THE PERIMETER PRIMATE

Thank you

2016-03-21T12:11:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

Thank you for visiting The Perimeter Primate. This blog is being retired for the time being. Although I no longer post here, I do still share information and my perspectives on Twitter, including regular links to news about the Gülen Movement and its charter schools.

I launched The Perimeter Primate in February 2008 as a place to express my frustration and findings about the damaging corporate-type education reform being implemented here in Oakland and elsewhere. Los Angeles-based billionaire Eli Broad was having an outsized and negative impact on my daughters’ public school district, so I also created The Broad Report and posted there for a period of time.

During those early years I was thrilled to be able to connect with parents in other states who were experiencing the same type of public school system dismantling in their communities. Such is the power and tremendous potential of the internet. We eventually gathered in New York City to form Parents Across America in order to support other concerned parents who were experiencing the privatizers’ agenda, and to share with them what we knew.

It was around that time that I decided to do what I could to counter all the billionaire-funded charter school propaganda flooding the country. Knowing that charter schools were not all about goodness and light, I started Charter School Scandals (CSS) with the intention of it being a compilation of news reports about problems popping up at charter schools across the country, i.e. this one in Oakland.

Within a week or two of CSS’s launch in mid-May 2010, I encountered a set of articles about charter schools in Utah and Arizona that were believed to be linked to a mysterious Turkish religious community called the Gülen Movement.

At that point I’d never heard of the Gülen Movement and knew next to nothing about the Republic of Turkey. Then I realized a charter school with the same characteristics was operating in my town. This odd “coincidence” is what led me down the rabbit hole to the study of this secretive and controversial group’s involvement in the charter school sector. I’m especially proud to have contributed to KILLING ED, a new film about this situation.

Thanks to filmmaker Mark S. Hall, many more Americans are going to get up-to-speed on the Gülen Movement’s existence, its presence in the US, and its involvement in an enormous network of taxpayer-funded charter schools. You can watch the trailer below.

When I started The Perimeter Primate in early 2008, very little word was getting out to Americans about how US public education was in the midst of being privatized; those who suggested it were often labeled conspiracy theorists. Back then, the tip of the spear for exposing what was going on – as far as I knew – was Susan Ohanian, Gerald Bracey (d. 2009, what a tremendous loss!), and Jim Horn. Mainstream education writers would not touch the topic, and many still refuse to. At that point, Diane Ravitch had not yet published her first book, Anthony Cody hadn’t quite started blogging yet, and if Peter Green was, I wasn’t aware. So many wonderful activist/bloggers and valiant warriors are out there now, with a special h/t to Tim Furman.

I can’t close without mentioning one other major early influence on me: Naomi Klein’s book, Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Reading it was a visceral and life-changing experience. Although not about public education specifically, it opens with what was done to the public school system of New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina.

Make no mistake: US public education is in the midst of being privatized. I’m glad to have been able help my readers grasp that fact. More and more Americans are catching onto the agenda of the corporate powers, that one-tenth of the 1%. And although it might feel like it sometimes, resistance is definitely not futile.

Best,

Sharon Higgins

The Perimeter Primate

Trailer for KILLING ED from Visual Truth Projects on Vimeo.

False advertising and Concept Schools

2014-04-24T17:22:00.002-07:00

This coming fall, Concept Schools will be adding two more charter schools to its collection. Both are in Chicago and come courtesy of the Chicago school board members who voted to approve the two proposals in January.

The promotional brochure designed to attract student enrollment states: “Concept serves 12,000 students in 30 high-performing charter schools across the Midwest, including 3 schools in Chicago.” (1.0 MB pdf) But Concept Schools is intentionally misleading Chicago’s parents.

The following tables display academic, graduation, and enrollment figures for Concept’s 19 schools in Ohio.

Note the large number of “F” ratings that appear on their most recent Ohio School Report Cards (click “C”, then “Community Schools”).

Note the low student retention at the four high schools. The enrollment figures come from the database maintained by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

In no way can Concept truthfully claim that its 30 charter schools are high-performing!

Community members should seriously consider filing a false advertising complaint with the City of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection or with the local Better Business Bureau. At the very least, Chicago Public Schools should be challenged for allowing Concept to perpetrate this type of fraud.

For additional evidence of Concept’s *consumer* deception, look at the deep analysis of state test scores, SAT and ACT scores, and graduation rates in the aptly named 2011 presentation by CASILIPS: “The Concept Schools model: success in education or success in marketing?”

And to learn more about Concept Schools, watch this.

Click to enlarge

Gulen Movement 101: Session Two

2014-04-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

Navigating the webinar

00:00 – 18:27 min.: Recap from Session One (overview of Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement, overview of the GM's US activities)
18:28 – 37:10 min.: Concept Schools history, founders, etc.
37:11 – 1:00:45 min: The specific theology of the Gulen Movement (presented by Tim Furman)
1:00:46 – 1:24:40 (end): Local GM-associated organizations, Concept Schools leadership patterns, etc.

Gulen 101 Session Two, With Sharon Higgins from Tim Furman on Vimeo.

Be sure to check out Tim Furman’s excellent commentary about this webinar.

It’s always a head-scratching experience to observe the Gulen charter school operators deny connection to all the other cookie-cutter charter schools in their network. Click on the image and take a look at this very early example of mutually used text.

Webinar video of Gulen Movement 101: Session One

2014-01-30T11:41:00.003-08:00

Gulen 101 Session One With Sharon Higgins from Tim Furman on Vimeo.

Some of the videos shown during the presentation have been deleted from this video, but you will find them online.

Portion of Gulen sermon
Portion of scholar Joshua Hendrick's talk at conference sponsored by the Rumi Forum
Portion of Dr. Oz from Faces of America
Portion of Turkish Language Olympiad Missouri Finals
Portion of 4th New York Turkish Olympiads (student "whirling dervishes")
Portion of Actual Sema Ceremony (real "whirling dervishes")
Portion of TMSA Festival Students Dancing Semmame (Greensboro)
Portion of TMSA Festival Turkish Song "Soyleymedim"(Greensboro)

Much more information is contained in my posts labeled “Gulen Movement” as well as at my Charter School Scandals blog.

The Gulen Movement: “a non-transparent organizational model”

2013-11-24T11:17:00.001-08:00

The leading US authority on the Gulen Movement (GM) at this time is Joshua Hendrick, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Loyola University Maryland. His new book “Gulen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World” was published in August 2013 by New York University Press. Fifteen pages are devoted to the Gulen charter school situation and are worth your investment in the book. From page 230:

“... by insisting on the nonpolitical nature of the GM’s lobbying and public relations efforts, by maintaining ambiguity regarding connectivity between individuals and institutions, by flatly denying suspect hiring and retention practices at affiliated charter schools, by allegedly engaging in gender discrimination at these schools, and by becoming the subjects of state and federal level investigation for financial mismanagement, the GM has opened itself up to intense criticism at best, and to potential criminal implications at worst.”

Hendrick recently spoke at one of the Gulen Movement’s self-promotional conferences.

Notable comments during his 12-minute long presentation (begins at 0:01:10 min.):

03:07 min.: “I am criticized by my colleagues and friends in the Gulen Movement for applying categories from western social science to explain mobilization of a Muslim social community.”
04:14 min.: “... this social movement or collective mobilization, more specifically, is, among many other things, accumulating influence and power in Turkey and increasingly more throughout the world.”
04:35 min.: explains that the papers presented at the conferences sponsored by Gulenist organizations are produced by sympathizers and the literature “has a certain narrative of the Gulen movement.” [see here for more info]
05:16 min.: “... these conferences are critiqued by people who have a different political perspective in Turkey of the Gulen Movement as being promotional conferences of a narrative to sort of promote the Gulen Movement as equivalent to Turkey, which it’s not. It’s an aspect of Turkey and there is a number of other narratives about Turkey that compete with the Gulen Movement.”
06:00 min.: “... dialogue is so, more often than not, restricted towards monotheistic faith communities... there’s also no dialogue that I’ve ever seen in the Gulen community with atheist communities, with agnostic communities, with New Age communities, with LBGTQ communities.”
06:25 min.: “Moreover, right now there’s a dozen or so fellows out in the front; I don’t know if you’ve seen them. They’re holding up Turkish flags of a variety of sorts and giving a particular political narrative of what’s going on in Turkey. I would define dialogue as inviting those people in here, cancelling the rest of the day, putting them up here and having a Q and A about what’s going on in Turkey. That’s what I would say would be dialogue.”

Turkish-Americans protesting the Gulen Movement in front of the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on October 26, 2013.

06:51 min.: “Those who are critical of the Gulen Movement are not a marginal few in Turkey. The Gulen Movement is as praised and supported as it is critiqued and feared, and that is something that needs to be engaged with I think... in order to understand what is the Gulen Movement in addition to its own promotion of itself.”
07:49 min.: “[The Gulen Movement] is a non-transparent organizational model...”
10:04 min.: (talks about how strategic ambiguity works in re to the Gulen charter schools)
11:22 min.: Hendrick explains how the Gulen community is organized, as diagramed on page 122 in his book.*
12:47 min.: “... the most powerful and important organizational strata of the Gulen Movement is the unaware consumer: the student at the school who has no idea that this is connected to any religious community; the consumer of products of a book or a financial product; or a piece of news because it’s in English – and there’s only two options if you are reading about Turkey – and you have no idea what the Gulen Movement is. And that is the biggest and most important, in my opinion, for the continual adaptability and mobilization of this organization.”

Hendrick was asked five of the six questions during the Q&A that followed the panelists' presentations. At 0:48:43 min. he describes his findings for why people join the movement and how they are recruited. At 0:58:41 min. he describes his view for the basis of the organizational model of the Gulen Movement and explains:

“There’s a completely rational, logical understanding for the organizational model of the Gulen Movement. That said, when the Gulen Movement moved outside of Turkey in the 1990s, and then to much of the world in the late 90s and 2000s, it moved into other local contexts where that ambiguity does not translate in a culturally communicative way. That is, in my opinion, what’s happening here. The ambiguous, strategically ambiguous, flexible organizational model of the Gulen Movement does not culturally compute with an American public and this is leading into a public relations problem, at best, in a number of states. It’s not leading to a problem in other states; it depends on that state’s particular politics around charter schools and the privatization of schools therein. So in Texas there’s a much friendlier community than there is in Pennsylvania.”

On this last point Hendrick is being far too simplistic. Yes, Texas is a major node of Gulenist activity in the US and also home to the largest number of Gulen charter schools (45 in the state this year), but that is due to reasons that do not have anything to do with Texans’ so-called friendliness towards charter schools.

Other reasons why Texas probably ended up as a Gulenist stronghold relate to 1.) the failure of local media to fully inform the public (i.e., contrast reporting in Texas with the reporting of Martha Woodall at the Philadelphia Inquirer, also see here and here); 2.) the Gulenists' success with their efforts to recruit Texas public officials and others to be their sympathizers, people who may, or may not, have consciously agreed to serve them in that capacity (a gullibility factor); 3.) the large amounts of money contributed to Texas politicians by members of the GM; 4.) strong ties and lucrative contracts between major business interests in Texas relating to Turkey (i.e., the defense and energy industries); 5.) and more. Even the size of Texas may have been a factor. Perhaps the Gulenists recognized that their chance of being detected would be reduced if they could spread their activites across such a large geographical area. Hopefully an academic who is not a GM member or one of its recruited sympathizers will explore this topic one day.

S.R.H.

* Click on image to enlarge.

Lying like a rug: Concept Schools

2013-10-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Since Concept Schools is willing to lie to Americans about its very fundamental connection to the Gulen Movement’s (GM) larger school network, then what else is it lying about and why should Americans trust anything it claims?

Despite the GM’s best efforts to stay under the radar, each day a few more Americans are becoming aware of its presence here. As followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who has been living on a secluded compound in rural Pennsylvania since the late 1990s, GM members have been busy building up their enormous network of schools around the world, among which are more than 140 publicly-funded charter schools operating in 26 of the United States.

However, most American taxpayers still have no idea that they are funding this secretive and highly controversial group’s US set of schools. The GM has been able to take advantage of what Diane Ravitch calls a "Reign of Error," This is the current education reform effort that is driving to privatize the US public school system (she discusses Gulen charter schools on page 166). As the American Foreign Policy Council’s report (“Fethullah Gulen Movement”) explains:

"The charter school experiment has resulted in the United States being the only country in the world where the Gülen Movement has been able to establish schools fully funded by the host country’s taxpayers."

Operating 30 charter schools in several Midwestern states, Illinois-based Concept Schools is the second largest CMO operated by the GM. Texas-based Harmony Public Schools is the largest. It operates 40 charter schools in Texas and sells services to a number of Gulen charter schools in neighboring states.

When Concept Schools opened two more charter schools in Chicago this year, it brought the number of Gulen charter schools operating in Chicago up to three. Horizon Science Academy – Belmont and Horizon Science Academy – McKinley Park joined Chicago Math and Science Academy which opened in 2004.

Concept Schools adamantly denies any association between other charter schools initiated by so-called “Turkish Americans.” These statements currently appear on Concept’s website.

And

But Concept’s schools DO have ties and affiliation to other charter school networks, as well as to a larger school network operating around the world. A mountain of evidence has been accumulated that demonstrates those ties and affiliations. To look at some of it, start here.

C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. (Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools) already exposed how Concept and other Gulen Movement-associated schools have used the same letter to welcome their families to the new school year. Sometimes school leaders alter it just a bit.

Below are additional examples of those letters that continue to be used by various charter and private schools that are part of the Gulen Movement’s school network (click to enlarge). Links to documents are in the first comment of this post.*

Charter schools affiliated with Concept Schools

Illinois: Horizon Science Academy – McKinley Park (OPENED 2013)

Indiana: Indiana Math and Science Academy (3 schools)

Ohio: Horizon Science Academy – Columbus Middle School

Missouri: Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis

Charter schools affiliated with Harmony Public Schools**

Arkansas: LISA Academy – North

New Mexico: Albuquerque School of Excellence

Oklahoma: Dove Science Academy

Texas: Harmony School of Science – Austin (message for 2006-2007 signed by Robert Johnson, EARLIEST KNOWN USE OF LETTER)

Charter schools affiliated with Charter Educational Services & Resources, Inc. (AKA Charter Resources)***

Florida: River City Science Academy

Florida: Orlando Science Schools

South Carolina: Greenville Renewable Energy Education (GREEN) Charter School (OPENED 2013; principal Adem Dokmeci previously worked at River City Science Academy)

Charter schools affiliated with Apple Educational Services

Massachusetts: Hampden Charter School of Science

New Jersey: Bergen Arts and Science Charter School – Middle High

New York: Rochester Academy Charter School

North Carolina: Triad Math and Science Academy

Pennsylvania: Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School

Charter schools affiliated with the Accord Institute for Education Research

California: Bay Area Technology School

California: Magnolia Science Academy chain

Utah: Beehive Science and Technology School

Private Gulen schools in the US

Illinois: Science Academy of Chicago (signed by Serdar Kartal who is now principal of HSA – Belmont)

New Jersey: Pioneer Academy of Science

Private Gulen schools outside the US

Canada: Nile Academy

Ethiopia: Nejashi Ethio - Turkish International Schools

Hong Kong: Rosebud Primary School

Korea: Rainbow International School

Tajikistan: Dushanbe International School

* Three non-Gulen movement-associated schools have also used the welcome letter.

Georgia: Hapeville Charter School, signed by Jannard Rainey, Principal
Texas: Ambassadors Preparatory Academy, signed by Patricia Williams, Administrator.
Texas: Cayuga High School, signed by Greg Branch, Principal.

See these recent news reports about charter schools getting into trouble because of plagiarism:

“Four Texas charter school proposals contain copied passages.” Dallas Morning News (TX), 2/0/2013
“Charlotte charter school can’t open because of plagiarism allegation.” Charlotte Observer (NC), 3/7/2013

** Previously called the Cosmos Foundation

*** Previously called the Grace Institute for Educational Research & Resources, a.k.a. Grace Schools

Update on Gulen charter schools

2013-09-14T17:26:00.001-07:00

2013-2014: 147 schools in 26 states (# students TBD)
2012-2013: 140 schools in 26 states (59,953 students)
2011-2012: 136 schools in 26 states (51,950 students)
2010-2011: 126 schools in 25 states (44,727 students)

Closed or control transferred to another entity at the end of 2012-2013 (five schools):

California (1): Pacific Technology School – Orangevale (closed)
Florida (2): Sweetwater Branch Academy and Sweetwater Branch Academy Elementary (closed because of poor school grades and financial trouble)
Maryland (1): Baltimore IT Academy (indicators that control has been transferred: staff now using @bcps.k12.md.us email instead of @bitacademy.org; website used to be www.bitacademy.org but is now http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Domain/5027
Minnesota (1): Minnesota School of Science (closed)

School replaced (one school)

Arizona (1): Sonoran Science Academy – Peoria (17667 N 91st Ave., Peoria) has replaced Sonoran Science Academy – Phoenix Metro (2645 E. Osborn Rd., Phoenix) on the Sonoran Schools website. Webpage for SSA-Phoenix Metro redirects to SSA-Peoria, a new location 30 mi. away.

New schools (12 schools)

Florida (2)

Discovery Academy of Science (1380 Pinehurst Rd., Dunedin)
River City Science Academy – Innovation (3251 Newell Blvd., Jacksonville)

Illinois (2)

Horizon Science Academy Belmont (5035 W. North Ave., Chicago)
Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park (2245 W. Pershing Rd., Chicago)

Indiana (1)

Indiana Math & Science Academy – South (2710 Bethel Ave., Indianapolis)

Massachusetts (1)

Pioneer Charter School of Science II (planned for Saugus; using temporary location in Everett)

Missouri (1)

Gateway Science Academy – South (6651 Gravois Ave., St. Louis)

New Jersey (1)

Paterson Arts and Sciences Charter School (151 East 33rd St., Paterson)

New York (1)

Utica Academy of Science Charter School (1214 Lincoln Ave., Utica)

South Carolina (1)

Greenville Renewable Energy Education ("GREEN") Charter School (1440 Pelham Rd., Greenville)

Texas (2)

Harmony School of Exploration (9305 W. Sam Houston Parkway South, Houston)
Harmony School of Innovation – Euless (701 S. Industrial Blvd, Suite 105, Euless)

Known Gulen charter schools in the works as of 9/14/2013 (eight)

Connecticut (1)

Connecticut Academy of Math and Science: most recent known activity was in January 2013 when a Letter of Intent was submitted to the Connecticut Board of Education

Florida (1)

Capital City Charter Science Academy: most recent known activity was in August 2013 when an application was submitted to Leon County Schools

Maine (1)

Lewiston-Auburn Academy Charter School: most recent known activity was in September 2013 when a Letter of Intent was submitted to the Maine Charter School Commission

New York (1)

Westchester Academy of Science Charter School: most recent known activity was in February 2013 when the Letter of Intent was accepted and the operator was invited to submit its full application

Pennsylvania (4)

Allentown Engineering Academy Charter School: most recent known activity was in February 2013 when the application was rejected by the Allentown School Board
Erie Biosciences Academy Charter School: most recent known activity was in February 2013 when the application was rejected by the Millcreek School Board. There were indications that the founders might appeal.
Young Scholars of McKeesport Charter School: most recent known activity was in March 2013 when the application was rejected by the McKeesport Area School Board. The founders stated that they would appeal.
Academy of Business & Entrepreneurship Charter School: most recent known activity was in September 2013 when a Letter of Intent was submitted to the School District of Lancaster (SDL). The SDL school board had rejected the charter in March 2013.

For additional details about these schools and other past attempts, see Proposed Gulen charter schools, a page by CASILIPS.

"Expose the Gulen Movement" report

2013-09-02T08:51:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, August 31st, I was one of the speakers at the "Expose the Gulen Movement" protest rally held on a farm in the rural, rolling hills around Saylorsburg, PA. We assembled less than two miles from the compound where Fethullah Gulen lives.

Gulen is considered to be one of the two most powerful men in Turkey. Those who attended the protest have a common interest in shedding light on the Gulen Movement's activities. To many Turks and Turkish-Americans, Gulen is using his power to undermine modernity, secularism, democracy, and women's rights not only in Turkey, but throughout the world.

This is the video of my speech about the Gulen charter schools, starting at 00:45 min.

Link: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/4244422/AbdEylemVakti/videos/28766474

Earlier that day, Gulenist operatives had driven around to take down the signs that organizers had posted to help guide protesters to the rally.

I also spoke at yesterday's "Expose the Gulen Movement" conference in Piscataway, NJ, attended by 100 people, mostly Turkish Americans. My segment starts at 40:00 min. and lasts 20 min.

I understand the conference was simultaneously broadcast in Turkey. (Note: Sadly, the audio quality could be better.)

In both talks I explain how the privatization of public education has allowed the Gulen movement to establish the largest charter school network in the US. Their 146 charter schools will enroll over 60,000 students this year. The schools' taxpayer-supplied revenue is up to approximately one-half billion dollars per year.

Preceding me in both videos is Mary Addi, a former Gulen charter school teacher. She was interviewed in the 60 Minutes piece.

The moderator at the conference is Kaya Boztepe, ex-president of the Federation of Turkish American Associations.

The panelists seated at the table are a retired Turkish admiral and two Turkish journalists. The journalists, who have been critical of the government and the Gulen Movement, spent nearly two years in jail after being arrested under terrorism charges. They were finally released but I understand their trials are still pending and it is expected that they will be found guilty and end up with long sentences. Turkey now leads the world with jailing journalists. More about those panelists in this post.

I must emphasize that the panelists and conference attendees are extremely alarmed by Fethullah Gulen and his followers' escalating power in Turkey and elsewhere, and the manner in which they have acquired it. Gulen left Turkey in 1998 and has been hiding out at his compound in the US ever since. However, he periodically delivers his opinions through his media organs in Turkey (Zaman newspapers) and also gives weekly sermons to his followers online @ http://www.herkul.org/

In Pennsylvania I met a local resident who reported seeing guards with "machine guns" at the entry of the compound in the late 1990s. Locals have also seen helicopters flying over the compound. I've read reports about those things, but never knew if they were true or not.

Keep in mind how odd this must be -- along with the emergence of two Turkish-American organized anti-Gulen protests held this summer -- for the Pennsylvanians who live in what is normally an extremely quiet rural area.

Over the past two days, I also met a lot of Turkish Americans with personal stories of their own about being negatively-affected by the Gulenists. This group's stealth strategy is brilliant. They intimidate and threaten their critics and many people have become afraid of speaking out against them.

The big question is why is our government letting this group run so many charter schools? And why are so many of our public officials allowing themselves to be courted by this group?

What I continually hope for is a time when we will have a broad, informed, public discussion about this situation.

Please educate yourself about the Gulen Movement. For instance, you can start by listening to this new Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview with Joshua Hendrick about how the Gulen Movement works (first 45 minutes; transcript also available). Please share and talk about the situation with other people you know.

I periodically post new information at https://twitter.com/sharonoak but the very best source of information is https://twitter.com/CASILIPS.

"Expose the Gulen Movement" Protest and Conference

2013-08-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Two upcoming related events, a protest and a conference, will provide Americans with an opportunity to learn more about the Gulen Movement. The protest is an excellent opportunity for those in the NYC, NJ, and PA area to speak out against Gulen charter school expansion.

These protests are forming a bridge across the Atlantic that can help Americans understand more about the dark side of the secretive and controversial Turkish religious group that runs the largest charter school network here!

“EXPOSE THE GULEN MOVEMENT” PROTEST
Date: Saturday, August 31
PLACE: Logging Road 45006, Saylorsburg, PA
TIME: 2 PM

“EXPOSE THE GULEN MOVEMENT” CONFERENCE
Date: Sunday, September 1
Place: Radisson Hotel Piscataway-Somerset, 21 Kingsbridge Road, Piscataway, NJ
TIME: 1 PM

Interpreters will be present.

1. THE SECOND "EXPOSE THE GULEN MOVEMENT" PROTEST IN PENNSYLVANIA

This is a follow-up to a protest was held in July 2103: “Protests Planned Against Nation’s Largest Charter Operator.” Continue reading this post to learn about the scale of Gulen charter school expansion.

A small group in Los Angeles will also be protesting on Saturday, August 31, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM, at 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA.

2. "EXPOSE THE GULEN MOVEMENT" CONFERENCE IN NEW JERSEY

On Sunday, September 1st, an "Expose the Gulen Movement" conference will take place in Piscataway, New Jersey (40 miles from New York City). I will be speaking about the Gulen charter schools, but the primary focus of the conference will be to disseminate information about the concerning situation in Turkey and explain the role of Fethullah Gulen and his followers. The main speakers will be a retired Turkish admiral and two formerly imprisoned Turkish journalists. Turkey leads the world with jailing journalists.

The political history and dynamics in Turkey are complex. Fethullah Gulen is an extremely powerful presence despite the fact that he lives in the US. For a taste of his involvement with the control of Turkey, read this recent article about the current situation published by Der Spiegel, a large and well-respected German news magazine: “Dangerous Friends: Power Struggle Splits Turkish Ruling Party.”

Der Spiegel has published other reports about the Gulen movement. Turkish issues are quite important in Germany where the immigration of workers from Turkey has resulted in a significant minority population (4% in 2010). To compare, Asian Americans were 4.8% of the US population in 2010.

Both of these "Expose the Gulen Movement" events have been organized by Turkish-Americans who are passionate about sharing their knowledge with the American public.

This is the organizing page for the Pennsylvania protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/159521840907153/
This is the organizing page for the California protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/434452180003192/

The events are part of a series of related actions across the country. After the first protest in Saylorsburg on July 13th, smaller protests were held in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC (check out what the banner says at the 2:00 min. mark).

Banner displayed at a protest in Washington, DC, on August 4, 2013

GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION.

In March 2012 when I added up 2010-2011 enrollment figures for this network of schools in preparation for my Washington Post guest piece, the total was 44,727 students. I recently tabulated the figures for 2012-2013 and discovered that the enrollment had climbed to 59,953 students, an increase of 15,000 students (30%) in just two years! This page by CASILIPS portrays the state-by-state Gulen charter school expansion since 1999. Be sure to watch the short video.

The rapid expansion in enrollment has occurred for two reasons. The first is that existing Gulen charter schools are continually adding the grade levels granted by their charter agreements. The second reason is that new Gulen charter schools are still being approved – mostly without any meaningful public discussion about their ties to a secretive and controversial Turkish religious group. This is not surprising considering the scant amount of decent press coverage devoted to the Gulen movement's US activities in general.

The bottom line is that – as each year goes by – this group annually gets more and more and more of the public’s money, in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars, all with little oversight (see here, here, here, here, etc.).

As the American Foreign Policy Council's report (“Fethullah Gulen Movement”) concludes : “The charter school experiment has resulted in the United States being the only country in the world where the Gulen Movement has been able to establish schools fully funded by the host country’s taxpayers.”

The big question is why is this happening with so little public awareness and discussion? Fortunately, this weekend’s events will help to change that unfortunate situation.

Gulen charter school enrollment in 2012-2013

2013-08-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools describes itself as “the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement.” It closely tracks the charter school market share.

In 2012-2013, Gulen charter school enrollment was 59,953 students. The following table contains the figures for each of the schools listed on the NAPCS website (=140) that are Gulen Movement-associated.

In 2011-2012, Gulen charter school enrollment was 51,950 students.

In 2010-2011, Gulen charter school enrollment was 44,727 students.

Such rapid escalation is occurring not only because new schools are opening, but because schools are continually filling out the grade levels that are permitted by their charter agreements. Even though these schools hire a good number of American teachers, the Gulenists maintain control of the finances, resulting in a lot of taxpayer money being delivered directly into the hands of this secretive and extremely controversial Turkish religious group -- and with very little oversight (see here, here, here, here, etc.).

The list of known new Gulen charter schools for 2013-2014 is at the very bottom.

ARIZONA	Paragon Science Academy	568
	Sonoran Science Academy - Ahwatukee	148
	Sonoran Science Academy - Broadway	316
	Sonoran Science Academy - Davis Monthan Air Force Base	201
	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix	324
	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix Metro	136
	Sonoran Science Academy - Tucson	790

ARKANSAS	LISA Academy	554
	LISA Academy - North Elementary	248
	LISA Academy - North Little Rock High	101
	LISA Academy - North Middle	151
	LISA Academy High School	238

CALIFORNIA	Bay Area Technology School	188
	Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego	335
	Magnolia Science Academy - Santa Clara	525
	Magnolia Science Academy 1 - Reseda	488
	Magnolia Science Academy 2 - Valley	380
	Magnolia Science Academy 3 - Carson (or Gardena)	379
	Magnolia Science Academy 4 - Venice	194
	Magnolia Science Academy 5 - Hollywood	239
	Magnolia Science Academy 6 - Palms	136
	Magnolia Science Academy 7 - Van Nuys	233
	Magnolia Science Academy 8 - Bell	495
	Pacific Technology School - Orangevale	138
	Pacific Technology School - Santa Ana (or Orange County)	145

COLORADO	Lotus School for Excellence	775

FLORIDA	New Springs Elementary School	175
	New Springs Middle School (New Springs Schools)	174
	Orlando Science Elementary	232
	Orlando Science Middle/High School	488
	River City Science Academy	746
	River City Science Academy - Elementary	329
	STARS Middle School	166
	Sweetwater Branch Academy	70
	Sweetwater Branch Academy Elementary	120

GEORGIA	Fulton Sunshine Academy, Elementary School	564
	Fulton Science Academy High School	253

ILLINOIS	Chicago Math and Science Academy	590
	Quest Charter Academy	288

INDIANA	Indiana Math & Science Academy - North	519
	Indiana Math & Science Academy - West	541

LOUISIANA	Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School	521

MARYLAND	Baltimore IT Academy*	223
	Chesapeake Math and IT Academy	295
	Chesapeake Science Point Charter School	391

MASSACHUSETTS	Hampden Charter School of Science	334
	Pioneer Charter School of Science	359

MICHIGAN	Michigan Math and Science Academy	441

MINNESOTA	Minnesota School of Science	329

MISSOURI**	Frontier School of Excellence - Middle	87
	Frontier School of Excellence - Upper	138
	Frontier School of Innovation - Lower	494
	Frontier School of Innovation - Middle	182
	Gateway Science Academy High School	275
	Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis	438

NEVADA	Coral Academy of Science - Las Vegas	1275
	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Elementary	453
	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Secondary	448

NEW JERSEY	Bergen Arts and Science Charter School	575
	Central Jersey College Prep	313
	Passaic Arts and Science Charter School	356
	Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology	1039
	Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School	210

NEW MEXICO	Albuquerque School of Excellence	316

NEW YORK	Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School	404
	Rochester Academy Charter School	328
	Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School	659

NORTH CAROLINA	Triad Math and Science Academy	599
	Triangle Math and Science Academy	274

OHIO	Horizon Science Academy – Cincinnati	457
	Horizon Science Academy – Cleveland Elementary School	161
	Horizon Science Academy – Cleveland High School	490
	Horizon Science Academy – Cleveland Middle School	161
	Horizon Science Academy – Columbus Elementary School	498
	Horizon Science Academy – Columbus High School	428
	Horizon Science Academy – Columbus Middle School	434
	Horizon Science Academy – Dayton Downtown	222
	Horizon Science Academy – Dayton Elementary	150
	Horizon Science Academy – Dayton High School	373
	Horizon Science Academy – Denison Elementary School	226
	Horizon Science Academy – Denison Middle School	304
	Horizon Science Academy – Lorain	423
	Horizon Science Academy – Springfield	441
	Horizon Science Academy – Toledo Downtown	516
	Horizon Science Academy – Toledo High School	314
	Horizon Science Academy – Youngstown	388
	Noble Academy – Cleveland	304
	Noble Academy – Columbus	257

OKLAHOMA	Discovery School of Tulsa	410
	Dove Science Academy - Oklahoma City	475
	Dove Science Academy - Tulsa	450
	Dove Science Academy Elementary School	296

PENNSYLVANIA	Truebright Science Academy	307
	Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School	246
	Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School	178

TENNESSEE	Memphis School of Excellence	292*

TEXAS	Harmony School of Advancement - High	531
	Harmony School of Business - Dallas	433
	Harmony School of Discovery - Houston	773
	Harmony School of Excellence	920
	Harmony School of Excellence - Endeavor	538
	Harmony School of Excellence [in Austin]	712
	Harmony School of Fine Arts and Technology [AKA Harmony School of Art]	724
	Harmony School of Ingenuity	653
	Harmony School of Innovation - Dallas [formerly HSI-Carrollton]	675
	Harmony School of Innovation - El Paso	636
	Harmony School of Innovation - Fort Worth	420
	Harmony School of Innovation - Houston	594
	Harmony School of Innovation - San Antonio	532
	Harmony School of Nature & Athletics	763
	Harmony School of Political Science and Communication	718
	Harmony School of Science - Austin	550
	Harmony School of Science - Houston	715
	Harmony School of Science - Houston High	781
	Harmony Science Academy - Austin	378
	Harmony Science Academy - Beaumont	516
	Harmony Science Academy - Brownsville	438
	Harmony Science Academy - Bryan / College Station	392
	Harmony Science Academy - Dallas	1190
	Harmony Science Academy - El Paso	918
	Harmony Science Academy - Euless	1074
	Harmony Science Academy - Fort Worth	636
	Harmony Science Academy - Garland	676
	Harmony Science Academy - Grand Prairie	529
	Harmony Science Academy - Houston	362
	Harmony Science Academy - Houston NW [Northwest]	706
	Harmony Science Academy - Laredo	669*
	Harmony Science Academy - Lubbock	499
	Harmony Science Academy - North Austin	602
	Harmony Science Academy - Odessa	350
	Harmony Science Academy - San Antonio	882
	Harmony Science Academy - Waco	728
	Harmony Science Academy - West Houston	706
	Harmony Science Academy High School	632
	School of Science and Technology	418
	School of Science and Technology - Alamo	425
	School of Science and Technology - Corpus Christi [Discovery]	415*
	School of Science and Technology Discovery	416

UTAH	Beehive Science and Technology Academy	229

WISCONSIN	Milwaukee Math and Science Academy	238
	TOTAL	59,953

* BITA was categorized as a “transformation school” and not officially a charter school. Baltimore City Public Schools contracted with Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation, the organization that operates the two other Gulen charter schools in Maryland, to run this school.

** These six schools were previously categorized as three schools.

*** This is the enrollment for 2011-2012. The 2012-2013 figures were not yet updated.

The following new schools have been approved and most are expected to enroll students during 2013-2014:

Arizona	Sonoran Science Academy - Peoria
Illinois	Horizon Science Academy Belmont
Illinois	Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park
Indiana	Indiana Math & Science Academy - South
Massachusetts	Pioneer Charter School of Science II
Missouri	Gateway Science Academy South
New Jersey	Paterson Arts and Science Charter School
New York	Utica Academy of Science Charter School
South Carolina	Greenville Renewable Energy Education ("GREEN") Charter School
Texas	Harmony School of Exploration
Texas	Harmony School of Innovation - Euless

###

A pack of lies + some truths

2013-08-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

EXCERPT	SOURCE
Yet [the Gulen movement’s] structure, ambitions, and size remain opaque, making assessment of its impact and power difficult... Fethullahci are often loath to declare themselves openly as such.	“The Fethullah Gulen Movement.” Global Politician, 12/31/2008
The precise number of [Fethullah Gulen Community] members is difficult to estimate since some publicly deny affinity or membership with the movement.	“Gulen Movement: Turkey’s Third Power.” Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst, 2/1/2009
Erdogan said [Beehive Science and Technology School] is not affiliated with any religious group	"Utah charter school's ties to Turkey draw scrutiny.” Salt Lake Tribune (UT), 7/17/2009
... Mehmet Argin, principal of Tucson's Sonoran Science Academy, says his school's parent corporation, Daisy Education Corp., "has no legal or organic ties" with other schools...	“Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned.” USA Today, 8/17/2010
[Ahmet Cetinkaya head of Albuquerque School of Excellence] said his school has no links to Islam or Gulen's philosophy.	"Texas Charter School Chain's Resources Used at Local, But Unrelated, Campus." Albuquerque Journal (NM), 10/11/2010
Karen Fontenot at 3:38 min.: “I’m on the advisory board of the schools, the Gulen schools in Louisiana.” Fontenot is vice president of Pelican Educational Foundation (operator of the now-closed Abramson Science & Technology Charter School and Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School).	“Dr. Karen Fontenot at the Dinner Reception of Mapping the Gülen Movement.” YouTube video, 10/7/2010
Helen Rose Ebaugh @ 11:57 min.: “Do you know in Texas we now have 25 Gulen schools? They’re called charter schools, totally financed by the state, and it’s causing problems..."	“Prof. Dr. Helen Rose Ebaugh - Mapping the Gülen Movement.” YouTube video, 10/7/2010
[Knoxville Science Academy lead sponsor Suzan Mertyurek] denies any affiliation with the Gulen movement...	“Two Proposed Schools Come Up Short in Knox County.” MetroPulse (TN), 11/10/2010
...Tarim laughed a little when asked about the relationship between Harmony and Gulen, which he said is nonexistent. “We get asked this question many, many times,” he said, waving off any connection. “We continue to tell people (there is no tie).”	“Harmony schools causing discord.” San Antonio Express-News (TX), 1/3/2012
The officials say the schools are not connected or associated with a broader movement.	“Oklahoma charter schools hire math, science teachers from overseas.” The Oklahoman (OK), 5/24/2011
Principal Engin Blackstone says Quest Charter Academy, in no way, has any connection with controversial Turkish imam, Fethullah Gulen...	“Quest Academy Principal Denies Connection to Turkish Imam.” CIProud – WMBD-TV (IL), 5/14/2012
Ali Yilmaz, executive director and principal of Wisconsin Career Academy (soon to become the private Wisconsin College Preparatory Academy) denied that the school has any connections with Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.	"Milwaukee charter schools tied to Turkish Islamic cleric?" Journal Sentinel (WI), 5/14/2012
“Harmony schools have no affiliation with Fetullah Gulen or the so-called Gulen movement.”	"Harmony Public Schools Response to the New York Times." Harmony Public Schools website, posted 6/8/2012
Gulen institutions do not publicize their Gulen affiliation anywhere they operate.	“In Albania, Madrasas Even the Secular Love.” Transitions Online (CZ), 10/19/2012
“The school is not affiliated with Gulen and not bringing in students from overseas,” [Pioneer Charter School of Science Dean of Students Sanela Jonuz] said.	"Public weighs in on proposed charter schools at Saugus meeting." Saugus Advertiser (MA), 12/24/2012
... Are any of the proposed charter school's [Allentown Engineering Academy] founding members affiliated with... Gulen and his Gulen Movement? Zimmerman asked. No, replied Kadir Veziroglu, lead applicant...	“School board grills charter school applicant.” The Morning Call (PA), 12/18/2012
"They claim that these charter schools are independent and have no connection to the Gulen movement, and I said to them: 'That's baloney,' " said William Martin, senior fellow in religion and public policy at Baker Institute of Rice University in Texas, where Gulen followers have set up dozens of charter schools. Martin has followed the movement for years, traveled to Turkey at their expense, and counts its leaders there as friends.	“Proposed Bangor charter school linked to Turkish imam.” Portland Press Herald (ME), 2/17/2013
Barish Icin, Pioneer Charter School of Science executive director “... denied any connection to other Turkish-led schools in the United States or to Gulen.”	“Turkish charter schools growing as some question cleric ties.” Boston Globe (MA), 2/21/2013
Dominic Slowey, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, vehemently rejected any connection with Gulen. “... there is no connection between [Pioneer Charter School of Science] and any network of charter schools...”	“Despite controversial allegations, school board approves Pioneer Charter School of Science II.” Saugus News (MA), 3/13/2013
School officials have denied that [Truebright Science Academy Charter School] has ties to Gulen.	“Charter school's fate now up to SRC.” Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), 5/3/2013
There are no ties of any kind to any religious movement... LISA Academy Public Schools are not affiliated with any religious group...	LISA Academy website (AR), accessed 8/14/2013

The Gulen Movement’s subsidized, guided trips to Turkey

2013-05-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

In addition to having acquired the operation of the largest network of privately-managed, taxpayer-funded charter schools in the US (currently 135 in 26 states), members of the Gulen Movement are very active with efforts to recruit sympathizers. One of their approaches is to invite academics, journalists, politicians, public officials, and religious community leaders on one of their subsidized, guided trips to Turkey. The trips are also regularly arranged for American students, parents, and teachers associated with the Gulen charter schools.

It must be mentioned that travelers are not always aware of the full intention behind the trips. As one photo journalist from Colorado noticed on the fourth day of travel, "We are beginning to understand the reason for the cultural exchange: it is not simply to meet local leaders and learn about Turkish culture, but also to gain an understanding of the Gülen Movement..." "Gain an understanding," as in acquiring the perspective fed to them by members of the Gulen Movement over the course of nine to 10 straight days of tightly controlled immersion. This secretive group happens to be highly controversial in Turkey, and elsewhere.

The paper embedded below contains a brief explanation about the Gulen Movement’s Turkey trips. But Joshua Hendrick explains more in his PhD dissertation, “Globalization and Marketized Islam in Turkey: The Case of Fethullah Gulen” (2009, University of California, Santa Cruz). Hendrick is considered to be a leading authority on the Gulen Movement and currently teaches at Loyola University Maryland.

Excerpts (emphasis added):

"Recruiting sympathizers," in influential sectors of social opinion making, therefore, has emerged as a focused strategy in the GM. This process was perfected in Turkey and exported abroad, where academics, journalists, politicians, and religious community leaders are recruited to promote the "Sufi-inspired" movement of Fethullah Gülen to a demanding international audience. Strategies of recruiting sympathizers include taking groups of influential people on all-expenses paid trips to Turkey, hosting dinners, conferences, presentations, and other events at university campuses or at community centers; and offering awards that commend a particular unaffiliated person for his or her life's work. Financial favors, questionable handouts, and lavish enticement have become routine... [p. 142]

Investment for GM schools is generated in the form of religious donation (himmet), which is collected from members of the cemaat and arkadaş in the GM network in an organized fundraising system led by GM operatives whose specific job is to solicit money from potential donors. Original benefactors expect no immediate return from their himmet. They are told that himmet is a religious rite, and that trust networks in the GM will assure that it goes to a "faithful" cause (e.g., to pay for a student's scholarship, to provide start-up capital for a new school, to send a group of influential Americans on a two-week trip to Turkey, to sponsor an "academic" conference devoted to Fethullah Gülen, etc). In this way, schools and other GM needs provide businessmen with 'the service" (hizmet) of satisfying their obligatory rites according to the Islamic tenet of giving. [pp. 250-251]

The trips are also discussed in “The Gulen Hizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities.” The authors of this book are highly sympathetic to the Gulen Movement. In the chapter titled “Hizmet Intercultural Dialogue Trips to Turkey,” Nancy Gallagher explains that her original contact with the Gulen Movement was when she was invited to go on one of their trips (see page 73).

Some reporters have noticed these Turkey trips but clearly do not have an adequate grasp of the Gulen Movement and its approach.

For example, concerns were raised in Idaho in 2011 in a series of newspaper articles, one of which reported, “... more than a tenth of the Legislature has traveled to Turkey this year.”*

“Five Idaho lawmakers safe after deadly bombing in Turkish capital.” The Idaho Statesman, 9/21/2011
“Legislators Have No Business In Turkey.” The Boise Guardian, 9/22/2011
*“Which Idaho lawmakers went on the Turkey trip, and why?” The Idaho Statesman, 9/28/2011

In 2012, a South Carolina political observer scratched his head about the same thing.

“It’s Nobody’s Business But The Turks.” FITS News, 5/16/2012
“About Those Free Trips To Turkey…” FITS News, 5/31/2012

And recently, an investigator for a TV station in Tennessee noticed the trips, too.

“Turkish Groups Offer Free Foreign Trips For Lawmakers.” NewsChannel5, 4/29/2013

The reporter, Phil Williams, began his report by asking, “Who's providing free foreign trips to state lawmakers -- and what do they want?” He obviously wasn’t aware that Joshua Hendrick had already answered that question. The "what do they want” is the opportunity to recruit sympathizers.

Beyond the trips being used as a way to acquire close proximity to powerful and influential American leaders, a number of Turkey-tripped travelers have ended up as the token non-Turkish board members for Gulen charter school organizations. For more about this topic, see these informative pages by CASILIPS:

Be sure to read section five of this report:

The Gulen Movement (concise) by Sharon Higgins

Concept Schools, Illinois, and the Gulen Movement.

2013-04-12T20:51:00.002-07:00

Click to view in larger format > Concept Schools, Illinois, and the Gulen Movement by Sharon Higgins

Information about the Gulen Movement

2013-03-23T14:44:00.002-07:00

My new paper posted on Scribd contains excerpts about the Gulen Movement from a wide variety of sources such as

Congressional Research Service Report prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
RAND National Defense Research Institute report
Stratfor Global Intelligence Special Report
CBS 60 Minutes
The New York Times
The New Yorker
The New Republic
Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst
Global Politician
Reuters
The Washington Post

It is divided into the following sections:

The Gulen movement: excerpts from three reports
The controversial, secretive and powerful nature of the Gulen movement
The Gulen movement & its goals
The Gulen movement’s schools

A trip down memory lane with Oakland’s “American Indian” charter schools & Ben Chavis

2013-01-24T16:48:00.001-08:00

Last evening Oakland Tribune education reporter Katy Murphy sent out this tweet: Oakland school board just voted 6-1 to issue "notice of intent to revoke" to three American Indian charters. Final decision in March.

It seemed apropos to take a look back at some memorable news stories about these schools.

11/14/2001	“Beating a New Kind of Drum.” East Bay Express (CA) Martin Waukazoo helped establish Oakland's American Indian Public Charter School, which was created in 1996 with the mission of improving the dismal performance of Native Americans in the Oakland schools... By early 2000, things had gotten so out of hand that the school board seriously was considering shutting the institution down... new leadership took the form of Dr. Ben Chavis... NOTE: After Chavis arrived, the “American Indian or Alaska Native” (AI/AN) students at AIPCS were systematically eliminated in order to make way for some of the highest performing and most compliant students in the district. The enrollment of AI/AN students at the AIM Schools was 45 in 2001-02 (Chavis’ first year), then 42, 29, 27, 26, 17, 15, 18, 10, 6, and 6 by the time 2011-12 arrived. During that same time period, the three AIPCS American Indian Model Schools’ enrollment climbed from 106 to 698. In 2011-12, OUSD enrolled 109 AI/AN students in Grades 6-12. See this page for the trends.
12/16/2005	"HARD LINE, TOP SCHOOL.” San Francisco Chronicle (CA) ... With parental permission, Chavis cut the hair of a student accused of stealing. A boy who admitted to calling his classmate a derogatory name was pinned with a note that read "I'm an (expletive)" in front of other students... "My child was traumatized," [Monica Peoples-Brown] said. "It hurt me to sign him out. My child was really learning. But I can't deal with an administration that is a dictatorship." Some take issue with what they call Chavis' inappropriate use of racial stereotypes, cursing and name-calling to embarrass students at the school. Floundering students become the public targets of labels like "stupid" and "lazy Mexican."... NOTE: A huge number of these students and/or parents have either been forced out or have become highly dissatisfied and end up leaving. AIPCS’s Grade 6 to Grade 8 student retention for the past two years averaged 66%. For AIPCS II it was only 57%. AIPHS’s Grade 9 to Grade 12 student retention for the past two years was only 56%.
5/9/2007	"Too Hot for School?" East Bay Express (CA) ... In a series of complaint letters... a Mills College professor of education, and four of her graduate students, say [Oakland charter school principal Ben Chavis] repeatedly called... a 25-year-old black Mills student, "a fucking black minority punk" during a recent visit to Chavis' middle school. They also claim that Chavis... screamed that he was going to kick the grad student's ass, and called him a "worthless piece of shit." The letters... allege that Chavis, who says he is an American Indian with some black heritage, also remarked to a white female Mills student: "You look like a mix breed." When the student responded that her ancestors came from throughout Europe, Chavis said, "Well, your people sure fucked around a lot." He also referred to his minority students as "darkies" and allegedly called a parent of one of his students a "prostitute."... Some educators, however, are quietly questioning whether Chavis' success may hinge upon a dramatic demographic shift... NOTE: The enrollment figures for 2006-07 reflect an enormous spike in the number of AIPCS students reported as “Multiple or No Response.” Since the school’s first year, the number of students in this category had been zero. In 2006-07, that number jumped to 46 (26.4%). This is indicative of public records manipulation because, in the following years, this group’s enrollment was 11.1%, 2.7%, 2.1%, 1.1%, and 1.6% in 2011-12. See this page for the trends]
6/6/2007	“Chavis in Hot Water.” East Bay Express (CA) The Oakland Unified School District has launched an inquiry into several explosive allegations leveled against Ben Chavis, the celebrated principal of American Indian Public Charter School. As first reported here last month ( "Too Hot for School?," 5/9), Mills College prof Sabrina Zirkel and four of her grad students accused Chavis of calling grad student Unity Lewis "a fucking black minority punk" during the group's visit in March. They also complained that Chavis had asked one of his own female students if a certain boy "was still trying to suck your titties." More allegations have now surfaced. A black parent complained that the school told her there was no room for her son, even though Chavis was accepting applications from white students. A former teacher accuses the principal of pushing her down the school stairs while calling her a "fucking bitch." Yet another cites a story that Chavis manhandled his own niece, threatened her, and called her a "slut."...
7/25/2007	“Bye Bye, Ben.” East Bay Express (CA) Under fire recently for his heated run-in with a Mills College professor and her grad students, foul-mouthed educator Ben Chavis has resigned as principal of American Indian Public Charter School... Full Disclosure learned of Chavis' resignation after receiving a packet of documents sent by American Indian Public Charter School to the Oakland Unified School District as part of the district's inquiry into Chavis' behavior. Included in the documents were the minutes from American Indian's March 15 board of trustees meeting, which included this bombshell: "Dr. Chavis has noted that he will work part time next year, 2007-2008 ... This will also be his last year as the director of American Indian Public Charter School." The board meeting occurred just hours after the Mills College incident...
7/26/2007	“Oakland charter school principal steps down / Chavis' departure follows dust-up with a visiting group.” San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Principal Ben Chavis of the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland - who has shocked parents not only by his use of threats and humiliation in teaching, but by his success at sending inner-city test scores sky high -- has stepped down after seven years. The departure follows a dust-up with a Mills College group visiting the autonomous public school that prompted new scrutiny of Chavis by the Oakland Unified School District... Meanwhile, complaints about Chavis' style have also percolated for years, largely overlooked and tolerated because the school delivered such outstanding scores... Lately, the complaints have escalated... ... In a July 9 letter to the school's governing board, [Kirsten Vital, accountability chief for the Oakland school district] said she had visited the school in June and observed incidents bordering on educational malpractice, and that came close to child endangerment. These included an interview with a girl who said she was forced to clean the boys' bathroom as punishment for misbehaving; Chavis' "repeated use of the words 'whities' and 'darkies' in the presence of students"; and Chavis' reference to a former employee as a "white b -- -," also in front of students...
10/30/2008	“Denied: new American Indian charter school.” Oakland Tribune (CA) The five local schools that use the American Indian Public Charter model might be among the highest-scoring public middle and high schools in Oakland (not to mention the state), but tonight, the state administrator stopped a new one from opening... The problem, [David Montes de Oca, Oakland’s charter schools director] said, was that the petition contained flaws relating to enrollment processes, recruitment, special education, and arts education (Here’s the report. If you can’t open that, go to the board agenda under N)...
4/5/2009	“Apology to Robert Jackson; More on Ben Chavis's well-deserved RIPPING of Charles Barron.” Whitney Tilson’s School Reform Blog ... Here's more on the confrontation between [New York City Council member, Charles Barron] and Ben Chavis... Chavis observed Barron berating one of the conference organizers, bringing that person to tears, and didn't like it one bit -- he thought Barron was being a bully, so and went up to him and, face only inches from Barron's, started RIPPING him, saying (I'm not making this up): "You're a mother f-ing black pimp, you're f-ing our kids. Come to the reservation and I'll beat your ass. You want our kids to take Home Ec? YOU should wear a dress!" Barron replied, "Well we're here, so let's do it right now." Chavis said OK and started heading for the exit. Barron, seeing Chavis was dead serious about fighting him, quickly wimped out and instead threatened to having Chavis kicked out of the hotel. They shouted obscenities at each other, with Chavis getting the last words as they separated, saying "You're a pimp! You're a pimp!"...
5/31/2009	“Spitting in the eye of mainstream education.” Los Angeles Times (CA) ... "What we're doing is so easy," said Ben Chavis, the man who created the school's success and personifies its ethos, especially in its more outrageous manifestations. (One example: He tends to call all nonwhite students, including African Americans, "darkies.") Although he retired in 2007, Chavis remains a presence at the school... Under Chavis, the school also relied on humiliation to keep students in line, ridiculing miscreants and sometimes forcing them to wear embarrassing signs... ... De-Zhon and his mother had been fairly happy with American Indian... But on Jan. 20, De-Zhon stayed home to watch the inauguration with his extended family... According to De-Zhon's mother, [principal Janet Roberts, who took over from Chavis] said the boy would receive extra work as punishment and that she might rescind his recommendation to a private high school. That, said Grace, "took it to another level for me. . . . I felt that was evil." She pulled her son out of the school...
10/2/2009	“America’s Top Models: Can the Nation’s Best Charter Schools Be Brought to Scale?” CATO Institute Book Forum Founded by Ben Chavis in 2006, American Indian Public Charter School is already the fourth highest performing public high school in California. Its students are almost all African American or Hispanic, and poor... * NOTE: CATO's description is wrong. In 2009-10, the schools enrolled a total of 462 students: 255 (55%) were Asian, 99 (21%) were Hispanic, and 69 (15%) were Black. In 2011-12, the schools enrolled a total of 698 students: 473 (68%) were Asian, 118 (17%) were Hispanic, and 70 (10%) were Black. See this page for the trends.
1/11/2012	Video of American Indian Public Charter School Board Meeting An AIPCS teacher recorded this meeting to document the presentation of her concerns. Chavis was a board member at this time. He arrives late to the meeting and kisses the teacher’s video camera lens (1:15 min.) and makes another kissing gesture to the camera after she reads her statement (9:15 min.). NOTE: Ben Chavis on the tardiess of a graduate student who was visiting AIPCS: "I told him he's a dumbass idiot," Chavis recalled. "An embarrassment to minorities. That's what I said. He came late. White people are on time. What does he think, there's black time? Mexican time? Indian time?” (per the San Francisco Chronicle)
6/3/2012	“Are American Indian Public Charter School's Test Scores Inflated?” East Bay Express (CA) There is some evidence that the controversial, and highly vaunted school, may be cherry-picking the best students for admission in violation of district rules... But there's evidence to suggest that the school's high scores aren't the result of an unusually high caliber of teaching or organization, but rather the educational equivalent of bringing in ringers — in this case, from nearby Lincoln Elementary, a public school that is, in many ways, a beacon for the district, consistently churning out some of the highest test scores in the city... up to three-quarters of its students flock to American Indian Public Charter II, according to Lincoln principal John Melvin... ... According to Melvin, the school appears to be asking parents to submit test scores as part of their student's applications — which would be a direct violation of district rules, which mandate a blind-admissions lottery. Another principal... said that parents request report cards, grades, and test scores of students... though he doesn't know whether the requests are for application purposes, which is against the rules, or post-admission assessment and tutoring, which is not... NOTE: Lincoln Elementary, located in Oakland’s Chinatown, has had a majority Asian student body for many years. For example, its enrollment has been 85-92% Asian for the past five years.
6/14/2012	“Oakland schools' officials may face criminal probe.” San Francisco Chronicle (CA) The founder and governing board of three controversial Oakland charter schools could face a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud, misappropriation of funds and other illegal activities outlined in an official audit report released Wednesday. The allegations against American Indian charter schools officials include $3.7 million in payments to businesses owned by founder Ben Chavis and his wife, including money for rent, storage fees, construction projects and the administration of summer school programs...
9/26/2012	“Oakland's award-winning American Indian charter schools face closure threat.” Oakland Tribune (CA) The governing board for Oakland's American Indian Model Schools -- which boast some of the highest test scores in California -- has been put on notice: If they don't make swift changes to the way the organization is run, it could be shut down. A 1,080-page document from the Oakland school district cites numerous violations, from financial fraud and financial conflicts of interest to nonexistent board oversight. It gives the organization 60 days to remedy the problems and provide a written response or have all three charters pulled. The violations -- and much, if not all, of the evidence -- compiled in the thick document stem from a report published in June by the state's Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team. The inquiry was prompted by whistle-blower complaints from former employees. Investigators found that founder and director Ben Chavis, his wife, Marsha Amador, and their numerous real estate and consulting businesses received about $3.8 million in public funds between mid-2007 and the end of 2011. And the organization's governing board, which is responsible for ensuring the proper use of public money, did nothing to prevent it from happening, the report concluded... NOTE: The “Notice of Violation to American Indian Model Schools” was served by the Oakland Unified School District on 9/20/2012.
1/21/2013	“Closure threat is mounting for Oakland’s American Indian charter schools.” Oakland Tribune (CA) The American Indian Model Schools organization, whose governing board was accused last year of allowing its founder, Ben Chavis, and wife to funnel millions of tax dollars into their own companies and pockets, has failed to make the necessary fixes and should be shut down at the end of the school year, Oakland school district administration has concluded... If this week the Oakland school board agrees, the award-winning American Indian charter schools will be one step closer to closure. The OUSD board decides Wednesday night whether to issue a notice of intent to revoke the charter, as the OUSD Office of Charter Schools has recommended. If the OUSD board approves the staff recommendation — up for a vote during a regular meeting Wednesday night — a public hearing on the revocation would happen next month. A final decision would follow, no later than March 24. Even if the OUSD board does vote to revoke the organization’s charter, American Indian would have the chance to appeal to the Alameda County Board of Education and, later, to the state board...
1/24/2012	“High-scoring Oakland charter schools facing growing threat of closure.” Oakland Tribune ... On Wednesday night, the Oakland school board agreed, putting American Indian's three charter schools -- which boast some of the highest test scores in California -- one step closer to closure. "I am not swayed by the fact that this school has great test scores," board member Jody London said. "It does not change for me that the people who operate this school have violated the public trust."... A public hearing is set for Feb. 13, and a final decision will follow, possibly during a special meeting on March 20, said board President David Kakishiba... The five-month state investigation by the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team came in response to a whistle-blower complaint of fraud. Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Sheila Jordan requested an investigation and later forwarded the findings to the District Attorney's Office, which has yet to file charges...
	*Stay tuned for the rest of the story!*

American Indian Model Schools enrollment trends: student retention and demographics

2013-01-22T16:06:00.003-08:00

STUDENT RETENTION

American Indian Public Charter School School Code #6113807 3637 Magee Ave., Oakland, CA
	Total Enroll	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	9^th	10^th	11th	6^th>8^th	Student retention
2011-12	255	4	121	80	50				71>50	70.4%
2010-11	179	0	82	57	40				66>40	60.6%
2009-10	193	1	71	52	69				77>69	89.6%
2008-09	182	0	66	72	44				62>44	71.0%
2007-08	190	5	77	59	49
2006-07	174	11	62	54	47
2005-06	196		55	55	55	31
2004-05	150		59	59	32
2003-04	132		56	29	26	21
2002-03	162		27	31	28	76
2001-02	106		28	28	50
2000-01	34		11	13	10
1999-00	18		12	0	4			2
1998-99	65		21	6	16	14	8
1997-98	68		15	19	15	19
1996-97	42		12	13	17

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American Indian Public Charter School II School Code #0114363 171 12th Street, Oakland, CA
	Total Enroll	4^th	5^th	6^th	7^th	8^th	6^th>8^th	Student retention
2011-12	251	1	3	129	73	45	76>45	59.2%
2010-11	169			62	59	48	87>48	55.2%
2009-10	172			76	54	42	57>42	73.7%
2008-09	157		1	87	54	15
2007-08	70			57	13	0

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American Indian Public High School School Code #0111856 3637 Magee Ave., Oakland, CA
	Total Enroll	8^th	9^th	10^th	11^th	12^th	9^th>12^th	Student retention
2011-12	192		70	75	26	21	37>21	56.8%
2010-11	145		81	25	20	19	34>19	55.9%
2009-10	106		31	20	26	29	52>29	55.8%
2008-09	123		37	29	34	23
2007-08	100		34	43	18	5
2006-07	72		52	20

ETHNIC & RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS

American Indian Public Charter School School Code #6113807 3637 Magee Ave., Oakland, CA
	Total enrollment	Hispanic or Latino	American Indian or Alaska Native	Asian	Pacific Islander	Filipino	African American	White	Two or more, or no response
2011-12	255	63 (24.7%)	2 (0.8%)	142 (55.7%)	5 (2.0%)	2 (0.8%)	33 (12.9%)	4 (1.6%)	4 (1.6%)
2010-11	179	44 (24.6%)	2 (1.1%)	99 (55.3%)	3 (1.7%)	2 (1.1%)	24 (13.4%)	3 (1.7%)	2 (1.1%)
2009-10	193	51 (26.4%)	2 (1.0%)	107 (55.4%)	2 (1.0%)	3 (1.6%)	22 (11.4%)	2 (1.0%)	4 (2.1%)
2008-09	182	38 (20.9%)	3 (1.6%)	97 (53.3%)	1 (0.5%)	5 (2.7%)	33 (18.1%)	0 (0%)	5 (2.7%)
2007-08	190	47 (24.7%)	5 (2.6%)	73 (38.4%)	1 (0.5%)	3 (1.8%)	40 (21.1%)	0 (0%)	21 (11.1%)
2006-07	174	41 (23.6%)	6 (3.4%)	38 (21.8%)	0 (0%)	2 (1.1%)	40 (23.0%)	1 (0.6%)	46 (26.4%)
2005-06	196	45 (23.0%)	26 (13.3%)	63 (32.1%)	2 (1.0%)	3 (1.5%)	52 (26.5%)	5 (2.6%)	0 (0%)
2004-05	150	34 (22.7%)	27 (18.0%)	47 (31.3%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	22 (14.7%)	20 (13.3%)	0 (0%)
2003-04	132	37 (28.0%)	29 (22.0%)	28 (21.2%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.8%)	31 (23.5%)	6 (4.5%)	0 (0%)
2002-03	162	70 (43.2%)	42 (25.9%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (1.2%)	46 (28.4%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0%)
2001-02	106	35 (33.0%)	45 (42.5%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0%)	25 (23.6%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
2000-01	34	2 (5.9%)	22 (64.7%)	1 (2.9%)	1 (2.9%)	0 (0%)	8 (23.5%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
1999-00	18	3 (16.7%)	7 (38.9%)	0 (0%)	1 (5.6%)	0 (0%)	7 (38.9%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
1998-99	65	3 (4.6%)	47 (72.3)	4 (6.2%)	5 (7.7%)	0 (0%)	6 (9.2%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
1997-98	68	2 (2.9%)	62 (91.2)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (2.9%)	2 (2.9%)	0 (0%)
1996-97	42	0 (0%)	42 (100%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

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American Indian Public Charter School II School Code #0114363 171 12th Street, Oakland, CA
	Total enrollment	Hispanic or Latino	American Indian or Alaska Native	Asian	Pacific Islander	Filipino	African American	White	Two or more, or no response
2011-12	251	15 (6.0%)	0 (0%)	217 (86.5%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	14 (5.6%)	2 (0.8%)	3 (1.2%)
2010-11	169	10 (5.1%)	0 (0%)	147 (87.0%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.6%)	10 (5.1%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0%)
2009-10	172	16 (9.3%)	0 (0%)	138 (80.2%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.6%)	15 (8.7%)	1 (0.6%)	1 (0.6%)
2008-09	157	22 (14.0%)	1 (0.6%)	106 (67.5%)	1 (0.6%)	1 (0.6%)	21 (13.4%)	1 (0.6%)	4 (2.5%)
2007-08	70	9 (12.9%)	0 (0%)	43 (61.4%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	17 (24.30%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)

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American Indian Public High School School Code #0111856 3637 Magee Ave., Oakland, CA
	Total enrollment	Hispanic or Latino	American Indian or Alaska Native	Asian	Pacific Islander	Filipino	African American	White	Two or more, or no response
2011-12	192	40 (20.8%)	4 (2.1%)	114 (59.4%)	0 (0%)	4 (2.1%)	23 (12.0%)	3 (1.6%)	0 (0%)
2010-11	145	34 (23.4%)	4 (2.8%)	90 (62.1%)	1 (0.7%)	3 (2.1%)	12 (8.3%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0%)
2009-10	106	30 (28.3%)	8 (7.5%)	53 (50%)	0 (0%)	2 (1.9%)	12 (11.3%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.9%)
2008-09	123	39 (31.7%)	14 (11.4%)	52 (42.3%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	15 (12.2%)	2 (1.6%)	1 (0.8%)
2007-08	100	37 (37%)	10 (10%)	38 (38%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	13 (13%)	2 (2%)	0 (0%)
2006-07	72	37 (51.4%)	11 (15.3%)	17 (23.6%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	6 (8.3%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0%)

Figures from DataQuest

Additional information about American Indian Model Charter Schools HERE.

The Gulen Movement in Azerbaijan & a quid pro quo?

2013-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

It requires an ongoing effort to even minimally understand the Gulen movement, the secretive and controversial religious group which operates the largest charter school network in the United States. Details about this group's structure, recruitment and control of members, were recently presented by Fuad Aliyev in “The Gulen Movement in Azerbaijan” (12/27/2012). His article appeared in Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, a publication of the Hudson Institute’s Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World. Aliyev is a Fulbright Scholar at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus, a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia [see maps below]. It has enormous energy reserves, including one of the largest natural gas fields in the world, the Shah Deniz II. Only discovered in 1999, this field will be the origin point for the Nabucco gas pipeline, a project being planned that will bring the first gas ever from the Caspian Sea basin to Europe, via Turkey. Construction has not yet commenced, but if built, the Nabucco pipeline will be one of the largest engineering projects in the world. Some estimates say it will be operational by 2017. The Nabucco will join the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, an oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean, a project that was first proposed in 1992 and completed in 2005.

The Gulen movement opened its first school in Azerbaijan in 1992. This was first school it opened outside of Turkey (see this article about its 20th anniversary from a Gulenist news source). The movement had expanded into Azerbaijan immediately after independence was attained in 1991 as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As Aliyev wrote, “Since the arrival of the [Gulen movement] in Azerbaijan, it has made a targeted effort to recruit the children of the country’s elite into their education institutions.” It has been reported that the offspring of many influential Azerbaijani officials are attending these schools.

Given the timing and other indicators, something to ponder is if interests in these newish energy sources in which Turkey is an integral player might have some bearing on our government’s unique relationship with Fethullah Gulen and his increasingly powerful group of intensely business-oriented followers. Is this somehow tied to the generous funding continually being provided to the Gulen movement for its charter school expansion? Is it tied to the strange silence from US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other members of our government about the fact that a secretive and controversial religious group from a foreign country is operating so many charter schools (none in 1998, two in 1999, and now 135)? Is our government enabling the Gulen charter school expansion as some sort of quid pro quo? There is an enormous amount of information which should be presented to the American public so that this large subject can be opened up for a much wider level of discussion.

Excerpts from “The Gulen Movement in Azerbaijan” (12/27/2012).

Of all the Sunni movements in Azerbaijan, the most influential is the Turkish Nurcular network that is now led by its dominant offshoot known widely as the “Gülen” or “Hizmet” movement. Named for its founder, the Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, the movement is a faith-based educational network that is enormously well-resourced and highly active internationally, especially in the Turkic world that stretches from Turkey into Central Asia...

In Azerbaijan, the Gülen movement has succeeded in reaching out to a diverse population, but especially to urban elites. It is different from other Islamic movements in that it promotes its religious teachings not through outright proselytization, but discreetly through its network of secular educational institutions, social media and business associations...

... According to various experts, what makes the Gülen movement different from other Nurcular movements is its clear hierarchical structure, its strict internal discipline, the secrecy of its laws, its openness to capitalism and avowedly pro-business stance, and its focus on working through media associations and businesses to develop the movement...

In Turkey, the Gülen movement, as with some other Nurcu movements, is a well-structured, hierarchical organization... Students are recruited and controlled at a local level by Nurcu abis (brothers) and by ablas (sisters). According to former members of this network, the movement possesses its own security service that is tasked with rooting out moles and agents of national intelligence and law enforcement services. The movement keeps a database of all its members, and the training of each new recruit emphasizes the need to exercise discretion in revealing their involvement with the Gülen network. Students are additionally instructed to respect and obey the network’s leadership...

The secrecy surrounding the movement has aroused considerable suspicion about its activities and ultimate goals. According to Mikhail Davidov, the movement’s underground network operates as a sort of intelligence service that collects information on political, economic, confessional and other dynamics in the Turkic-speaking regions and countries where the movement is seeking to spread its influence. Moreover, it has been claimed that the Gülen network works surreptitiously to infiltrate communities and the governments of Turkey and the [Commonwealth of Independent States] and promote its adherents to positions of power and influence. Because of these and connected fears, the movement has been banned in Russia and Uzbekistan by notoriously anti-Islamic authorities who see it as a subversive threat. Other Central Asian regimes have also been extremely wary of the Hizmet presence. Azerbaijan, by contrast, has always been more open to the movement, and it is in this post-Soviet country where the network has arguably had its greatest success and impact to date...

It should be noted that the movement’s media outlets are not explicitly religious. In fact, it is difficult to tell the difference between them and other secular media with an unaided eye...

The network in any given country is usually divided into three tiers or groups. The first group includes people who are closest to Gülen and the immediate circle of his most trusted and loyal followers. The second group includes those who work directly for the movement to achieve its larger objectives. The third group includes mainly sympathizers of the movement and they largely consist of journalists, business people, public officials, alumni of Hizmet schools, and friends. While this third grouping is not always formally a part of the network, the network does often mobilize it to pursue various ends...

Since the arrival of the group in Azerbaijan, it has made a targeted effort to recruit the children of the country’s elite into their education institutions. It has also sought to involve young individuals who are likely to become the country’s future technocratic, business and political elite; they reportedly have enjoyed many successes in doing this...

The secularist Azerbaijani media has fiercely criticized the Nurcu network for brainwashing youth. From time to time, the media will feature the “confessions” of former Gülen members that expose what life is like within the movement. The programs show how young people are recruited, manipulated and then subjected to the strict control of abis or ablas. According to various reports, the movement has tried to bring youngsters studying in their schools into the ishik evi or yurd houses, which are large communal apartments capable of accommodating more than fifteen students and 3 to 4 abis or ablas. In these houses, the elder brothers and sisters teach lessons on the fundamentals of Islam and the works of Said Nursi and Fethullah Gülen. Distinguished students get promoted to the level of agabeys, or elder brothers, and they are then expected to recruit other young people. In exchange for their obedience and commitment to the movement, media reports indicate that the students have all their financial and career problems solved. The network pays for their education, provides them with housing, and helps to find them a job in Gülen-affiliated companies or in un-affiliated companies where network members are present...

... In the public’s view, the question of whether the movement seeks integration with Azeri society or to transform from within according to a Turkish-Islamist agenda remains largely unanswered. Given the movement’s historical flexibility and its extensive organizational structure in Azerbaijan, it could at least in principle and for the time being seek both ends.

###

Also see "Religiously-inspired bonding: Changing soft power elements in Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan" by Nigar Goksal, Center for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning, 2011.

Click to enlarge

2011-2012 Gulen charter school enrollment = 51,950 students

2012-12-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

To date, a total of 140 U.S. charter schools have been established which can be associated with the secretive and controversial Gulen Movement. This school year (2012-2013), 136 of the 140 are still active. Two of the four which are no longer active as Gulen charter schools have been converted into private schools and are taking advantage of tax credit scholarship (in GA) or school voucher (in WI) programs.

For the 2011-2012 school year, Gulen charter schools enrolled 51,950 students. The calculation for the 2010-2011 school year was 44,727. The 7,223 student increase is because ten new schools were opened in the fall of 2011, plus a large number of the existing charter schools are still in the process of adding the grade levels granted by their charters.

Opening year	State	School	Enrollment 2011-2012*
1999 (2)	OH	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland	479
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Columbus	377

2000 (5)	NV	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Elementary	436
	NV	Coral Academy of Science - Reno Middle/High School	445
	OK	Dove Science Academy - Tulsa	395
	TX	Harmony Science Academy (now HSA High School in Houston)	556
	WI	Wisconsin Career Academy**	292

2001 (2)	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy - Tucson	802
	OK	Dove Science Academy - Oklahoma City	458

2002 (3)	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 1 - Reseda	521
	GA	Fulton Science Academy**	508
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Austin	351

2003 (2)	NJ	Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology	733
	NY	Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School	467

2004 (7)	AR	LISA Academy - Little Rock	348
	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix	418
	CA	Bay Area Technology School	230
	IL	Chicago Math and Science Academy	589
	NY	Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School	382
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Toledo	257
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Dallas	1093

2005 (12)	AR	LISA Academy High School - Little Rock	181
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego	309
	MD	Chesapeake Science Point Charter School	391
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Cincinnati	347
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Middle School	146
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Dayton	153
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School	316
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Springfield	245
	PA	Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School	187
	TX	Harmony School of Innovation - Houston	579
	TX	School of Science and Technology - San Antonio	444
	UT	Beehive Science and Technology Academy	138

2006 (9)	CO	Lotus School for Excellence	731
	GA	Fulton Science Academy High School***	284
	NJ	Central Jersey College Prep	318
	OH	Noble Academy - Columbus	211
	OH	Noble Academy - Cleveland	247
	TX	Harmony School of Excellence - Houston	806
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - El Paso	768
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Fort Worth	589
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - San Antonio	721

2007 (16)	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 2 - Valley	287
	FL	River City Science Academy	594
	FL	Stars Middle School	164
	IN	Indiana Math & Science Academy - West	557
	LA	Abramson Science and Technology Charter School**	0
	MA	Pioneer Charter School of Science	321
	MO	Frontier School of Excellence****	226
	NJ	Bergen Arts and Science Charter School	1135
	NV	Coral Academy of Science - Las Vegas	558
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Columbus Middle School	335
	PA	Truebright Science Academy	324
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Beaumont	486
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Houston (K-8)	314
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Houston NW (Northwest)	636
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Lubbock	442
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Waco	663

2008 (24)	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy - Ahwatukee	136
	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy - Broadway	326
	AZ	Paragon Science Academy	505
	AR	LISA Academy - North Little Rock Elementary	233
	AR	LISA Academy - North Little Rock Middle	146
	AR	LISA Academy - North Little Rock High	81
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 3 - Carson/Gardena	293
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 4 - Venice	159
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 5 - Hollywood	211
	FL	Orlando Science Middle/High School	487
	CA	Sweetwater Branch Academy	119
	LA	Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School	479
	NY	Rochester Academy Charter School	294
	NC	Triad Math and Science Academy	508
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Elementary School	173
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Columbus Elementary School	384
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Denison Elementary School	187
	OK	Dove Science Academy Elementary School - Oklahoma City	296
	TX	Harmony School of Science - Houston [Sugar Land]	626
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Brownsville	426
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Grand Prairie	540
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Laredo	669
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - North Austin	611
	TX	School of Science and Technology Discovery	399

2009 (18)	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy – Davis-Monthan AFB	196
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 6 - Palms	154
	CA	Pacific Technology School - Santa Ana / Orange County	145
	CA	Pacific Technology School - Orangevale	152
	MA	Hampden Charter School of Science	291
	MI	Michigan Math and Science Academy	240
	MO	Frontier School of Innovation	554
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Dayton High School	244
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Lorain	331
	OK	Discovery School of Tulsa	415
	TX	Harmony School of Excellence - Endeavor	555
	TX	Harmony School of Excellence [in Austin]	628
	TX	Harmony School of Ingenuity	583
	TX	Harmony School of Innovation - Dallas [formerly HSI-Carrollton]	578
	TX	Harmony School of Innovation - El Paso	528
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Euless	610
	TX	School of Science and Technology - Alamo	416
	TX	School of Science and Technology - Corpus Christi	415

2010 (25)	AZ	Sonoran Science Academy - Phoenix Metro	130
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy - Santa Clara	230
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 7 - Van Nuys	121
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy 8 - Bell	481
	CA	Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego 2**	0
	FL	River City Science Academy - Elementary	237
	FL	Sweetwater Branch Academy Elementary	169
	GA	Fulton Sunshine Academy Elementary School	540
	IL	Quest Charter Academy	294
	IN	Indiana Math & Science Academy - North	438
	MO	Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis	458
	NM	Albuquerque School of Excellence	292
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Dayton Downtown	179
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Toledo Downtown	219
	OH	Horizon Science Academy Youngstown	316
	TN	Memphis School of Excellence	348
	TX	Harmony School of Advancement - High	482
	TX	Harmony School of Discovery - Houston	598
	TX	Harmony School of Fine Arts and Technology [AKA Harmony School of Art]	520
	TX	Harmony School of Innovation - San Antonio	417
	TX	Harmony School of Nature & Athletics	657
	TX	Harmony School of Science - Austin	531
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Bryan / College Station	326
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Garland	558
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - Odessa	308

2011 (10)	FL	New Springs Schools (Elementary & Middle)	146
	MD	Baltimore IT Academy	240
	MD	Chesapeake Math and IT Academy	295
	MN	Minnesota School of Science	230
	NJ	Passaic Arts and Science Charter School (elementary)	357
	PA	Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania Charter School	120
	TX	Harmony School of Political Science and Communication - Austin	463
	TX	Harmony Science Academy - West Houston	527
	TX	Harmony School of Science High - Sugar Land	434
	WI	Milwaukee Math and Science Academy	155

2012 (5)	FL	Orlando Science Elementary	na
	NC	Triangle Math and Science Academy	na
	NJ	Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School	na
	TX	Harmony School of Business (Dallas)	na
	TX	Harmony School of Innovation – Fort Worth	na

TOTAL GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN 2011-2012			51,950

========================================================

* Figures obtained from the National Association of Public Charter Schools, the Texas Education Agency, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. H/T to the CASILIPS-operated web site, Gulen Charter Schools.

** Closed or converted to private:

· Wisconsin Career Academy opened as a charter school in 2000, converted to a private school renamed Wisconsin College Prep Academy in 2012 in order to participate in a voucher program.

· Fulton Science Academy opened as a charter school in 2002 then converted into a private school in 2012 after charter was not renewed.

· Abramson Science and Technology Charter School opened in 2007; charter was revoked in 2011. The school was kept open but placed under district management.

· Magnolia Science Academy - San Diego 2 opened in 2010 but ended up surrendering its charter in 2011 because of low enrollment.

*** Fulton Science Academy High School was originally called Technology Enriched Accelerated Charter High School (T.E.A.C.H. School)

**** Frontier School of Excellence was originally called Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School

On the U.S. incarceration rate and prison labor

2012-12-07T12:00:00.001-08:00

1. Declare a War on Drugs and institute laws that will increase the number of prisoners.

Click to enlarge

2. Within a few decades, the "Land of the Free" achieves First Place!

Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, Data for 2003 (obtained From NationMaster).

3. Grow the private prison population.

Click to enlarge

From "Making Money off of Putting People in Prison." Justice Policy Institute, 9/29/2011.

Putting people behind bars is a big money-maker. In 2010 alone, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (GEO), the two largest private prison companies in the U.S., raked in over $2.9 billion dollars in revenue. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of people in state and federal private prisons in the U.S. totaled 129,336 in 2009, and CCA and GEO’s revenue was $2.77 billion...

For instance:
• Since 2000, private prison companies have contributed over $7.2 million to state candidates and political parties.
• Between the 2002 and 2012 election cycles, CCA and GEO’s Political Action Committees (PACs) have doled out $1,212,889 and $1,010,002 respectively to federal parties, candidates and committees.
• Since 2000, private prison companies (CCA, GEO and Cornell Corrections) have given $867,010 –to federal candidates alone.
• Since 2000, private prison companies (CCA, GEO and Cornell Corrections) have spent over $21 million on federal lobbying efforts with the majority, over $17 million being spent by CCA alone.

4. Voilà! Now there's a growing source of extremely cheap domestic labor from which corporations can earn profits. An added benefit to them is that these thousands of workers don't have transportation and childcare issues, and they are also being fed and maintained by U.S. taxpayers.

5. So remind me again how what's being done is so different from THIS?

Everyone: Watch and Understand that Chicago's Education Problems are America's Education Problems, h/t Jim Horn.

2012-09-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Videos like this could, and should, be produced on behalf of students in every public school district bombarded with the misguided corporate-style education reform.

HT Jim Horn at Schools Matter

Please send the video link or embed it and post everywhere you can, in every county, state, and country.

Where are Oakland's charter schools located?

2012-08-31T16:57:00.003-07:00

(Updated 9/1/12)

For the 2012-2013 school year, Oakland will have 40 active charter schools.

1. Eleven of those charter schools are at sites where an OUSD school has been closed or forced out.

100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community School at 3400 Malcolm Ave. is at the original site of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School (closed June 2012).
World Academy (K-3) & Achieve Academy (4-5) at 1700 28th Ave. are at the original site of Hawthorne Elementary School (closed June 2005).
The ASCEND charter school at 3709 East 12th St. is remaining at the original site of ASCEND Elementary School (closed June 2012). This is a new OUSD "partnership charter school" conversion.
Berkley Maynard Academy at 6200 San Pablo Ave. is at the original site of Golden Gate Elementary School (closed June 2005).
Urban Montessori Charter School at 5328 Brann St. is at the original site of Sherman Elementary School (closed August 2007). Note: OUSD’s Melrose Leadership Academy had occupied the Sherman site until Summer 2012 but its new campus is on the site of Maxwell Park Elementary School (closed June 2012).
Oakland Military Institute at 3877 Lusk St. is at the original site of Longfellow Elementary School (closed June 2004).
Bay Area Technology School at 8251 Fontaine St. is at the original site of King Estates Middle School (closed June 2005). Note: this is a new location. "BayTech" and a small OUSD school had been sharing the original site of Verdese Carter Middle School (closed June 2006).
Learning Without Limits charter school at 2035 40th Ave. is remaining at the original site of Learning Without Limits (closed June 2012), a site that was originally Jefferson Elementary School (closed June 2009). This is a new OUSD "partnership charter school" conversion.
Lazear Charter Academy at 824 29th Ave. (a county-approved charter school conversion) is remaining at its site of Lazear Elementary School (closed June 2012).
Community School for Creative Education @ 2111 International Boulevard (the former site of Life Academy which was forced to move to another campus in 2008, purportedly because of earthquake concerns).

2. Four of those charter schools have been collocated with an OUSD school.

LPS College Park (Grade 10-12, phasing out) & LPS Oakland R & D (Grade 9, new) at 8601 MacArthur Blvd., Bldg. 100 are collocating with Castlemont High School (in its former science wing).
Cox Academy at 9860 Sunnyside St. is collocating with Reach Academy on the site originally occupied by E. Morris Cox Elementary School (closed June 2005).
KIPP Bridge Charter School @ 991 14th St. is collocating with West Oakland Middle School at the original site of Lowell Middle School (closed June 2006).

3. Four of the charter schools rent property from companies owned by Ben Chavis, former director of the American Indian Public School (this was presented in the FCMAT audit released in June 2012 (2.54 MB pdf).

American Indian Public Charter School at 3637 Magee Ave. pays $20,684/month to American Delivery Systems (owned by Ben Chavis).
American Indian Public Charter School II at 171 12th St. pays $21,000/month to Lumbee Holdings (owned by Ben Chavis).
American Indian Public High School at 3637 Magee Ave. (using adjacent property at 3626-28 35th Ave.) pays $20,280/month to American Delivery Systems (owned by Ben Chavis)
Oakland Unity High School at 6038 Brann St. sublets its site for $12,500/month from American Delivery Systems which leases it for an unknown amount from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, the owner.

4. Five charter schools are at sites where a religious school has been closed.

College Academy at 8030 Atherton St. is at the original site of St. Benedict School (closed ?)
Millsmont Academy at 3200 62nd Ave. is at the original site of St. Cyril's School (closed June 2004)
Monarch Academy at 1445 101st Ave. is at the original site of St. Louis Bertrand School (closed June 1999)
Conservatory of Vocal/Instrumental Arts (“COVA”) at 3800 Mountain Blvd. is at the site previously occupied by Golden Gate Academy (Seventh-day Adventist).
E.C. Reems Academy of Technology and Arts at 8425 MacArthur Blvd. is part of the E.C. Reems complex (church, apartments, services); site of the former Hope Academy.

5. Two charter schools are in historical buildings in downtown Oakland

Envision Academy of Arts & Technology at 1515 Webster St. is in the former Oakland YWCA Building (on National Register of Historic Places). This school was originally called Urban Renaissance School of Arts & Technology; it was located at 967 Stanford Ave.
Oakland School for the Arts at 530 18th St. (Fox Oakland Theatre)

6. Two charter schools are in brand new buildings

Golden State College Preparatory Academy at 1009 66th Ave. is on a site previously used for manufacturing and warehousing.
Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy at 400 105th Ave.; previous use of property is unknown.

7. The rest of the charter schools (12) occupy an assortment of properties.

ARISE High School at 3301 East 12th St. is in a public building (Ste. 205 of the César E. Chávez Branch Library building).
Civicorps Academy (Grade 12+) at 101 Myrtle St. (previous use unknown)
East Oakland Leadership Academy at 2614 Seminary Ave. (storefront)
East Oakland Leadership Academy High at 2607 Seminary Ave. (storefront)
ERES Academy at 1936 Courtland Ave. (took over site of failed charter school (Delores Huerta Learning Academy, closed June 2009)
Lighthouse Community Charter High School and Lighthouse Community Charter School at 444 Hegenberger Rd. occupy a converted R&D building.
North Oakland Community Charter School at 1000 42nd St. (unknown previous use; shares site with Destiny Arts Center?)
Oakland Charter Academy at 3001 International Ave. (unknown previous use)
Oakland Charter High School at 345 12th St. (in building previously occupied by Lighthouse Community Charter School)
Vincent Academy at 1911 Union St. (in building previously occupied by Architectural Glass & Aluminum Co, Inc.)
Yu Ming Charter School at 321 10th St. (in building occupied by Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center, "the premier Chinese school in Oakland," since 1953).

-----------------------

These are the opening years of those 40 schools:

Year/number of schools

1993-1

1996-1

1999-1

2000-2

2002-3

2003-2

2004-2

2005-6

2006-3

2007-6

2008-2

2009-1

2011-5

2012-5

Information about charter school authorizers

2012-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

The charter school authorizer is the agency which receives a charter school application, reviews it, and then ultimately determines if the proposed charter school will open, or not. The authorizing agency is also tasked with providing some measure of oversight during the term of the charter school’s contract; it is sometimes referred to as the sponsor. One concern which has arisen in this era of rapid charter school expansion is inadequate staffing of those agencies’ charter school offices.

The top ten states with the most authorizers are:

CA	293
WI	84
OH	69
OR	67
PA	51
MN	49
CO	47
FL	45
GA	39
MI	32

“Shopping” for an authorizer occurs in states that have multiple authorizers with jurisdiction over the same physical area. For example in California, if an initial charter school application or renewal is rejected by the board of a local city school district, the applicant can then seek approval from board of that district's County Office of Education, and/or from the California State Board of Education. This regularly occurs. In at least one case in Oklahoma, the local school board refused to renew the charter for a school with a long history of problems (note: it is a Gulen charter school). The school then sought and received approval from a local higher education institution (Langston University) which enabled Langston U. to receive a 5% cut of the charter school’s funding.

Charter school promoters are actively monitoring the growth of the charter school market share. They help each other with strategies and techniques that advance the establishment of more charter schools. They put their heads together to steadily press on the loosening of restrictions on charter school law in each and every state.

Charter school promoters are extremely well-funded by a small set of America’s most powerful families. These families have established organizations into which they pour their immense wealth, which are then used to fund projects which advance those individuals' own notions about public education policy – many aspects of which have never been proven by research, or are even at the top of the list for changes that public school families desire. Unfortunately, the interests of these arrogant and powerful individuals have everything to do with the privatization of a valuable public asset as well as the diminishing of the public's genuine power.

The following data is provided by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the U.S. Census. NACSA’s main funders are the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, and The Walton Family Foundation.*

State	# authorizers	# charter schools	Authorizer types**	Public elementary and secondary school enrollment: 2008-2009
AK	8	24	LEA	132,000
AR	1	30	SEA	481,000
AZ	7	507	ICB, LEA, SEA	1,076,000
CA	293	900	LEA, SEA	6,177,000
CO	47	70	ICB, LEA	832,000
CT	1	18	SEA	564,000
DC	1	97	ICB	69,000
DE	2	19	SEA, LEA	125,000
FL	45	460	HEI, LEA	2,635,000
GA	39	91	ICB, LEA	1,668,000
HI	1	31	ICB	180,000
IA	8	8	LEA	482,000
ID	14	41	ICB, LEA	276,000
IL	9	116	LEA, SEA	2,097,000
IN	5	60	HEI, LEA, MUN, SEA	1,047,000
KS	23	32	LEA	469,000
LA	6	92	LEA, SEA	691,000
MA	1	63	SEA	957,000
MD	6	40	LEA	848,000
ME	TBD***	2	LEA, SEA	184,000
MI	32	249	HEI, LEI	1,618,000
MN	49	148	HEI, LEA, NFP, SEA	837,000
MO	12	36	HEI, LEA	917,000
NC	1	100	SEA	1,477,000
NH	1	10	SEA	197,000
NJ	1	73	SEA	1,387,000
NM	18	81	LEA, SEA	333,000
NV	5	28	LEA, SEA	429,000
NY	2****	176	HEI, LEA, SEA	2,766,000
OH	69	342	HEI, LEA, NFP	1,762,000
OK	4	18	HEI, LEA	655,000
OR	67	108	LEA, SEA	554,000
PA	51	146	LEA, SEA	1,762,000
RI	1	15	SEA	144,000
SC	16	44	ICB, LEA	723,000
TN	3	29	LEA	973,000
TX	15	572	LEA, SEA	4,850,000
UT	7	86	ICB, LEA	583,000
VA	3	4	LEA	1,245,000
WI	84	209	HEI, LEA, MUN	872,000
WY	3	3	LEA	88,000
AL	No legislation			749,000
KY	No legislation			676,000
MS	No legislation			492,000
MT	No legislation			142,000
ND	No legislation			93,000
NE	No legislation			295,000
SD	No legislation			124,000
VT	No legislation			86,000
WA	No legislation			1,035,000
WV	No legislation			283,000

* The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools actively monitors the charter school market share. Its funders include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, the William E. Simon Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation, as well as the National Charter School Resource Center in association with the currently very charter school-friendly U.S. Department of Education.

** Authorizer types

HEI = Higher Education Institutions
ICB = Independent Chartering Boards
LEA = Local Education Agencies (school districts)
MUN = Mayors/Municipalities
NFP = Not-For-Profit Organizations
SEA = State Education Agencies (commissioners, state boards of education, or offices within SEAs that report to commissioners or state boards of education)

*** Maine’s charter school law is relatively new (2011). It allows two types of entities to authorize charter schools: 1.) the Maine Charter School Commission (allowed to authorize a maximum of 10 charter schools throughout the state during the first 10 years) and 2.) Local school boards (authorizes charter schools within the boundaries of their school units)

**** NACSA's website reports 4 authorizers in NY. This was corrected by a reader. See the first comment.

####

J.B.'s charter schools fostering equity? Not so much.

2012-08-16T17:28:00.002-07:00

This is an update on the tons of extra money that Jerry Brown gets for his two charter schools in Oakland. The San Francisco Chronicle previously reported about this phenomenon in July 2009. Contributions are tracked by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). A spreadsheet of contributions to Jerry Brown for 2012 is posted online (updated 8/3/2012) at www.fppc.ca.gov/cosponsor/2012-state.xls

The vast majority of contributions directed to Brown are for Oakland Military Institute (OMI) and Oakland School for the Arts (OSA).

OMI is located at 3877 Lusk Street on the campus previously occupied by Longfellow Elementary School (closed in 2004). OMI has leased this site from the Oakland Unified School District since 2007 and the lease expires June 30, 2013. A self-funded expansion on 39th Street next to OMI has recently been completed, and the school's board members have expressed that they would like to make a "direct purchase" of the Longfellow campus from OUSD. They've even figured out the angle of extra pressure to apply (“ ...recognizing that the 39th Street facility has been funded by OMI.”).*

Local news is keeping this all hush-hush. Also not widely publicized last winter was the annual fundraiser for OMI which was headlined by Clint Eastwood and George Shultz and held on February 16, 2012, at Scott’s Restaurant in Oakland per OMI board meeting minutes of February 13, 2012 (disclaimer: I love Scott's seafood restauraunt). Eastwood then gave $50,000 to OMI, but OMI only got $5,000 out of Shultz (boo hoo > Shultz's national status keeps dropping, so who cares? > :-( ...).

Here’s something active Oakland public school parents can think about as they work together to scrape up a few extra dollars for their schools this year.

From December 28, 2011, to June 26, 2012, Oakland Military Institute received an extra $1,559,661 in contributions made indirectly to Jerry Brown. OMI enrolled 623 students in 2011-2012, making it out to about an extra $2,503 per OMI student for that year.

And from December 5, 2011, to June 26, 2012, Oakland School for the Arts received an extra $1,361,282 in contributions made indirectly to Jerry Brown. OSA enrolled 619 students in 2011-2012, so this comes out to an extra $2,199 per student for that year.

In just the first six months of 2012, the total of contributions to Jerry Brown for the 1,242 students attending his charter schools was $2,920,943 – more than one-tenth of what is spread among all 46,377 OUSD students in Measure G funds generated by Oakland taxpayers.

Incidentally, OMI gets more favors from the world. OUSD, its authorizer, permits the school to screen prospective students by requiring applicant interviews, along with the submission of his/her attendance and disciplinary history, plus a signed permission slip allowing OMI to access the students' grades, test scores and other records -- all before formal acceptance into the school.

Ahhhhhhh... corporate education reform, generating *change* in the typical divisive fashion.

============================================================

PAYMENTS FOR LEGISLATIVE, GOVERNMENTAL, OR CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES FOR EDMUND G. BROWN, JR.

PAYEE: OAKLAND MILITARY INSTITUTE

DATES: December 28, 2011, to June 26, 2012

Brown Family Foundation for Education & the Arts	100,000
Occidental Petroleum Corporation	100,000
Roberts Foundation	100,000
San Pablo Lytton Casino	100,000
Brooks-Mathews Foundation	50,000
E&J Gallo Winery	50,000
Mr. and Mrs. Clint Eastwood	50,000
Robert A. Day	50,000
Apollo Group, Inc.	25,000
AT&T	25,000
Bank of America	25,000
Blue Shield of California	25,000
Cisco Systems	25,000
Govenor's Cup Foundation Inc. (6/15/2012)	25,000
Governor's Cup Foundation, Inc. (6/26/2012)	25,000
Intel	25,000
Koret Foundation	25,000
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	25,000
The George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation	25,000
The Kanbar Charitable Trust	25,000
The Safeway Foundation	25,000
UPS	25,000
Verizon	25,000
Walmart	25,000
Kaiser Permanente	20,000
Phoebe Snow Foundation	20,000
Scott's Seafood Restaurant	17,161
T. Gary and Kathleen Rogers Supporting Family Foundation	12,500
AB&I Foundry	10,000
AECOM Technology Corporation	10,000
Anheuser Busch	10,000
Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc.	10,000
Applied Materials	10,000
Blum Family Foundation	10,000
California Pipe Trades Council	10,000
Chevron	10,000
Clean Energy	10,000
Clint Reilly	10,000
Comcast	10,000
Commerce Casino	10,000
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP	10,000
Dean Isaacson	10,000
Doris Fisher	10,000
FedEx	10,000
Hanson Bridgett LLP	10,000
Hewlett Packard	10,000
Macy's	10,000
Morongo Band of Mission Indians	10,000
PhRMA	10,000
Platinum Advisors	10,000
Robert A. Naify	10,000
Rudd Family Foundation	10,000
Shaw Environmental	10,000
Sierra Pacific Industries	10,000
Stephen A. Matich	10,000
The Rock Foundation	10,000
Walgreens	10,000
Western Union	10,000
Zenith Insurance Company	10,000
California Apartment Association	5,000
California Association of Health Facillities	5,000
California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems	5,000
California Chamber of Commerce	5,000
California Fire Foundation	5,000
California State Council of Laborers	5,000
Caruso Family Foundation	5,000
Conaway Preservation Group LLC	5,000
Deloitte	5,000
Enviroplex	5,000
F& Family Foundation	5,000
Farmers	5,000
Frank and Kathy Baxter	5,000
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories	5,000
Georgiou Enterprises	5,000
Google	5,000
Gtech	5,000
H.F. Gerry Lenfest	5,000
Margarat Naraghi Quattrin	5,000
Milken Family Foundation	5,000
Ozzie Silna	5,000
Peace Officer Research Association of California	5,000
Pfizer	5,000
Rancho Mission Viejo	5,000
Rogers Family Foundation	5,000
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians	5,000
SSA Terminals	5,000
State Building and Construction Trades Council of CA	5,000
Stephen Bechtel Fund	5,000
The Bicycle Casino	5,000
The Charles and Ann Johnson Foundation	5,000
The Shultz Family Fund	5,000
Ueberoth Family Foundation	5,000
Valutech Outsourcing, LLC	5,000
Waste Management	5,000
Wells Fargo	5,000
TOTAL	$1,559,661

============================================================

PAYEE: OAKLAND SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS

DATES: December 5, 2011, to June 26, 2012

Chuck Feeney	500,000
San Pablo Lytton Casino	100,000
The Annenberg Foundation	100,000
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation	100,000
Ogerson and Barbara Bakar	50,000
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation	30,000
AT&T	25,000
Bank of America	25,000
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	25,000
Ann and Gordon Getty	21,282
The Clorox Company	20,000
BeachBody	15,000
Global Tel Link	15,000
Resnick Family Foundation. Inc	15,000
The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation	15,000
Another Planet Entertainment	10,000
Arthur Rock Foundation	10,000
Bikram's Yoga College of India	10,000
Charles Schwab	10,000
Clean Energy	10,000
Comcast	10,000
Fed Ex	10,000
George Gund III	10,000
Libitzky Family Foundation	10,000
MP Biomedicals	10,000
Rebecca and James Elsen	10,000
The Bicycle Casino	10,000
Walmart	10,000
William R. Hearst III	10,000
Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter	5,000
Bank of the West	5,000
Barona Band of Mission Indians	5,000
Blue Shield of California	5,000
California Commerce Club	5,000
California Fire Foundation	5,000
Chevron	5,000
Colt Family Foundation	5,000
Dwight Manley Inc.	5,000
East Bay Community Foundation	5,000
Flynt Management Group LLC	5,000
Forest City Enterprises	5,000
Fred Taugher and Paula Higashi	5,000
Google	5,000
Hanson Bridgett LLP	5,000
Jacobson & Associates	5,000
Koret Foundation	5,000
L and S Milken Foundation	5,000
Milken Family Foundation	5,000
Moss Foundation	5,000
Nion T. McEvoy	5,000
NRG Energy Inc.	5,000
Richard J. Meyer	5,000
Stephanie and Mory Ejabat	5,000
Steven L. Craig	5,000
Stupski Family Fund	5,000
The David Geffen Foundation	5,000
The Home Depot	5,000
Townsend Public Affairs	5,000
Turner Construction Co.	5,000
Visa	5,000
W. Dean Henry	5,000
William Witte	5,000
TOTAL	$1,361,282

* Board meeting minutes for February 13 and March 12, 2012 HERE.

More on Jerry Brown and his Oakland charter schools @ http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/search/label/Jerry%20Brown

High school retention: Oakland's charter schools vs. OUSD schools

2012-08-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

Are the privately-operated charter high schools in Oakland doing a better job than Oakland Unified School District's high schools with holding onto their freshman students until the twelfth grade?

One way to explore the answer is by comparing the enrollment at the different schools using figures posted by the California Department of Education’s DataQuest. This was done for the two cohorts at charter high schools and OUSD high schools who entered Grade 9 in 2007-08 and 2008-09, and arrived at Grade 12 for the school years 2010-11 and 2011-12.*

Comparison of Grade 9>12: 2010-11

· OUSD high schools had a higher student retention rate than Oakland’s charter high schools, by 7.2% points.

· At OUSD high schools (11 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 69.1% of the enrollment when that cohort was in Grade 9 (2007-08).

· At Oakland charter high schools (11 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 61.9% of their Grade 9 enrollment (2007-08).

· The retention of students at OUSD high schools ranged from 34% to 100%.

· The retention of students at Oakland charter schools ranged from 42% to 100%.

Comparison of Grade 9>12: 2011-12

· Oakland’s charter high schools had a higher student retention rate than OUSD high schools, by 6.7% points.

· At Oakland charter high schools (13 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 68.6% of the enrollment when that cohort was in Grade 9 (2008-09).

· At OUSD high schools (12 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 61.9% of their Grade 9 enrollment (2008-09).

· The retention of students at OUSD high schools ranged from 51% to 100%.

· The retention of students at Oakland charter schools ranged from 48% to 100%.

Most notable is that the charter school results are not that all impressive, especially considering the self-selection aspect that is an unequivocal characteristic of all charter school families. The figures likely demonstrate that Oakland’s charter schools do not necessarily provide immunity against students dropping out. No surprise there.

In addition, it is likely that the high attrition seen at the charter schools known for demanding high levels of compliance -- such as American Indian Public High School and Oakland Military Institute -- are the result of lower performing and/or non-compliant students being pressured (or greatly desiring) to ~~escape~~ leave. There have been reports from other states about students with disciplinary issues being advised by charter school administrators to withdraw from the school in exchange for having their records cleaned.

Special kudos to Life Academy, a small OUSD school that is retaining its students year after year; it is definitely doing something right.

And stay tuned for more results at the end of the 2012-13 school year.

* Excluding alternative OUSD and charter high schools.

Enrollment Grade 9 > Grade 12, with percentage Charter schools in blue; OUSD schools in black	2011-12	2010-11	2009-10
American Indian Public High School	37 >21 57%	34>19 56%	52>29 56%
ARISE High School	62>33 53%	63>32 51%	n/a
Bay Area Technology School	36>18 50%	38>16 42%	n/a
Business Information & Technology High School (Castlemont)	116>64 55%	112>71 63%	153>80 52%
Coliseum College Prep Academy	60>52 60%	na	na
College Prep & Architecture Academy (Fremont)	144>80 56%	110>67 61%	129>92 71%
East Oakland Leadership Academy High	21>15 71%	n/a	n/a
East Oakland School of the Arts (Castlemont)	107>58 54%	105>51 49%	85>45 53%
Envision Academy of Arts & Technology	72>59 82%	60>38 53%	62>32 52%
Golden State College Preparatory Academy	29>15 52%	n/a	n/a
Leadership Preparatory High School (Castlemont)	126>64 51%	130>114 88%	116>92 79%
Life Academy	63>62 100%	60>64 100%	65>60 92%
Lighthouse Community Charter High School	60>29 48%	65>31 48%	48>30 63%
Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy	106>52 49%	90>81 90%	165>101 61%
LPS College Park	70>63 90%	110>57 52%	104>63 61%
Mandela High School (Fremont)	136>78 57%	122>74 61%	108>60 56%
McClymonds High School (EXCEL 2009-10, and prior)	111>58 52%	84>79 94%	72>54 75%
Media College Preparatory High School (Fremont)	110>61 56%	152>51 34%	120>71 59%
Oakland Charter High School	29>32 100%	30>16 53%	n/a
Oakland High School	599>389 65%**	508>387 76%	576>391 68%
Oakland Military Institute	94>51 54%	76>38 50%	86>57 66%
Oakland School for the Arts	77>74 96%	26>47 100%	58>48 83%
Oakland Technical High School	606>401 66%	597>371 62%	563>346 61%
Oakland Unity High School	53>56 100%	49>43 88%	46>51 100%
Skyline High School	709>419 59%	565>429 76%	625>426 68%

**Recalculated since original posting

###

Why Americans should learn about the Gulen movement

2012-06-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Beyond the issues with the Gulen movement’s stealth acquisition of the operation of the largest network of U.S. charter schools (as reported by CBS News 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and elsewhere), Americans should also become aware of the influence of this cult in Turkey.* A great deal has been written about the increased power of the Gulen movement in Turkey, its connection to the rise of political Islam there, and the GM's relationship to the AKP, Turkey's ruling party. All of this bears close watching. Please watch this excellent report from Worldfocus, a production of WNET, and read some of the following pieces about the social shifts.

"Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey." 10/21/2009

"Turkey's Jailed Journalists." The New Yorker, 3/9/2012
"Turkey Feels Sway of Reclusive Cleric in the U.S." The New York Times, 4/24/2012
“A very Turkish coup - Scientists around the world should protest efforts by the government of Turkey to erode academic autonomy. And the wider world should note the threat to democracy.” Nature, 9/8/2011
"What Scares Turkey's Women? A Pennsylvania-based imam's anti-feminist message is spreading in the U.S.and in his home country."The Daily Beast, 3/21/2012
“Is Turkey building a new Ottoman Empire?” The Toronto Star (CA), 11/13/2011
“Turkey's first coin without Atatürk now in use.” Hurriyet Daily News (TR), 6/15/2012
“Turkish Pianist Is Accused of Insulting Islam.” The New York Times, 6/2/2012
“In Turkey the right to free speech is being lost.” The Guardian (UK), 6/10/2012
“Turkey Abortion Law: Women Protest Plans To Curb Abortion.” Associated Press, 6/3/2012
“Pink metrobus will make us all prostitutes.” Hurriyet Daily News (TR), 5/15/2012
“Women See Worrisome Shift in Turkey.” The New York Times, 4/25/2012
“Turkish lawmakers adopt disputed education bill.” Associated Press, 3/30/2012
“New amendments allow Quran courses.” Hurriyet Daily News (TR), 9/19/2011
“Tables have been cleared in Istanbul's Beyoglu nightlife district, and business is down.” The National (UAE), 9/21/2011
“Turkey: Backward Step for Women’s Rights.” Human Rights Watch, 6/10/2011
“Turkish AKP's new alcohol law raises questions marks.” Hurriyet Daily News (TR), 5/13/2008
“Hundreds protest anti-evolution meet in Turkey.” Hurriyet Daily News (TR), 5/17/2012
"Jailed Turkish Journalists Available for Adoption - European Federation of Journalists aims to highlight declining press freedom in Turkey." The Epoch Times, 6/11/2012
"Turkey's Elephant in the Room: Religious Freedom." The New York Times, 9/29/2011

*The term "cult" was used by Andrew Finkel, an Istanbul-based foreign correspondent, during his interview on CBS News 60 Minutes

Lesley Stahl: Would you call it a personality cult?
Andrew Finkel: Yes.

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THE FOLLOWING WAS ADDED ON 6/17/2012: Excerpts from an interview (6/15/2012) with Harvard professor Dani Rodrik on Erdoğan, Gülen, and the future of Turkish politics (emphasis added)

Q: What role plays the Gülen movement? You have been extremely critical of the movement…

A: With good reason. It is well documented that Gulenist sympathizers have been involved in a wide range of shady dealings, improprieties, and dirty tricks. While professing democracy and human rights, Gulenists have been the strongest supporters of judicial practices that are nothing short of egregious – ranging from widespread use of fabricated evidence to jailing journalists for their writings...

Q: We conducted one of the rare interviews with Gülen a few months ago. To us, he answers seemed to be well balanced, entirely peaceful and pretty state-of-the art thinking concerning the relationship between state and religion. We didn’t have the impression, that Gülen is a great actor. He seemed to believe what he said. Is this man dangerous?

A: Unfortunately, what Gulen and his followers say, and what they condone or support are often completely different. I didn’t start out as a Gulen critic. But looking closer at what was going on behind the scenes in the Gulenist-suported court cases, it became pretty obvious that the movement is up to its neck in dirty tricks. And it is hard to say that this is the work of just a few over-zealous devotees. The Gulen movement’s media flagship Zaman and its editorialists are engaged in a steady stream of distortion and disinformation in support of these shady activities.

Q: Do you think Fetullah Gülen has a hidden Islamic agenda, too? And if so, how does it show in his speeches?

A: Frankly, I do not know what his ultimate goal is. I judge him by what his sympathizers are doing on the ground. There are lots of useful educational and philanthropic activities. And then there is some pretty scary stuff...

Q: The Gülen people have chosen education as their main field of operations? Talking to parents of Gülen schools, we never heard anything about hidden indoctrination. It more seems like they try to give the kids an excellent education. What’s wrong with the Gülen schools?

A: I have nothing against the educational work and the philanthropy per se. Much of this is obviously a good thing. But given the lack of transparency and secretiveness that dominate the movement, there are legitimate and nagging worries about what is going on. In the U.S., for example, the Gulen affiliated charter schools have now come under close scrutiny and there is evidence of systematic pattern of financial improprieties: kickbacks from teacher salaries to the movement, predominant resort to Gulen-affiliated contractors and businesses, and so on.

Q: What about the Gülen people worldwide? We have quite a few groups here in Germany, and so far they haven’t caused any reason for suspicion. They engage themselves in groups which try to open a dialogue with Christians and Jews. Are they all sleepers just waiting until someone calls them for the “jihad”?

A: I think there is too much of an obsession in the Western media about whether the Gulen movement has a hidden Islamic agenda. What should concern us is not the Islamic dimension, but simply the shady dealings and improprieties in which many of their devotees are engaged. This has gone the furthest within Turkey, where they have inordinate power. Certainly what I have observed of their activities in Turkey make me worried about their influence elsewhere.

I love their discourse on inter-faith tolerance, dialog etc. But I cannot take it seriously until the movement comes to terms and explicitly renounces the shameful practices it has engaged in and supported.

Q: If you meet Gülen people and start discussing their movement – what would you tell them they should do and what they better don’t do?

A: I would say, stop being paranoid and come clean. The earlier you shed your links to (and support for) illegal practices the more likely you will survive. Otherwise, you will go down in history as just another disgraced religious cult that led its followers astray.

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