Gulenist try to sneak a application into Massachusetts - Monopoly of charter schools

Supporters of a Chicopee charter school are decrying pressure from attorneys hired by the Turkish government to block an expansion plan by trying to tie the organization to international politics.

“Any attempt by the Turkish government to create connections through loose inferences needlessly discredits our schools’ efforts to bring high-quality educational opportunities to families,” said Dominic Slowey, spokesman for the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association.

“Strong oversight is fair and welcome but campaigns based on innuendo and xenophobia are not,” he added.

Slowey said claims that the Hampden Charter School of Science is associated with the religious movement led by exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who moved to Pennsylvania after fleeing Turkey in the late 1990s, are unfounded. But an expert on the Gulen movement said schools associated with it have come under fire and state officials should tread carefully.

“They should really look into this,” said David North, a fellow with the conservative think tank Center for Immigration Studies. “Don’t sully your copybook by rushing ahead and accepting this proposal when a whole lot of questions aren’t answered.”

The Chicopee-based Hampden Charter School of Science is looking to “replicate” and create a new grades 6-12 school with 588 students and a STEM focus in Westfield. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is set to vote on whether to approve the school’s application on Monday.

Attorney Robert Amsterdam, whose law firm has been hired by the Turkish government to investigate schools reportedly tied to Gulen, is urging state education officials to deny the application. He said he sent the state a packet outlining Gulen’s network of 120 charter schools, alleging the Chicopee organization is one of them.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/02/charter_school_pushing_back_against_turkish_government

OPEN LETTER TO MASSACHUSETTS PARENTS 

http://guleninvestigation.com/open-letter-massachusetts-parents/

Stop Hampden Charter School of Science from Shortchanging Massachusetts Schoolchildren and Fleecing Taxpayers Less than four months after Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to lift the cap on charters, one of the more problematic schools is looking to expand. On February 27, the 12-member Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will be voting on whether or not to allow the Chicopee-based Hampden Charter School of Science to open a sister school in Westfield. 

On February 27, the 12-member Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will be voting on whether or not to allow the Chicopee-based Hampden Charter School of Science to open a sister school in Westfield. In the application tabled by HCCS West, the new facility would aim to be a regional grade 6-12 school drawing from 588 students from Agawam, Holyoke, Westfield, and West Springfield school districts.

Parents and concerned taxpayers should urgently press the Board to reject this request. This school has known ties to the Turkish-run Pioneer Charter Schools of Science in Everett and Saugas, which are part of a nationwide network of some 170 schools operated by followers of Fethullah Gülen.

For the past year, on behalf of the Government of Turkey, my law firm has been investigating the Gülen organization schools, which are believed to be connected to last July’s bloody coup attempt in Turkey. The findings have been astounding.

In Massachusetts alone, there are numerous red flags. According to an earlier investigation by the Boston Globe, the Pioneer charter schools have spent more than $84,215 in public funds to bring 16 teachers into the country on H1-B visas – but some years later only four remained at the school.

There are also signs of systemic financial misappropriation. The Globe investigation found that Pioneer had paid out $128,600 in consulting fees to Turkish-owned Apple Education Services, and another $218,646 to five front companies registered at the same address – and that was four years ago.

And of course Pioneer isn’t operating independently, as their management has repeatedly claimed. Their application to open a second campus directly lifted text, word for word, from past applications used by Harmony Public Schools in Texas, another prominent Gülen chain.

Across the nation, there is a clear pattern of abuse in these schools. In California, Magnolia Public Schools spent almost $1 million on lawyers and fees to bring in 138 teachers, overwhelmingly from Turkey. In Texas, where they operate 46 charter schools, Harmony Public Schools inked a $102 million deal with a brand new company headed by the school’s former budget director – while employees go through a revolving door between the schools and selected vendors. In Ohio, Gulen’s Concept Schools have siphoned away $19 million of taxpayer dollars through “closed-loop leasing,” by buying buildings and renting them back to themselves at exorbitant rates. The list goes on and on.

Florida you have a problem and it's called Gulen Terrorist Movement

Young Scholars of Pennsylvania - FBI Investigated wants accountability

STATE COLLEGE 

At least one local charter school leader is reminding the community that not all charter schools are bad.

It comes on the heels of a report the state Auditor General’s Office released Thursday afternoon regarding noted problems at some state charter schools including the misuse of taxpayer dollars.

THERE ARE GOOD CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THERE ARE BAD CHARTER SCHOOLS LIKE THERE ARE GOOD PUBLIC SCHOOL (DISTRICTS) AND BAD PUBLIC SCHOOL (DISTRICTS).

Levent Kaya, Young Scholars CEO

“There are good charter schools and there are bad charter schools like there are good public school (districts) and bad public school (districts),” Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School CEO Levent Kaya said. “I agree with the auditor general that we need a system in which public funds are spent in a responsible manner to the expenses that these funds are allocated for. We are all for transparency and accountability. We are upset to read such reports about charter schools, which gives all charter schools a bad reputation when, in fact, (a) majority of them work very hard to provide the best they can for the students.”

In the report, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called out three schools, including the Beaver County-based PA Cyber Charter School that educates at least 77 students in Centre County. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS PAYTUITION PER STUDENT WHO ATTENDS A CHARTER SCHOOLCharter schools are funded through tuition paid for by local school districts that have students who live within their borders who attend the charterThe report also pointed out some charter schools that “had intermingled relationships that put individual self-interests above student needs while controlling hundreds of millions of taxpayer education funds from nearly every district in the state.”The goal for reform, DePasquale said, is to ensure education dollars help students learn, instead of help individuals profit.Charter school law reform, as presented by DePasquale, also includes improvement in accountability, effectiveness and transparency of charter schools, by creating an independent statewide charter school oversight board.

INTERESTINGLY, MOST OF THE SERIOUS PROBLEMS — PARTICULARLY THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS — THAT WE FOUND IN OUR AUDITS ARE PERMITTED UNDER THE CURRENT CHARTER SCHOOL LAW. THAT IS BEYOND RIDICULOUS, AND IT NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW.

Eugene DePasquale, auditor general

“Interestingly, most of the serious problems — particularly those associated with the management company, lack of transparency and related-party transactions — that we found in our audits are permitted under the current charter school law,” DePasquale said in a statement. “That is beyond ridiculous, and it needs to change now.”

And some local public school district leaders are hoping charter school exposure by the state will help the community get a better understanding of the system and how it should change.

“The auditor general’s report on PA Cyber Charter School and other charter schools is disturbing because it shows that the state charter school law has permitted for-profit companies to misuse taxpayer dollars, as well as negatively impact the development of K-12 students,” State College Area School District Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said in an emailed statement. “We hope that our community better understands the state’s charter law and how it gives neither local oversight nor control to the community. That is, the locally elected public school board does not have authority over or oversight of any cyber or brick-and-mortar charter school.”

But at the State College-based Young Scholars charter school, Kaya said they’re academically successful, financially sound, growing in enrollment and run by a board who Kaya said is “dedicated.”

WE ARE REQUIRED TO CONDUCT ANNUAL FINANCIAL AUDITS BY AN ACCOUNTING FIRM. OUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION IS PRESENTED TO OUR BOARD IN ALL THE BOARD MEETINGS, REPORTED TO THE STATE, AND IS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.

Kaya

“We are required to conduct annual financial audits by an accounting firm,” Kaya said. “Our financial information is presented to our board in all the board meetings, reported to the state and is publicly available.”

In 2015, Young Scholars received $3,895,535 in total revenue.

Of the total revenue, Young Scholars sets aside 3 to 5 percent of the total budget for a “rainy day” fund balance used to help pay for projects like building expansions or emergency miscellaneous items, Kaya said.

That total averaged to $11,457.46 spent per student to educate them at Young Scholars, but in the same year, the school spent $3,530,299 — less than its revenue — which equaled $10,383.23 to educate per student.

Bald Eagle Area, in the 2015-16 school year, spent $11,877.77 for a regular ed student and $21,943.69 for a special education student to be educated by the district.

At Bellefonte Area, Director of Fiscal Affairs Ken Bean said the district spent an average of $16,936 per student last school year to educate at their district. That number includes special and regular ed students.

The cost of education per student is determined by individual district systems.

Bean said Bellefonte Area dishes about $12,000 for a regular ed student to attend a charter, and about $26,000 for a special education student to attend a charter school.

That amounted to more than $1.7 million in charter school costs last year, Bellefonte Area Superintendent Michelle Saylor said.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/education/article103826406.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/education/article103826406.html

Gulen Charter Schools, Terrorism and Fraud on the American People by ex ...

Charters, Gulen And Privatization With Sharon Higgins

Gulen Charter Schools USA- Turkey Issues Arrest Warrant For CIA backed U.S. - Based Cleric

Turkey Issues Arrest Warrant for CIA Protected Fethullah Gulen for Operating Terrorist Organization

An arrest warrant was issued by a Turkish court for U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, founder of the Gulen Movement schools and former ally, and now fierce critic, of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the warrant, Gulen is accused of leading a criminal terrorist organization. The charges include operating an armed terror group, which includes a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, according to the Guardian. Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hasan Yilmaz said that there is "sufficient tangible evidence showing that Gulen committed a crime was collected during the investigation."

Turkish authorities are now appealing to Washington, D.C. to assist in extradition. Gulen came to the United States in 1999 due to health problems and has stayed in the United States after gaining his green card by convincing a federal judge that he was an influential education figure here.

I previously reported on Gulen-inspired charter schools, which use a tremendous amount of taxpayer money. Click here to read that story.

These charges stem from a string of orchestrated raids on media outlets with ties to Gulen. According to the Guardian, the warrant marks another escalation in the battle between Erdoğan and Gulen, whose movement, also known as Hizmet, has millions of followers worldwide.

Source

Editor's Note: Video recently surfaced of Gulen calling for jihadists to "explode" themselves "like a bomb against the US." Gulen is one of the most dangerous Islamists in the West.

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/01/turkey-issues-arrest-warrant-cia-protected-fethullah-gulen-operating-terrorist-organization/#Y4KJHRTbqCZSsCSW.99