Gulen Charter Schools Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, letters from Sonoran Science Academy, Horizon Science Academy and Harmony Science Academy

As an American it makes us want to scream the amount of OBVIOUS lying, deception and playing "victim" by members of the Gulen Movement. 

CHECK OUT LETTERS BELOW FROM
Mr. Fatih Karatas,  Sonoran Science Academy Principal

Mr. Salim Ucan, Administrator of Concept Schools

Mr. Soner Tarim, Superintendent of Harmony Science Academy or
Harmony Public Schools

Please take note of the familiar thread of side-stepping denalism of the obvious affiliations of these schools to exiled Islamic Imam Fethullah Muhammed Gulen.  Time to come clean Gulen Followers.  America isn't stopping with the investigations.  Pull your children out of these schools and stop them from spreading until they can be honest.



Comparing School letters to parents from Sonoran Science Academy, Horizon Science Academy and Harmony Science Academy.  Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/senor-reporter/article_16fae326-5153-11df-b406-001cc4c03286.html

Dear SSA Middle/High School Families,

Approximately a month ago, we had a guest from Arizona Daily Star (Mr. Tim Steller) who visited our school and was quite impressed by great things happening at SSA. In addition, he interviewed almost all founders, some staff members, many parents, some students, ADE Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, and many other individuals.

Well, today, the news article by Tim Steller has been published on AZ Daily Star. As you will see it for yourself, the story raises issues related to immigration and international teachers who have valid (and fully legal) visas and also touches the school's possible affiliation with the Gulen movement.  The reporter merged multiple sources of information he received into an article.

Dr. Yildiz (our Superintendent) had provided our schools' official responses to all questions raised by Mr. Steller during his research.  As a member of SSA family, no one knows our school better than you. Let me reiterate the point that our schools have no institutional affiliation with ANY non-educational organization. Our focus is excelling educational practices and academic success. And what makes SSA great is our hard working faculty, staff and students. We salute and highly appreciate the genuine efforts and enormous contributions of our teachers, regardless of their RACIAL background, to make SSA an excelling school.

The story touches very sensitive topics and raises numerous allegations. Even though it does not make any definitive claims, it attempts to raise suspicions. We shall stand tall and keep doing our best to help our students learn and excel.

We have a lot of great academic projects that continue to keep us busy (which is great). We don't let this distract us from our stated goals stipulated in our charter. We aim high and continue to work hard to reach them with your support, our dear parents. With this in mind, I leave the interpretation and judgment of the story to you.

I just wanted to share this news with you. You can read the full article,  or voice out your thoughts if you wish, by visiting this url:

http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_dec199db-be3f-5519-be3d-f6ad970db1f8.html" target= "_BLANK">http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_dec199db-be3f-5519-be3d-f6ad970db1f8.html

Go SSA!

Mr. Karatas

Principal

Copy of Sonoran Science Academy First Response by Mr. Yildiz

http://azstarnet.com/pdf_1ae6a4bc-5157-11df-8499-001cc4c03286.html

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azstarnet.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/1/ae/6a4/1ae6a4bc-5157-11df-8499-001cc4c03286.pdf.pdf

Now from Salim with Concept Schools dba Horizon Science Academy, Gateway Science Academy, Indiana Math and Science, Chicago Math and Science Academy, Quest Academy, and the other Gulen Charter Schools in the Midwest including the NEW Minnesota School of Science.

Concept’ s rebuttal of recent news stories in Ohio

May 19, 2011

To our Faculty, Parents, Friends and Supporters:

Recently, there have been news stories on local channels in Ohio about Concept managed schools; Horizon Science Academies and Noble Academies. Those stories use Ron Regan’s story on Cleveland’s Channel 5 that aired on Monday, May 16, 2011 as a reference. As often happens with television news, those stories, including Ron Regan’s Channel 5 story, are edited in a way that, in our view, mislead viewers about the operation of Horizon Science Academies in Ohio. As those stories seem to revolve around a few same issues I am writing to set the record straight and clarify any confusion raised by those reports.

First, such reports attempt to sensationalize the repayment by Horizon Science Academy employees of certain immigration fees and expenses as documented in various school audits.

As most people know, charter schools in Ohio are audited annually by the Auditor of State’s Office. Back in 2001 when Betty Montgomery was the Auditor of State, several Horizon Science Academies voluntarily disclosed to the Auditor’s Office certain expenses associated with the immigration of math and science teachers from Turkey who were going to teach at our new schools in Ohio. Horizon Science Academies were founded by Turkish mathematicians and scientists who wanted to raise the bar for math and science education in Ohio. At the time, there was a nationwide shortage of math and science teachers, so we recruited some highly qualified math and science teachers from Turkey. Just as the Cleveland Municipal School District did when it recruited teachers from India in the 1990s and paid for their travel and immigration expenses, so did we. Additionally, we paid these expenses for the spouses and children of our new employees, just like any private company would. The Auditor of State’s Office permitted the expenses for the employees but not their dependents. Audit reports from 2001 show that three Horizon Science Academies, Cleveland High School, Toledo High School, and Columbus High Schools, paid these expenses for 19 employees and some of their family members totaling up to about $13,000. All of these funds were reimbursed at the time the Auditor’s Office made its ruling, not recently as suggested by Mr. Regan and other reporters. Some stories do not even mention the fact that these funds were reimbursed on a timely and swift manner once the auditors brought it to our attention.

Second, these reports raise concerns about hiring out of state teachers and the issuance of H1B visas to some of our employees. These visas are issued to certain workers with skills in short supply in the United States. The Federal Government determines the criteria for issuing these visas. The Horizon Science Academies simply took advantage of a federal visa program at a time when math and science teachers were in short supply. Currently, less than 9% of the workforce in all of the Horizon Science Academies are participating in this government authorized program. Whenever it makes sense, Horizon Science Academies hire Ohio teachers and support staff.

Third, Mr. Regan’s report on Channel 5 Cleveland, which is used as a reference in other stories, included an interview with a disgruntled former employee named Mary Addi who was terminated in 2009 after she was discovered working a second job on company time. She later filed a complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which was investigated and denied.

Upon being released, Marry Addi and her husband, who was an H1B employee at one of our schools, Horizon Science Academy Denison, filed a complaint to US Department of Labor in 2008. Since then Department of Labor has been auditing/investigating this complaint in a particular school, Horizon Science Academy Denison. We hereby underline one more time that there is no federal Investigation on our schools or Concept as the news stories suggests.

Fourth, such reports raise concerns about the Horizon Science Academy in Dayton, which is leasing its facility from an Ohio limited liability company that is owned by a Turkish businessman who was willing to take a risk on the development of this property as a school, when Dayton area banks and others were not. The Dayton school leases the property for $3.78 a square foot, which is a bargain compared to medium grade office space in Dayton, which is leased for $10 a square foot or more. News stories that make this sound like hundreds of thousand of dollars go oversees is nothing but part of an agenda of sensationalizing their stories.

Fifth, some of those reports raise concerns about borrowed money that was repaid to individuals overseas. When our first school opened in Cleveland in 1999 there were financial challenges. The State of Ohio does not provide any facilities funding for charter schools and banks as a rule will not lend to start up charter schools. After attempting to obtain funding in Cleveland, the founder of Horizon Science Academies, Taner Ertekin, reached out to businessmen in Turkey to find short-term non-interest bearing loans. The school paid the loans back. A portion of the loan ($36,000) was paid back via wire transfer. The Auditors never raised any questions about the loan. Instead, the Auditors questioned the method of repayment. We provided the loan documents to the Mr. Regan at Channel 5 Cleveland. It is ridiculous to present this repayment of a non-interest bearing loan as “practice of spending Ohio school tax dollars overseas” and is far from objective and true journalism.

There are 17 Horizon Science Academies and 2 Noble Academies in Ohio. Together they educate about 5000 students each year. More than 95% of Horizon Science Academy students graduate from high school 100% of those students are accepted to college. Our results speak for themselves with Blue Ribbon Awards, “Excellent” and “Excellent with Distinction” ratings, demand by parents and students, and most importantly 100% college acceptance for many years.

Charter schools including ours are high regulated with increased accountability and autonomy. Annual audits by the state auditors and ongoing reporting and oversight is in place. All of the Concept managed schools are not-for-profit organizations with transparency. All of our records and documentations are available for public review. We take pride in the diversity of our community and are proud of every single of our employees, as they are the ones making unprecedented differences in urban communities. What has made successful is our uncompromising focus on our students not on adults as a diverse community. We assure everyone that we will continue doing so and not let anything take away our focus from student achievement.

Should you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail, ucan@conceptschools.org or phone, 224 388-9953 (cell).

Sincerely,

Salim Ucan

Now from the king of lies Soner Tarim, of the Gulen Movement. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses from Arizona to Ohio from Maryland to California, from Chicago to Texas. How nice Soner offers a phone number too!!  Same shit.  Gulenists all say the same lies and same excuses.

http://www.harmonytx.org/news/122/letter-to-stakeholders-on-ny-times-article/

To the Harmony Public Schools Community:

A disappointing article on charter schools in this week’s New York Times attempts to put Harmony Public Schools in Texas in a context that is not accurate, necessitating this brief response. Many of us at Harmony Schools cooperated extensively with the Times on this story over the last several months, providing documents, interviews, tours and dozens of detailed responses to specific questions in good faith.  But, as sometimes happens, the end result was not entirely what we had hoped.

Specifically:

• Repeating an old story, the article alleges connections where there are none. As we told the Times reporter repeatedly, Harmony Schools do not teach religion and have no affiliation with Fetullah Gulen or the so-called Gulen movement  yet the article repeatedly states and implies that such an affiliation exists, based on a composite of innuendo, circumstantial evidence and rumors.  This approach is disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, since the absence of a connection is not “news.”  The facts are clear:  We do not teach religion at all and we are not affiliated with any movement.
• The article also questions whether “the schools are using taxpayer money to benefit the Gulen movement.” Since we have no affiliation with the Gulen movement, it is absurd and inaccurate for the Times to suggest that taxpayer funds are benefitting them.  At Harmony Public Schools of Texas, taxpayer funds are used solely to support operations and educate students, and we do so at a superior level and a lower cost per student than non-charter public schools.
• With regard to contracts and purchasing, we use a bidding or procurement process set out by the state of Texas, and Harmony Public Schools do not discriminate on the basis of gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, or disability in its programs, employment, admissions or selection of vendors. A range of factors, including price, product availability, and demonstrated ability to deliver are evaluated in selecting vendors, and all the criteria for “best value” have to be met, not just low price.
• Finally, the article contains a clear anti-immigrant bias, and suggests that Harmony, one of the most successful charter school programs in the country, is somehow suspect because our founders immigrated to America from Turkey. As you all know, Harmony was founded by Turkish-Americans who saw a need and an opportunity to help Texas schoolchildren in the fields of math, science and technology, and we are proud of our heritage and of what we have accomplished. Importantly, our schools have become more diverse every year, and we will continue to diversify as we continue to grow.

The bottom line is that Harmony Public School operations and business practices in Texas are overseen and audited by the Texas Education Agency and, like every other state charter school in Texas, Harmony follows and complies with all applicable state laws and regulations. As we told the Times, at no time during our 10-year history has the Texas Education Agency found Harmony Schools to be out of compliance with state regulations.

Sadly, the impressive achievements of Harmony students - the real measure of success for any school – were barely mentioned in the article, despite being provided to the Times.

We have sent a brief Letter to the Editor to the Times, and we encourage you to post your comments on the article on the Times website at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/education/07charter.html

Finally, if you have any questions or concerns about Harmony Schools or issues raised in the Times article, please contact me directly at 713-343-3333, ext. 205.

Sincerely,

Dr. Soner Tarim, CEO/Superintendent of Schools

Till then we remain watchful.....