it is self-taught. I’m a bit of a geek who learned BASIC programming on an Atari 400 and a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A both of which used tape recorders as storage devices. My first MS-DOS (IBM-PC near-compatible), was a Canon AS-100 system I bought new at an 80 percent discount when Canon decided to get out of the PC business not too long ago. That is how I taught myself DOS, WordStar and dBase since the programs were included with that beautiful computer. I also built my first truly IBM-PC Compatible system from parts, purchasing the motherboard, case, all components, and the monitor from a half dozen different suppliers for about $500 all told, an unbeatable bargain at the time and still a great deal today--and a priceless learning experience. Electronics in general and personal computers in particular are of great interest to me and something I’ve become somewhat of an expert on. I say all of this because I know that there are numerous self-paced textbooks and workbooks available for these programs, though I have done only very brief research on the subject to date for my own use. And I know that at least some of them come with free student versions of the programs. Also, any PC-compatible computer bought for the labs will likely include MS-DOS or PC-DOS either free or at a nominal cost.”

Both of the Melameds looked at Dan and at each other several times as he spoke, not interrupting him. When he finished, Mr. Melamed reclined slightly in his plush leather chair and said, “That is a very interesting idea, Dr. Amor. We would like to hear more about it whenever you have a chance to develop a curriculum proposal. We’ll talk to Marvin. He has all the forms you will need and can help you submit it to the State Education Department. They have not been as receptive as we would like with our last few proposals, but this really seems like a radical departure from what not only we but our competitors are doing and we’d love for you to explore the idea further and move forward with it as soon as possible.”

“Yes indeed,” chimed in Mrs. Melamed after nodding along with what her husband had said. “It really sounds like an intriguing idea. Please pursue it when you are settled in and have the time to devote to the project.”

“I’m pleased you are receptive to the idea. I will work on it with Mr. Lantz’s help and will develop a formal proposal as soon as I can review appropriate book and software packages. I’ll do a detailed proposal as to cost of books and any additional equipment that may be required. I’ll also do the research on hardware and keep costs as low as humanly possible. At worst, it will be a good intellectual exercise for me and a first attempt at creating and shepherding a course proposal through State Ed.” Dan said.

“This has been a very interesting and productive meeting for us, Dean Amor. We are very pleased to have met you and look forward to hearing about your progress in general and on this project in particular,” Mr. Melamed said beaming. Dan got the hint that the meeting was over and rose from his chair and extended his hand first to Mrs. Melamed and then to Mr. Melamed. He then thanked them for the generous amount of time they had devoted to their meeting.