Virginia's Loudoun County fights back against Gulen operated proposed school

From the Loudoun County Public Schools website – dedicated to the “proposed” Gulen Charter school in Loudoun County   http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/domain/13676

Proposed Math and IT Academy                    To speak on the charter application at a subcommittee meeting, please call (571) 2521020 FREE

 Staff Responses to Questions from the Select Committee - Click here to view.

• To ask questions about the LMITA application, click Charter@lcps.org
• Updated LMITA application (November 7,2012)
• Application - To view a copy of the application, click here.
• Attachments - To view a copy of the attachments, click here.
• Preliminary Staff Comments to Application - To view a copy of the comments, click here. 

• NEW POSTING - LMITA Response Document to Staff Review Report, Click here to view.

Deputy Superintendent's Report to the School Board (October 23, 2012) - To view the video clip, click here.

AACPS Performance Report on Chesapeake Science Point

Fatih Kandil and Ali Gokce, the lead applicants for the Loudoun Math and IT Academy charter school, take questions from School Board members Thursday evening

Documents presented by LMITA at subcommittee meeting, November 29, 2012 -  to view click on the titles,  Myth vs Fact ;  

Why LMITA ; LMITA Respones to Initial Questions

One of the many articles about the proposed Gulen Charter School in Loudoun County

http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/school-board-committee-great-concern-over-proposed-charter-school/article_b7222e42-3a97-11e2-a18a-001a4bcf887a.html

School Board Committee: 'Great Concern' Over Proposed Charter School

Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2012 9:43 pm

At an anticipated meeting Thursday, School Board members known as outspoken proponents of charter schools and school choice offered a list of concerns for the proposed math and IT charter school application that only seemed to grow longer with each of the applicants’ rebuttals.

“There are missing pieces,” School Board member and chair of the Loudoun Math & IT Academy Charter School Committee Jeff Morse (Dulles) said at one point.

The meeting was the first at which any School Board member had offered an opinion about the application for the Loudoun Math & IT Academy, which is designed by a group of Loudoun parents to serve about 575 sixth- through 12th-grade students.

After 45 minutes of questions about the proposed school’s teacher requirements, funding plan and lack of curriculum details from Morse, Jill Turgeon (Blue Ridge) and Brenda Sheridan (Sterling), it was clear the School Board members were not impressed by the applicants’ answers.

Sheridan told Fatih Kandil and Ali Gokce, the lead applicants, their comments only heightened her initial concerns.

“I believe you said, ‘the teacher uses art to teach stuff.’ In reference to the teacher handbook: ‘I don’t have time to deal with that,’ and ‘it’s hard to open a school,’” Sheridan said. “I’m being really honest with you. As someone who’s looking for us to approve your charter school I would think that you would come with the best answers possible and the most information possible… and those answers cause me great concern.”

Turgeon, a former Loudoun County second-grade teacher, told Kandil and Gokce she was surprised to see so many holes in the instruction and curriculum plan.

The curriculum plan will be developed after the charter school is approved, if it’s approved, Gokce told Turgeon.

“In my mind, if I were looking to start a charter, the catalyst for that should have been the curriculum,” Turgeon responded. “I think the curriculum needs to be really, really strong before we can move forward.”

Sheridan stressed that charter schools are supposed to supplement what a public school system is not providing. Since the Loudoun Math & IT Academy application went public early this year, the applicants have touted their plan to provide free Saturday tutoring, field trips, career days and heavy parent involvement.

But Sheridan said Loudoun’s public schools already offer that, and there is never a promise that parents will be engaged in their children’s school. “How is it going to be different and more opportunistic for the students?” she asked. “For me, the proof’s in the pudding.”

Gokce told her that, because Loudoun Math & IT Academy will be a school of choice, parents will be more willing to get involved, which will provide students with unique opportunities. “What we envision is to create an academic powerhouse where the students who want to learn will come to this school, and the environment will be conducive to learning. And all of these extra curriculum activities and clubs will be centered around that.”

The School Board members also asked Gokce and Kandil why they looked to only one charter school—Chesapeake Science Point in Anne Arundel County, MD—as a model when designing Loudoun Math & IT Academy. While Chesapeake Science Point boasts student assessments 26 points above the state’s average and a close-to-perfect attendance rate at 97.3 percent, it also has been cited for financial missteps in a report by Anne Arundel Public County Schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell.

“The problems at CSP do not have to be repeated here in Loudoun,” Gokce said, adding that he looked to the Maryland because it’s a successful, working model.

Kandil, a South Riding resident, is a former principal of Chesapeake Science Point.

The current School Board has been most outspoken about their support for the possibility of opening a charter school in Loudoun. Six School Board members were elected last year on pro-school choice campaigns, and n June, the board adopted a new process to vet charter applications that is more charter school-friendly.

In a public hearing at the end of the committee meeting, the outspoken group in opposition to the charter school was visibly enthusiastic by the School Board member’s comments. They cheered one another on as they offered comments of their own—some for sixth or seventh time in the past three months—about why they do not support the charter school.

Several of their concerns still centered around allegations that the group of parents behind the charter school are tied to a Turkish cleric named Fethullah Gulen, who preaches modern Islam and is believed to be behind a large movement of charter schools across worldwide. Others offered concerns about the lack of answers about the school’s academic plan.

Michelle Edwards, who has four children in Loudoun’s public schools, said the school system’s focus should be instead on reinstating some of the program cuts that have been made in recent years. “I’ve watched funding be cut for summer school classes and special education… I’ve paid for tutoring out of my own pocket,” she said. “If there is going to be a surplus, it is clear it needs to be put into LCPS.”

About six individuals, however, spoke in favor of the charter school, and more specifically to a program that would expand Loudoun’s information technology curriculum.

South Riding resident Dean Stiles, who’s son has applied to Academy of Science and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, said the county needs more opportunity for students who do not make it into one of those sought-after schools.

“I’m trying to understand how this is bad for Loudoun County,” he said, adding that the School Board should be willing to set aside money to help launch the school. “I want to see an investment in STEM here in Loudoun.”

At least three speakers indicated they worked in the information security field and are desperate for young people with the skills to work in the industry.

“This is where this charter school needs to be and we need more students coming out of this area to fill these jobs,” Tiffany Rad, who has children in Loudoun schools, said. She told the committee that her support for the Loudoun Math & IT Academy is not just about a gifted program or a charter school, but about an emphasis on information technology. “That does not exist in Loudoun County right now.”

Karlo Arozqueta, who identified himself as a professional computer hacker for a federal agency that is constantly short of qualified employees, had similar comments: “I don’t know if this is the answer, but something needs to be done. Someone needs to come up with an answer, and very quickly.”

The select committee will hold its next public hearing and meeting on the application at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, at the LCPS Administration Building, 21000 Education Ct., in Broadlands. It is scheduled to make a final recommendation to the full School Board Dec. 13.

WEBSITE BY CONCERNED AMERICAN VIRGINIANS ABOUT THE PROPOSED GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL

Americans fighting the Gulen Movement

http://guleninloudoun.weebly.com/index.html

PETITION TO SIGN AGAINST THE PROPOSED GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/736/268/235/

New proposed Gulen Charter School in Virginia Loudoun Math and IT Academy, Parents and Americans fight back

Now the games are reversing......America is fighting back and educating themselves about the Gulen Movement.  Parents, concerned citizens, and educators are fighting back and taking action into there own hands.  Loudoun County will have a battle on their hands.  Will the Gulenists win?
They have quite a few politicians supporting them and the money to buy people in the short term.  But what will happen in the long term?  Their new schools are slowing down to a trickle, their h1-b Visas are almost non-existant, the money is drying up, Americans are educating each other about the TRUE agenda of the schools that STILL deny affiliation with the Gulen Movement even after proof without a doubt.

Loudoun County School board member at last discussion which turned heated.  Americans stand up for your rights, your children, your tax money.  Make the Gulenists admitt they are part of the group and have an agenda for our children other than education.



Concerns about Loudoun's proposed math and IT charter school's connections to a modern Islam movement came to a roar in recent days as the applicants behind the school hosted their first community outreach meeting.

Their opposition stems from reports in several news columns, including The Washington Post's “The Answer Sheet,” which have alleged that the Chesapeake Science Point, the Anne Arundel County, MD, school that the Loudoun Math and IT Academy charter application has been modeled after, has ties to Turkish clerk and modern Islam leader Fethullah Gulen. The reports have raised up a group of Loudoun residents who have offered warnings about similar ties to the Loudoun charter school applicants at every School Board meeting since August, and their comments dominated a two-hour community outreach meeting on the school last Thursday.

Access Point Public Affairs’ Mindy Williams, who serves as the spokeswoman for the charter school applicants, started her talk just as she has every other presentation about the school for more than a year: “This charter came about because of a group of Loudoun County parents, many like you in the room, after they looked at what they wanted for their children…These parents, while they were raising their children and doing their day job, took it upon themselves to look at other charter schools as a model to start one here in Loudoun.”

After highlighting the vision of a sixth- through 12th-grade academy that would offer an alternative for Loudoun’s students, Williams, standing with School Board Vice Chairman Jill Turgeon (Blue Ridge) and Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Janet Clarke, was hammered with questions

“Will you present the public with all of the information you’ve received about this school’s connections?” Jo-Ann Chase, Loudoun resident and former candidate for the House of Delegates, asked.

Her question was followed by several from about a dozen others peppered throughout the small audience in the Creighton’s Corner Elementary School gym, challenging every aspect of the proposed charter school. They asked whether the initial proposal work is being funded by Gulen, why they are considering offering students Turkish as one of the language courses and will the school hire teachers from within Loudoun County, referring to concerns that Chesapeake Science Point’s teachers are brought in from Turkey.

At one point Ali Gokce, one of the parents behind the charter application, stood to say he’s a mechanical engineer who’s lived in Loudoun since 2005, and he simply wants a more rigorous education for his two children. “We started with a small group of parents and it grew from there. I think all these rumors are stereotyping, basically.”

Williams told the group she only first heard of the Gulen charter school movement when she received an email about it a couple of months ago from Chase. “We’re not getting any money from any outside source,” Williams insisted, adding that she has done much of the public relations work pro bono. “I’m just a mom, and I believe in school choice and I believe in these people.”

As the questions turned into allegations, Clarke asked the group, “Do you believe there are charter schools in the United States that are not connected to the Gulen movement?”

“Yes,” most in the room answered in unison.

“I do think it’s very important that we’re absolutely sure there is no connection,” Clarke continued, “but in all fairness, we can’t draw that connection when we don’t know quite yet.”

Turgeon assured the group that the School Board would not only vet the charter application thoroughly, but continue to oversee the operation of the school if it is approved. The application is under review by Loudoun County Public Schools’ senior staff members, who will present their comments to the School Board Oct. 23. The application will then be reviewed by a committee, which is chaired by Jeff Morse (Dulles), and includes Turgeon and Brenda Sheridan (Sterling).

“I hope you have the confidence in us that we’ll look at every aspect of this application,” she said, adding that while it is too early in the process to know whether she will support the Loudoun Math and IT Academy, she and most of the other nine School Board members have expressed their support for charter schools and other public school options within Loudoun. “Loudoun County does have an excellent education system with excellent teachers…but I am adamantly against a one-size-fits-all school system.”

The same individuals attending last Thursday’s community outreach meeting also listed their concerns at the Sept. 25 School Board meeting. Rachel Sargent pointed out that Ali Bicak is one of the founding members of Chesapeake Science Point and that Fatih Kandil, listed as an applicant for the Loudoun charter school, is a former principal of Chesapeake Science Point and was the director of the Horizon Science Academy in Ohio, which has also been accused of ties with Gulen.

“There’s a trend here I’m hoping you see,” Sargent said.

The charter application doesn’t hide the fact that both Bicak and Kandil’s have experience at the Maryland charter school, and lists Kandil as a South Riding resident with two children in Loudoun’s public schools.

School Board member Bill Fox (Leesburg) responded to Sargent’s and the others’ comments from the dais Sept. 25 saying that while he would look into concerns from those opposed to the Loudoun Math and IT Academy, he would not give weight to comments such as the fact that several of the applicants are Turkish.

“I don’t think we should be in the business of discriminating against an organization based on racial makeup, or saying that if there’s a strong Turkish influence that there will be some unconstitutional influence of religion anymore than saying because our curriculum committee has two people who graduated from BYU [Brigham Young University] there is any religious influence over our curriculum,” he said.

Williams said she doesn’t believe the small group opposing the charter school in Loudoun accurately represents the community’s interest. “We have received a lot of feedback from people who are excited about the possibility of a math and IT charter school.”

Loudoun Math and IT Academy's next community meeting is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Dulles South Multipurpose Center, 24950 Riding Center Drive, in South Riding.

http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/opposition-to-proposed-charter-school-intensifies/article_204b4ed0-1194-11e2-abc8-0019bb2963f4.html?_dc=611377962399.2742

Gulen Politicians Virginia Representative of 87th District David Ram...

Gulen Politicians - aka "Useful tools of Gulen": Virginia Representative of 87th District David Ram...: David emigrated to the United States of America from Lebanon in 1989. He is a graduate of George Mason University (Virginia, USA) with a...

Proposed Gulen Charter School in Virginia modeled after troubled Gulen Charter School Chesapeake

Math-science charter proposed in Loudoun, modeled on school with Turkish connection

By Emma Brown, Published: July 8

A group of Loudoun County residents is seeking permission to open a charter school in 2013that would fill growing demand for an intensive curriculum in math and science in grades six through 12.
The Loudoun proposal, which is pending before the Virginia Board of Education, is patterned after a math-science charter school in Anne Arundel County that offers Turkish-language classes and has other connections to Turkey. Established in 2005, that school boasts some of the best standardized test scores in Maryland.
But the Anne Arundel school, Chesapeake Science Point, had to fight to keep its doors open this spring after Anne Arundel Schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell and his staff detailed alleged management problems, including consistently negative cash flow, that have dogged the school since its founding.
Now, supporters of the proposed Loudoun Math and IT Academy are being asked to address the concerns raised across the Potomac River.
“It just seems like problem after problem after problem, and they weren’t minor,” Winsome E. Sears, a member of the Virginia Board of Education, said of the Anne Arundel school at a June 28 meeting on the Loudoun plan.
“How can we ensure that we don’t have these same problems?” she asked.
The Loudoun applicants wave aside questions about the Anne Arundel school, saying that it has a clear record of satisfying students and parents and producing high achievement in science, technology, engineering and math — the fields known collectively as STEM.
“We need more choices in Loudoun,” said Ali Gokce, a father of two who serves on the governing board of the proposed Loudoun school. “With the U.S. losing its edge on science and math education, parents want more rigorous STEM education.”
The state board could vote on the proposal as early as July 26. If it is approved, the plan will then go to the county school board for a final decision. Applicants hope to open the school in 2013.
It would serve almost 700 students in grades six through 12.
The school could be the first charter in Northern Virginia. Another charter proposal is pending in Fairfax County.
Like Chesapeake Science Point, the Loudoun effort is led primarily by scientists, educators and busi­ness­peo­ple of Turkish origin who say theirs is a successful school formula.
At the Anne Arundel school, teachers make home visits to connect with families and offer free early morning and weekend tutoring. Students are encouraged to accelerate through the math and science curriculum, taking high school-level math courses while still in middle grades.
They also have the option of taking Turkish-language classes and visiting Turkey with their teachers. They routinely participate in the Turkish Olympiad — an international contest in poetry, singing and folklore — as well as local and national competitions in science and math.
“I believe we were able to put together a very strong community over there,” said Fatih Kandil, a former Chesapeake Science Point principal who is now part of the Loudoun group.
“I think that is what the secret is,” he said.
Criticism in Anne Arundel
In Maryland, as in Virginia, local school boards ultimately decide whether charter schools — publicly funded, privately run institutions — may function.
When Chesapeake Science Point’s charter agreement came up for renewal this spring, Anne Arundel school officials expressed reservations about its business practices.
The superintendent’s staff said the school had ill-equipped science labs and cafeteria facilities, hired an unusually low proportion of fully certified teachers, and used county construction grants to pay operating expenses, among other issues.
The Anne Arundel staff also questioned the transparency and fairness of the school’s lottery system, used to determine which students will be admitted each year. A staff analysis of testing and enrollment data found that the school enrolled a higher-than-average proportion of students who were proficient or advanced in reading and math.
Parents and students rallied to the school’s defense, showing up in droves to testify during a six-hour school board debate.
Its supporters said the Anne Arundel school was a tight-knit community where students felt free to be smart and work hard. “A nerd fortress,” one sixth-grader called it fondly.
School officials said they were blindsided by the negative review and had been given too little time to respond.
They denied most of the allegations and said any cash flow difficulties were the fault of Anne Arundel officials, who had failed to give the charter school the tax dollars it should have received, based on enrollment. In June, Chesapeake Science Point’s governing board sued the county’s school board for more than $700,000.
The Anne Arundel board voted June 6 to renew the school’s charter. But it imposed a number of requirements, including that the school reconstitute its governing board; revamp its lottery system; and comply with school system policies on competitive bidding and employment of foreign nationals.
Asked by the Virginia board to explain the Anne Arundel problems, Kandil said the complaints were unfounded. The former Chesapeake Science Point principal said Anne Arundel officials had painted a skewed picture that didn’t jibe with the school’s strong academic performance.
“The climate over there is actually not strong on understanding of the charter school practices across the nation,” Kandil told the Virginia board.
“The outcomes are not justifying the allegations or accusations, and I think outcomes talk loud and clear,” he said.
Turkish-connected charters
More than 120 charter schools nationwide are led by Turkish immigrants, analysts say. Some scholars and critics believe that many of these schools are connected to Fethullah Gulen, an influential Turkish cleric who lives in the Pennsylvania Poconos.
Gulen preaches religious tolerance and math and science education. His followers run hundreds of schools around the world, scholars who track the movement say. Several U.S. schools thought to have ties to Gulen have come under scrutiny from state and federal officials over issues such as reportedly giving preference in contracts to Turkish-owned companies.
Leaders of the Anne Arundel school and the Loudoun charter proposal say they are not affiliated with Gulen. “We are just human beings trying to educate our students, and that’s all,” Kandil said.
Christian Braunlich, a member of the Virginia school board, said he had heard allegations of a Gulen connection to the Loudoun proposal but had no reason to believe them.
The Loudoun proposal would require all students to complete at least one information- technology career certification, such as in Microsoft or Cisco networks.
“That’s going to be so critical for our future job market,” said Sharon Inetas, a Loudoun businesswoman who serves on the proposed school’s governing board. “Maybe we can keep our kids here, keep our community.”
Eric Hornberger, chairman of the Loudoun school board, said the Anne Arundel debate would undoubtedly come up if the proposal advances past the state board.
“You have to weigh all these things carefully and thoughtfully,” Hornberger said. “But just because another school system or another school has a problem doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be the same in Loudoun County.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/math-science-charter-proposed-in-loudoun-modeled-on-school-with-turkish-connection/2012/07/08/gJQA9hXuWW_story.html

TO LEARN ABOUT THE 2006 PROBLEMS AT CHESAPEAKE ACADEMY PLEASE READ HERE:

County takes over Charter School

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032900704_pf.html