Gulen's American Empire

Gulen's American Empire
Gulen Empire map from Turkish Newspaper. DISCLAIMER: If you find some videos are disabled this is the work of the Gulen censorship who have filed fake copyright infringement reports to UTUBE
Showing posts with label Gulen Charter Schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulen Charter Schools. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Gulen Charter School Horizon Science Academy Sex with Students



A former teacher at a charter school on Chicago's southwest side was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old student, officials said.
Megan Kotarski, 28, is accused of having sexual contact with the boy between June 16 and 18 of this year, Chicago police told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kotarski turned herself in to police Tuesday, after an investigation began earlier this month into the alleged misconduct by the former Horizon Science Academy Southwest Chicago teacher.
Christopher Murphy, director of strategic growth & PR for Concept Schools, told the Sun-Times Kotarski had worked at the school since 2014, and resigned Nov. 10.
READ Article Here
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/22/ex-illinois-charter-school-teacher-28-charged-in-sex-romp-with-teen-boy-student.html


Sunday, November 12, 2017

Democracy Under Attack: Fethullah Gülen and the 2016 Attempted Coup in T...





@9:00 Yunus Avcu is interviewed as being the Cash Man for 2 years that moved money


via cash from 1 charter school to another as described in LA Weekly Article

http://www.laweekly.com/news/did-a-california-charter-school-group-fund-an-effort-to-overthrow-the-turkish-government-7666698



Excerpt here







Sunday, March 12, 2017

Mehmet Taskan Gulen operated Blue Ocean Construction company and censorship

Gulenist Mehmet Taskan of Gulen operated Blue Ocean Construction company that was reaping the benefits of US Tax money intended for Educational Construction has been filing trademark and copyright infringements to silence truth about the "SELF DEALINGS" associated with the Gulen operated charter schools. Mehmet believes that censorship of public records can be done with trademark and or copyright filings. Any US tax money used for Gulen construction firm BLUE OCEAN CONSTRUCTION and its ties to the GULEN MOVEMENT and GULEN OPERATED Schools must be disclosed to the public. The blog entry that Mehmet wanted censored on http://www.gulencharterschools.weebly.com was all derived from public records, and the blog entry was from 2014; yet Mehmet Taskan filed a copyright / trademark on his company name in 2016 #AdHocCensorship. Effendi Mehmet Taskan you cannot stop public records in the USA that have to do with taxpayers money it is proper disclosure. Unless you have something to hide you cannot stop public record information in the USA.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Charter schools are not shining examples of education in USA especially Gulen operated charter schools AMERICAN THINKER


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/02/charter_schools_are_no_panacea.html


Now that Betsy DeVos has been selected as secretary of education, it is important to consider the issue of charter schools in a reasoned and logical fashion.
Parents should have the ability to choose the school they deem best for their children.  But how will this actually occur?  Will students from an inner-city school opt to go to a wealthier school district, where scores are higher and education more intense?  Will they be bused if they live too far?  Who will be paying the taxes for the additional teaching staff and materials to accommodate the students?
There are mixed reviews about the success of charter schools.  They hinge on the dichotomy between charter schools and district schools.  David P. Magnani, who was the Senate chair of the Education Committee in Massachusetts, reminds readers that "most have forgotten that charter schools were created to serve as 'laboratories of change,' disseminating new ideas, not as competitors to existing district schools.  To date, very little, if any, of this 'dissemination' agenda has been achieved, largely because neither charter nor district schools have any mandate and few resources, incentives or the regulatory environment for such dissemination."  In fact, Magnani maintains that "charter schools have increased inequality overall, contrary to initial intent."  He cites a 2009 UCLA study that confirms this finding.  Moreover, in "suburban districts, charter schools hurt district schools in another way: by leaving children with the most severe physical or intellectual disabilities as district responsibilities."
For those who would argue about the economics of charter schools, Magnani maintains that "in spite of temporary reimbursements from the commonwealth, over time, the district actually loses money for each student it sends to a charter school.  This is because the average cost-per-student leaves the district and 'follows the child,' but the marginal district 'savings' are less than the amount the district is required to send to the charter school."
But let us set aside the economic concerns for a moment.  How have charter schools fared concerning the educational attainment of their students?
First and foremost, it is critical to understand the vital connection between parental interest and school achievement.  Parental engagement has always produced more engaged students because the child has a back-up system that promotes student academic success.  Moreover, as E.D. Hirsch has noted, "a systemic failure to teach all children the knowledge they need in order to understand what the next grade has to offer is the major source of avoidable injustice in our schools. ... It is impossible for a teacher to reach all children when some of them lack the necessary building blocks of learning." 
In her 2016 piece, Kate Zernike of the New York Times writes that  "Detroit now has a bigger share of students in charters than any American city except New Orleans, which turned almost all its schools into charters after Hurricane Katrina.  But half the charters perform only as well, or worse than, Detroit's traditional public schools."
John Oliver at Business Insider asserts that "[s]ome charters are "so flawed, ...  that they don't make it through the year.  The most flawed are in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  Charters have also had problems with misuse of funds, as they are supposed to be nonprofit but certain groups aim to make a profit, and there's been lackadaisical attendance monitoring for online charters."
For those charter schools that have been high-performing, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post explains that in Pennsylvania, "high performing charters school had certain common characteristics" that include "innovative education programs with most of them focused on a specific approach to education instruction or a specific academic area of instructional focus."  They tend to offer longer and more school days as well as   more individualized education programs.  They also tend to be smaller and have fewer special education students than traditional students.
But then Strauss goes on to explore a dozen problems associated with charter schools, including "little more than reading and math test prep, inexperienced teachers with high turnover, and 'blended learning' products designed to enrich charter school board members' investment portfolios."  Moreover, there is a "lack of transparency and accountability" and an "increasing segregation based on race, ethnicity, and income."
Public schools used to be able to produce high-quality education for all strata of people  because the books and tools were comprehensive and not politically driven – not the politically correct drivel that has been steamrolled into education.  For example, in the past, writers from all over the world were part of a solid curriculum without there being an overriding and often anti-Western approach to the study of great literature.  As Sol Stern has written, a "half-century of discredited instructional practices in the classroom" has hurt generations of Americans in the public school system.  Stern writes that while "charters seem to have produced significant gains for students in some school districts including New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and New York," a "study of charter school effects nationally found that only 17 percent of all charters had higher academic gains than similar public schools, while 37 percent had worse performance.  Forty-six percent of charters performed no better or worse than public schools in the same district," and the "grade for voucher programs is also an Incomplete."
Actually, the school system has "been transformed  into a knowledge-free zone," which is, sadly, producing the "dumbest generation" ever.  It is evident in every two- and four-year school of higher education where I teach.  Instructors of every discipline relate breathtaking stories of ignorance.
And it all began in the 1960s.  First, affirmative action or open enrollment was begun, which initiated an acceptance of lower standards.  Proven instructional practices were abandoned so much so that today's college student majoring in history knows less than people aged 70+ who obtained only a high school degree.  Instead, "preferred pronouns, gender-neutral bathrooms, and pansexuality" are the topics in a 21st-century classroom.
Incrementally, "progressive educators succeeded in stripping away any semblance of a coherent grade-by-grade curriculum."  Mushy educational theories such as whole language, Eurocentric curricula, and the belief that memorization and "mere facts" are useless now permeated the halls of learning, and children were set adrift.  Every year, another "new" but totally confusing way to learn mathematics was introduced.  The latest assault is the abandonment of cursive writing.
As could be expected from all these actions, the racial achievement gaps loom larger each year.  Vocabulary study has all but been abandoned so that my college students do not know the meaning of words that used to be part of the seventh grade vocabulary list.  If they have such a huge vocabulary gap, it has, in effect, rendered them incapable of writing and articulating ideas well.
Thus, it is totally understandable why parents, especially those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, would see charter schools as the panacea.  But how will the charter schools begin to incorporate a knowledge-based curriculum, and even more importantly, why can't public schools do the same?  Public schools were the means for assimilating students to appreciate America; instead, charter schools may lead to a balkanization of American students so that genuine diversity is not promoted.
Another disturbing aspect of charter schools is highlighted by Siddique Malik, who has written of the "dangerous mirage of charter schools" that will, in effect, warm the hearts of  "Saudi propaganda strategists [who] will love any American state's public school system going charter because [then] their agents will ... invoke the  U.S. Constitution's equality clauses to demand public money for certain schools that will eventually become Saudi Arabia's satellite schools."  Currently, in public schools, sixth-grade students are being force-fed Islam in a public school classroom.  How much worse will it become when charter schools are able to do this?
Over 100 Islamist tax-funded charter schools are currently operating in the United States.  They are schools that follow the Sunni imam Fethullah Gülen, leader of a politically powerful Turkish religion movement.  Arnold Ahlert explains that a "federal document released in 2011 ... posits that Gulen's charter schools may in fact be madrassahs, where students are 'brain-washed' to serve as proponents of the New Islamic World Order Gulen purportedly seeks to create."  In addition, The Gülen schools are among the nation's largest users of H-1B visas, used to import foreign workers with technical skills to fill job shortages of qualified American workers.  Parents have alleged that certified, competent American teachers have been replaced at higher salaries by uncertified Turkish men who speak limited English.  They claim that the schools "discriminate against women and non-Turkish teachers and that Gülen teachers receive preferential treatment."
The devil is in the details, and I worry that the rush to charter schools may be ushering in another huge set of problems that will afflict the next generation of students.


Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/02/charter_schools_are_no_panacea.html#ixzz4Zm2SZHu6
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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Gulen "inspired" school Quest Academy loses connection to Concept Schools

 
By Pam Adams of the Journal Star
Posted Jan. 22, 2015 @ 10:15 pm

PEORIA — The board of Quest Charter Academy will cut ties with Concept Schools, the not-for-profit charter-school management company that has run Peoria’s public charter school since it opened in 2010.
Board members disclosed the decision during a regular board meeting Thursday in which they also announced they’ve reached a tentative agreement with Peoria School District 150 to extend the school’s charter for another five years.
Tom Fliege, vice president of the charter school board, said the two actions were not related.
Concept’s contract with Quest’s governing board, the Peoria Charter School Initiative, expires July 30. The decision not to renew the contract was not motivated by finances or the FBI investigation of the Des Plaines-based company’s handling of federal money for school technology improvements, according to Fliege.
Instead, the charter school board has always planned to eventually take over school operations, he said.
“There’s no acrimony, this was mutually agreed upon. We’ll continue to work together as the contract comes to a close.”
Concept staff, which includes Quest Principal Ali Kuran, will help with the transition. The board has tentatively selected an interim executive director, who also will help with the transition, until an executive director is hired.
Details of the tentative agreement to extend the charter school contract will be released at District 150’s board meeting Jan. 26. District 150 board members are scheduled to vote on the contract Feb. 9. Quest board members will take a vote at a special meeting that has yet to be announced. Both boards must approve the final agreement.
“As is true with any agreement, they’re not totally happy, we’re not totally happy,” Fliege said.
The charter school board wanted more money from District 150, while the district maintained it was not fair for Quest to expect more money because the school district’s revenues are declining.
The charter school board had refused District 150’s last counterproposal. Apparent delays in negotiations prompted Quest board members to discuss the administrative process for closing the school.
But negotiations started moving, according to Fliege, when he and Quest board member Will Ball began meeting with Debbie Wolfmeyer and Linda Butler, the District 150 board’s president and vice president, respectively.
Initially, board members were not fully aware that the charter school board had to have negotiations completed within a specific time frame, according to Fliege. He complimented Wolfmeyer and Butler for “having the courage” to resolve the issue.
Also, for the second time, the charter school board tabled a proposal to partner with Peoria Heights High School to offer football for Quest High School students.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Last of Gulen operated Fulton Science Academies in Georgia are DENIED by state

By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two locally-authorized charter schools in Fulton County failed to win state charters after the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia voted against them Wednesday.
Fulton Sunshine Academy, an elementary school, and Fulton Science Academy High School each failed to impress the charter commission staff, which recommended denial in both cases. The commission was troubled by the Sunshine Academy governing board’s “lack of understanding” despite years of operating under a local charter from Fulton County Schools, commission documents said. The high school’s governing board also failed to impress, with the commission staff finding “consistent problems with the governing board’s oversight of school administration.”
An audit commissioned by Fulton County Schools and released in 2012 said the financial viability of the two schools was put at risk when the school leadership obtained a bond issue in connection with an associated middle school without knowing whether the charter of that middle school would be extended. The charter was not, but Fulton Science Academy Middle School continued as a private school and now serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as Fulton Science Academy Private School.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/two-fulton-schools-state-charter-petitions-denied/nhBPF/

WILL THE DENIED GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL FULTON ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL JOIN THE FULTON SCIENCE PRIVATE SCHOOL CAMPUS?

 

September 10, 2014
ATLANTA – Officials with Fulton Science Academy High School (FSAHS) and the Fulton Sunshine Academy elementary school (FSAES) are pinning their hopes on Fulton school leaders to keep their charter status after a thumbs down vote from the state.

Last month, the State Charter School Commission (SCSC) cited management and operational concerns in denying state charter status to the two Alpharetta-based schools.

Currently, both schools are nearing the end of their five-year charters from the Fulton Board of Education (FCBOE). If the charters are not renewed beyond their June end date, the options to remain open become limited.

"With the state options now gone, the boards [of both schools] are 100 percent focused on doing whatever it takes to retain their charters with Fulton County," said David Rubinger, a spokesman for FSAHS and FSAES.

He expressed disappointment with the SCSC, which offered no comment in its decision to deny a charter to the two schools despite evidence the schools are performing well and providing a positive educational option to the area. The two schools were among nine petitions considered during the Aug. 27 meeting of the commission; five were approved.

During a presentation to the SCSC prior to their vote, Maria Beug-Deeb, chair of the FSAHS governing board, outlined changes to the board including the addition of two new members with experience in legal and financial issues.

"I assure you we are an effective board and we have worked hard to expand our effectiveness," said Beug-Deeb. "With the collaboration of the Georgia Charter School Association, [we have] devised a detailed transition plan designed to meet the stringent requirements of the State Charter School Commission."

The school currently enrolls 276 students, with the majority of the students in the ninth grade. The school opened 10 years ago.

The decision to deny state status to FSAHS was centered on governance issues, according to a report from the SCSC. The commission questioned whether the "governing board could properly oversee the operation of the school and hold the school leader accountable." It also cited a "history of inadequate governance" that led to a fractured relationship with the Fulton County School System.

Two years ago, the FCBOE voted to terminate the charter with FSAHS. However that decision was turned down by the Georgia Department of Education, allowing the school to finish out its charter.

The presentation from the Fulton Sunshine Academy to the SCSC pointed out the school has an enrollment of 550 students, with a waiting list of several hundred, and performs well academically.

"Fulton Sunshine Academy is one of the brightest spots for elementary education in Georgia," said Metin Oguzmert, chair of the school's governing board. "[The school] is among the highest ranked charter elementary schools in Fulton County, [and] a model for how a successful charter program works."

The denial for the Sunshine Academy appeared more procedural than deficiency. The school failed to demonstrate why its students would "benefit from operating as a state charter school rather than a locally approved charter school."

The petitions for charter renewal from the two schools will be submitted to the Fulton School System this month. After review, the petitions will be forwarded to the FCBOE, with a vote on Nov. 20.

While they await a final decision, the school year continues "normally" for students at FSAHS and FSAES.

"Our first priority is to ensure our schools continue performing at the exceptional level they have already achieved," said Rubinger. "We remain fully funded…[and] this process will have no impact on the schools' operation for this school year."
http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-COLUMNISTS-c-2014-09-10-205201.114126-sub-State-denies-FSA-charter.html


 

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Gulen Charter School Horizon Science Acadey expands to Ohio State Auditor

CLEVELAND -- Bombshell allegations made against a charter school company that runs several schools right here in Northeast Ohio. As we reported in June, the FBI raided several Horizon Science Schools in this area -- and WKYC learned that the Ohio Auditor has launched a special audit into Horizon-Concept schools. This comes as former teachers went before the Ohio Board of Education today with allegations of test-tampering, sexual misconduct and racial slurs against African American students. About a month ago, we told you that the FBI raided some of our local schools-- and now more investigations. "School officials were filling in bubbles on standardized tests, they claimed that it was because students didn't fill in circles dark enough," says Matt Blair, a former teacher. The allegations today were limited to the Horizon Science Academy in Dayton. Concept Schools charter chain runs 19 schools in Ohio, all will be part of a special audit by the Ohio Auditor's office. Teachers said they witnessed racial slurs, sexual activity among students that wasn't reported to parents and unsafe building conditions. The Ohio Department of Education has also said it will investigate the complaints. No Cleveland schools were implicated in the testimony today. Horizon Science Schools in Cleveland have had strong academic records even being named Blue Ribbon Schools http://www.wkyc.com/local/

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Gulen Charter Schools in Illinois effected by senate vote to abolish charter school commission

State Senator Kimberly Lightford




PRINGFIELD — Reigniting a debate over the reach of charter schools, the Senate moved Friday to abolish a controversial state panel empowered to resurrect charter-school applications that had been rejected earlier by local school systems.

The measure sponsored by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, passed the Senate 34-22 and now goes back to the House for possible action next week.

Her plan would abolish the State Charter School Commission, which Lightford said had become politicized in its primary function of deciding whether to overturn decisions by school boards that had rejected charter-school applications.

Under the legislation, that panel’s authority would shift to a newly created board to be impaneled by state schools Supt. Christopher Koch, with final decisions on rejected charter-school applications resting with the State Board of Education.

Lightford accused the commission of having worked with rejected applicants to strengthen their applications and thus help them open, which she maintained was not the purpose of the panel.

“We don’t need a charter school commission that’s trying to encourage more charter school applicants who have bad applications,” Lightford told her colleagues.

“You don’t want a bad school coming to your district. You don’t. If they don’t qualify, then you don’t want them in your school district. It’s unfair the city of Chicago is getting flooded with all these charter schools that aren’t performing,” Lightford said.

Lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn created the state charter commission in 2011. It was given the power to override local schools officials who reject applications for new charter schools and force taxpayers to fund charters that it allows to open. 

The commission exercised that power for the first time last year, clearing Des Plaines-based Concept Schools to open two new charter campuses that Chicago Public Schools officials had rejected.

The Sun-Times reported in December that Turkish-American nonprofit groups with ties to Concept Schools have hosted House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and many other Illinois lawmakers on trips to Turkey in recent years. 

And records show the state charter commission’s Springfield lobbyist is Liz Brown-Reeves  —  a former Madigan aide who accompanied lawmakers on their trip to Turkey in 2012.

A Madigan spokesman said in December that the speaker did not see any need to scrap the commission.  But Madigan abstained when the House voted 78-33 on an earlier version of the legislation in March. 

The proposal would put the commission out of business on July 1.

Since it came into being, the commission has received most of its funding from private organizations that frequently and heavily contribute to the charter-school cause. That included $200,000 from the Walton Family Foundation, linked to the founders of Wal-Mart. 

But many labor leaders and local school district officials have not been fans of the commission.

At the January meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said of the commission: “I will sit on that table with you, begging and screaming to get rid of that law. I bet you if we worked on that together, Springfield would respond.”

School Board President David Vitale replied, “Let’s join hands.”

A school district in Gurnee sued last week to reverse the commission’s recent decision to re-authorize the Prairie Crossing Charter School. Schools officials there alleged that the commission-approved charter campus siphons funding intended for the district’s “at risk” students to serve middle-class white or Asian children.

 

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Gulen linked to US Charter Schools involved with Turkey's political drama

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/26/islamic-cleric-linked-to-u-s-charter-schools-involved-in-turkeys-political-drama/



A Muslim cleric who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania and has been linked to a network of more than 135 public charter schools in the United States is believed to be deeply involved in the political drama that is unfolding in his home country of Turkey.

The reclusive cleric is Fethullah Gulen, who has been linked to charter schools in some 25 states and to other schools in dozens of countries around the world. Gulen, who has denounced terrorism and is said to believe in a moderate form of Islam, has lived in Pennsylvania for years. Gulen was until recently a close ally of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has been deeply shaken by a corruption investigation.  The prime minister just replaced three of his key ministers after they were forced to resign in the scandal.

According to the Associated Press:
 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Teacher at Gulen Charter School in Baton Rouge, Louisana questioned for lewed photos

Advocate staff photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNON -- An investigation continues into claims that a male teacher at Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School in Baton Rouge asked girls to take pictures of their genitalia and send the photos to him.
Baton Rouge police have opened a criminal investigation into claims that an instructor at Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School has been soliciting students to send him cellphone photographs of their genitalia, according to court filings.
The inquiry began May 9 after a counselor contacted the Baton Rouge Police Department and reported that Darrion Buckles had “propositioned” a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl during gym class, the filings show. Buckles, who has not been arrested, allegedly asked the students to send him the images via text message.
Investigators recently searched Buckles’ cellphone and found several close-up photographs and a video showing a female’s genitalia, according to the documents, though it was not immediately clear whether the female was a juvenile.
Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, a police spokesman, confirmed the ongoing investigation Friday but said he could not comment further. Calls to Buckles’ home were not answered.
Mark Lambert, whose public relations firm represents Kenilworth, refused to comment on the investigation and would not say whether Buckles is still employed at the school. “We’re not going to say anything,” Lambert said.
The day after the counselor reported the girls’ claims, a detective interviewed the 15-year-old girl, who claimed Buckles had given her keys to the locker room and told her to go in there to take the photographs with her cellphone.
“The 15-year-old victim refused to comply with the defendant’s instructions and proceeded to a different class,” Detective Jonathan Medine wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant.
Medine also interviewed the 14-year-old girl, who said she had been asked by Buckles before and after Christmas break to send him a photograph of her genitalia. The detective learned in interviews “that there were possibly other juvenile female students of the school who have been approached by the defendant and asked to send photographs of their (genitals) to him,” the affidavit says.
The detective also approached Buckles, who signed a voluntary consent for the officer to search his cellphone. While the face of the female depicted in the video was not visible, Medine noted, “she was wearing a purple shirt, which is consistent with the school uniform of Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School.”
Investigators with the Baton Rouge Police Department and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office searched Buckles’ home at 6648 Cameren Oaks Drive about 10:30 p.m. May 10 and seized a USB flash drive, two iPads and a laptop, according to court records. No additional details were available Friday afternoon.