CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

The Gulen Movement & its schools in the news

BE SURE TO FOLLOW CASILIPS on Twitter for updates on the Gulen Movement and its charter schools, also CASILIPS's two exceptionally informative websites HERE and HERE. Also check out the website and Twitter feed of notdeleted, who is monitoring the Gulen movement in Europe and elsewhere.

2013

FEBRUARY 17: “Proposed Bangor charter school linked to Turkish imam.” Portland Press Herald (ME)

2012

OCTOBER 24: "Who is Fethullah Gulen? City Journal

AUGUST 8: "Altruistic Society or Sect? The Shadowy World of the Gulen Movement." Spiegel Online International

JUNE 12: "Commissioner Roland Raises Alarms About Charter Schools and Turkish Cleric." Memphis Flyer (TN)

JUNE 5: "Audits for 3 Turkish Schools Tied to Turkish Movement." The New York Times

MAY 13: "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam." CBS News 60 Minutes

APRIL 25: "Turkey Feels Sway of Reclusive Cleric in the U.S." The New York Times (This piece first appeared in the International Herald Tribune on April 18, 2012, with the title "Shadow force grows in Turkey.")

APRIL 25: "Islam and the Free Market of Privatized Education: "Friending" the Gulen charter schools." By Doug Martin, The Common Errant (a detailed look at the Gulen movement's activities in Indiana)

APRIL 19: "Allegations raised over N. Phila. charter school run by followers of Turkish imam." The Philadelphia Inquirer

APRIL 18: "Shadow force grows in Turkey." International Herald Tribune (also read piece HERE)

MARCH 29: "Freed Turkish Journalist at European Parliament." Turkish Weekly (Watch video of Sik's testimony HERE with audio by English interpreter)

MARCH 27: "Largest charter network in U.S.: Schools tied to Turkey." The Washington Post

MARCH 21: "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

MARCH 12: "Letter from Turkey: The Deep State." The New Yorker

FEBRUARY 27: "Re: INSIGHT - TURKEY - some notes so far." The Global Intelligence Files, WikiLeaks.
JANUARY 25: "Questions loom about group proposing Raleigh charter school." Independent Weekly (NC)

2011

DECEMBER 29: "Turkey: Has Gulen Movement Replaced Deep State?" EurasiaNet

DECEMBER 8: "Are Charters Really "Impressive"? Jersey Jazzman (a comparative data analysis of BASCS, a Gulen charter school in NJ)

OCTOBER 17: "The Trouble with Turkey." Michael Rubin, National Review

SEPTEMBER 30: "Is Turkey Really a 'Vibrant Democracy'?" PajamasMedia

SEPTEMBER 28: "Turkey's Elephant in the Room: Religious Freedom." The New York Times

AUGUST 7: "Erdogan 1, Ataturk 0." Newsweek, via The Daily Beast

AUGUST 4: "Some practices questioned at Baldwin charter school." Pittsburg Post-Gazette (PA)

JULY 15: "Records show glaring faults at school with ties to Turkish charter school network." The Times-Picayune (LA)

JULY 12: "Freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey." Report by the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe

JUNE 30: "Secular Turkish Cypriot teachers aghast at plans for Islamic school." Cyprus Mail

JUNE 29: "Texas Legislature To Launch Investigation of Charter Schools." CBS Dallas-Fort Worth (TX)

JUNE 27: "Who is Fethullah Gulen." FOX News

JUNE 19: "Some lawmakers have second thoughts about Turkey trips." American-Statesman (TX) **

JUNE 14: "Turkey's Elections and Strained U.S. Relations." Geopolitical Weekly.

JUNE 7: "Turkish charter operators under scrutiny." Arkansas Times (mentions LISA Academy schools)

JUNE 6: "Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas." New York Times

JUNE 3: "Gulen movement's U.S. ride getting tougher." Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)*

JUNE 1: "The Gulen Movement: A New Islamic World Order?" Christian Broadcasting Network (video)

JUNE 1: “N.M., Turkey get tight as lawmakers get gratis visits.” The New Mexican**

MAY 30: "New Islamic College Connected to Mysterious Turkish Leader." Chicago News Cooperative

MAY 28: "Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions." New York Times

MAY 24: “What is Islam’s Gulen movement?” BBC

MAY 24: "Islam, Inc." BBC (radio broadcast)

MAY 23: “New Wrinkle in H-1B Fraud: Stealing from the Taxpayers, Not the Workers.” Center for Immigration Studies

MAY 20: "Feds question schools' visa use." Columbus Dispatch (OH)

MAY 15: "Exclusive 5 On Your Side investigation uncovers federal probe into Ohio charter schools." WEWS (Cleveland, OH)

MAY 7: "Dr. Aland Mizell: The Secrecy of the Gulen Movement, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds."

MAY 6: "Turkey press freedom under fire." CNN

MAY: "Turkey moves into Africa." Le Monde Diplomatique (all LMD articles tagged "Gulen" are HERE)

APRIL 20: “US ally Turkey flirts with Mideast's 'bad boys'- Some fear the role model for the democracy movements sweeping the region is abandoning its secular roots.” MSNBC (The Gulen movement is not mentioned in this piece, but it is widely known to be behind the rise of the more religiously conservative ruling party.)

APRIL 17: “H-1B+ K-12 = ? A First Look at the Implications of Foreign Teacher Recruitment.” Center for Immigration Studies

APRIL 14: "Journalists in Turkey decry crackdown on colleagues." CNN International

APRIL 7: "A dilemma." Hurriyet Daily News (by Andrew Finkel, formerly employed by Zaman; Finkel is interviewed in the 5/6/11 CNN report listed above)

APRIL 6: "Arrested Journalist's Book Claims Turkish Police Infiltrated by Islamic Movement." Speigel International (Germany)

APRIL 4: "The fading masquerade: Ergenekon and the politics of justice in Turkey." The Turkey Analyst (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Center joint program at Johns Hopkins University)

APRIL 4: “WikiLeaks files detail U.S. unease over Turks and charter schools.” Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)

MARCH 30: "FBI Investigating Gülen Charter Schools: Gülen Leaders Lavish Gifts And Dinners on Mitch Daniels and Other Indiana Officials." Firedoglake (USA)

MARCH 24: "Turkey orders draft copies of journalist's book confiscated amid alleged coup plot probe." Associated Press article appearing in The Canadian Press

MARCH 22: "Young Scholars charter school faces scrutiny over ties with Islamic leader." Centre Daily Times (PA)

MARCH 21: "FBI investigating Gulen schools in US." Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)*

MARCH 20: "U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attention." Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)

MARCH 17: "Turkey's religious Gülen community subject of latest WikiLeaks." Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)*

MARCH 7: "Turkey: Ankara Coup Investigation Credibility Under Attack." EurasiaNet

MARCH 6: "Gulen Cult: Legislators to welcome "Ugly Unionbusting" to Hawaii schools?" Hawaii Free Press

MARCH 3: "7 More Journalists Detained in Turkey." New York Times

2010

DECEMBER 21: "Political Heavyweights Linked with Gulen Movement." NIS News Bulletin (English-language Dutch News Service)

DECEMBER 20: "Religious movements in Turkey." OpenDemocracy

DECEMBER 9: "Transnational Religious Nationalism in the New Turkey: The Case of Fethullah Gulen." The Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University event; video presentation

NOVEMBER 10: "The Global Imam - What does the leader of the world's most influential Islamic movement really want?" The New Republic

SEPTEMBER: "Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe." Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (pp. 13-18)

AUGUST 18: "Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned." USA Today

AUGUST 13: "Turkey: Politics of Identity and Power." by Carol Migdalovitz, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, Congressional Research Service (31 pg. pdf)

MAY 14: "The Gulen movement plays big in Washington." Hurriyet (Turkey)

APRIL 25: "Foreigners fill ranks of local charter school chain." Arizona Daily Star (AZ)

2009

DECEMBER 31: "Hidden Agenda? Parents raise concerns that a Tucson charter school has ties to a Turkish nationalist movement." Tucson Weekly (AZ)

OCTOBER 21: "Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey." Worldfocus video, a production of WNET

JULY 17: "Utah charter school's ties to Turkey draw scrutiny." Salt Lake Tribune (UT)

JULY 11: "How do the Gulenists change the rules?" (2) Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)

JULY 6: "What do the Gulenists want to accomplish? (1)" Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey)

JUNE 17: "The Gulen Movement." Center for Strategic & International Studies event w/Yuksel Alp Aslandogan; audio presentation (Washington D.C.)

APRIL 26: "Turkish schools coming under increasing scrutiny in Central Asia." Radio Free Europe/Radio

FEBRUARY: "Gulen Movement: Turkey's Third Power." Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst (361K pdf) @

http://tool.donation-net.net/Images/Email/1097/Gulen_movement.pdf

2008

2008: "The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey." RAND Corporation

MARCH 17: "Turkey's Survival of the Fittest: The Islamic Anti-Darwinism Movement in Turkey is Being Helped by an Unlikely Source - US Christian Conservatives." Spero News

* NOTE: *Hurriyet Daily News is an English-language Turkish newspaper not associated with the Gulen movement. Today's Zaman is an English-language Turkish newspaper which is definitely associated with the Gulen movement.

** NOTE: The NY Times article on 6/6/2011 was instrumental in bringing the activities of the Gulen movement onto the radar of TX politicians. It was then that they started to catch on that the "free" guided trips they've been given over the years were sponsored by the Gulen movement. The article about the politicians in New Mexico demonstrates the typical lack of awareness.

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Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH KILLING ED, Mark Hall's feature-length documentary about charter schools, corruption and the rise of the Gulen Movement in America
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

Remainders

1. Bruce Baker's excellent analysis of whether charter schools are public or private.

2. Jim Horn's Top 10 reasons for why 1%ers support urban charter schools.

3. What reporters covering charter schools need to know about miracle schools, vouchers and all that educational flim-flam (i.e. be skeptical and always follow the money).

4. As of May 2013, only eight states do not have a charter school law: Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.

5. Balkanize: "to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units" (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

6. *Phrase coined by John Thompson: "educational civil war"

7. "A system that allows school operators to donate to the officials that regulate them is pretty sorry." h/t "X"

8. Re the Gulen movement. Two important psychological principals of which to be aware: the Backfire Effect and the Black Swan Theory.

Pleas for charter school oversight

AS U.S. AID GROWS, OVERSIGHT IS URGED FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS; February 24, 2010; New York Times

…The president of one influential charter group told the House Education and Labor Committee that the federal government had spent $2 billion since the mid-1990s to finance new charter schools but less than $2 million, about one-tenth of 1 percent, to ensure that they were held to high standards.
“It’s as if the federal government had spent billions for new highway construction, but nothing to put up guardrails along the sides of those highways,” said Greg Richmond, president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers…

CHARTER BACKER SAYS HOUSE PROPOSAL WEAKENS OVERSIGHT; April 30, 2011; Columbus Dispatch (OH)

A leading school-choice supporter says the sweeping changes proposed by House Republicans would weaken oversight of charter schools severely and threaten to turn Ohio into a "laughingstock of the nation's charter-school programs.

"It's hard for me to say that," said Terry Ryan, vice president of Ohio programs and policy for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which sponsors seven charter schools in the state, including two in Columbus...

It was just last year that Mr. Ryan said, "The charter movement must police itself."
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"The idea of regulating charter schools makes no sense because deregulation is the justification for the policy." -- Jim M., retired teacher

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Perhaps it's finally dawning on some charter school supporters that the whole business is a huge can of worms.

Message to readers

With the systematic privatization of public education being conducted via the rapid expansion of charter schools, I regularly receive messages from teachers and parents who have charter school horror stories they want to share, and/or are in need of advice about a charter school situation in their community (e.g., "The charter school I attended has been closed. Do you know how I can get a copy of my transcript?). I also hear from journalists who are seeking information.

Just so you know, this site is a one-woman volunteer operation. Sorry folks, I'm DEFINITELY NOT union-sponsored.

Welcome

Charter School Scandals (CSS) was launched on May 14, 2010 to provide the public with a source of independently collected information about U.S. charter schools.

For instance, compare what you learn from my entry for the 3,500 student CATO School of Reason to the information provided by the pro-charter Center for Education Reform in their compilation: "Closed Charter Schools by State: National Data 2009" (63 page pdf). In the CER's document, the closure reason is "Management" explained as "Inadequate record keeping, suspect relations with private and sectarian schools," but the true story is much bigger and dirtier than that.

CSS is a non-billionaire funded (and un-bought off!), non-union affiliated (!), one-person operation in the name of transparency and public service to our democracy. I post the information as quickly as I can, but have a massive backlog due to the sheer number of stories. Please check back periodically for new additions.

And as you scroll through these stories, be sure to keep a running tally of the estimated legal costs.

Gulen Movement MUST READS!

Under the radar of the American public, the Gulen movement has been quietly advancing its presence in the U.S. via the establishment of charter schools, "cultural centers", and "interfaith dialogue" centers. Politicians, reporters, academics, community leaders, and charter school families have been strategically targeted, influenced, and given gifts, as the Gulenists have steadily built up their political cover. But how many of these Americans have an understanding of the controversies which surround this secretive movement and its worldwide political ambitions? And how would the public respond to finding out that such a movement is opening more and more charter schools, supported by their tax dollars as part of the GM's primary global project, without being willing to admit the connection?

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LEARN MORE

1. Read about the federal investigation into the Gulen Movement's charter schools.

2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Islam, Secularism and the Battle for Turkey's Future, 23 August 2010, STRATFOR Global Intelligence

3. Video of Joshua Hendrick of the U. of OR and Y. Alp Aslandogan discussing the Gulen Movement. Here are the first 24 pages of Hendrick's 2009 thesis.

4. Charter School Watchdog

5. Gulen Charter Schools (don't miss the entry HERE.)

6. A Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities in the U.S.

7. Gulen in the International Press

8. "Turkey's survival of the fittest: The Islamic anti-Darwinism movement in Turkey is being helped by an unlikely source - US Christian conservatives," 12 March 2008, ISN Security Watch)

9. "Religious movements in Turkey," 20 December 2010, OpenDemocracy

10. "First Class Revolution: From Medina to Mecca" and "Fethullah Gulen's Missionary Charter Schools Coming under Increasing Scrutiny in the United States and around the World," 24 January 2011 & 26 February 2011, Kurdish Aspect

11. "Turkey: Politics of Identity and Power," 13 August 2010, Congressional Research Service

12. "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade," July 1998, Le Monde diplomatique (more background info)

13. EXTRA CREDIT: Check out the animated Imperial History of the Middle East and this Middle East geography game.

Bad apples, tips of icebergs, and cans of worms

In 2000, the Center for Education Reform wrote:
"A few bad apples shouldn't sour the public on the promising charter school movement, but when a bad apple does turn up, critics of charter schools pounce on it. Charter opponents are quick to claim that "more than a few" schools have closed and even quicker to characterize the movement as one that invites unscrupulous, fly-by-night operators to set up shop.Those mean ol' charter opponents. Isn't it curious how the reformers don't have any problem at all with building up a few negative public school stories into an anti-public teacher-bashing movement of national proportions in order to destroy teacher unions and public schools as a whole?"

But are charter schools really so innocent?

- In 2009, 83 percent of 145 Minnesota charter schools were found to have at least one financial irregularity in their audit.

- In February 2009, a New Mexico state audit found financial problems with 36 of the 44 charter schools in Albuquerque.

- Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz (April 2010): "The fact that there were significant issues at 13 out of 13 [schools] raises the likelihood you would see many of these same issues found in a much larger sampling of the schools.By May 2010, his probe had widened to 18 charter schools."

Relationships terminated

Charter school promoters live in an abstract world where it's perfectly fine to shutter a school when the "need" arises. This reveals a profound detachment and utter disregard for the emotional lives of the children and families who, as a result, end up being subjected to tremendous disruption, stress, termination of meaningful relationships, loss and grief. Kids need security and dependability.

A school going "out of business" takes a very different emotional toll on families and children than when their local gas station or Denny's restaurant does.

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The demise and death of our institutions of social support:

Family............check!
Church............check!
Neighborhoods............check!
Schools............check!

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"It comes down to what ultimately is in the best public interest here -- supporting the growth of charters or not. Does that support ultimately weaken the rest of the school district? You bet it does." (Fred LeBrun, Albany, NY)

Observations

There is no doubt but that an increasing number of inspectors, auditors, investigators, prosecutors and court rooms (and a lot of time and money) will be needed as more state charter caps are lifted.

Part of the problem is that too many people running charter schools see them as their own little fiefdoms. After all the effort and money put into setting up their schools -- and with political leaders and the mainstream media shining their bright spotlights on charter schools -- the stakes are inordinately high for them to be able to show "success."

Another problem I've discovered by doing this research is that the unmonitored access to millions of public education dollars is drawing unscrupulous people into the "business." At other times, new-found access to funds is proving to be too tempting for some people who were perhaps less criminally-minded.

Additionally, I've now discovered that, in this era of high-stakes testing, the education security business is booming. As one company put it, "Cheating on tests isn't the exception anymore; it has almost become the rule."

On competition

From "Deregulation and Charter School Swindles" by Gary Clabaugh (Educational Horizons, Winter 2009):

Two main ideas inform the charter school movement. The first is that competition is an essential ingredient in school improvement. Charters are said to provide that.

The trouble with this argument is that competition doesn't select the best, only the most popular. McDonald's doesn't produce the best-tasting or most-nutritious food, for instance, but its heart attack specials certainly are popular. A second-rate school might prove similarly competitive if it provides a tawdry but reassuring education to the children of the low-information crowd. Fearful your kids will discover you are an ignoramus? Send them to Alpha Charter where they will never learn to doubt.

Dedication

This Web site is dedicated to Eli Broad, Bill Gates, the Walton family, Arne Duncan, Whitney Tilson, Joe Williams, Reed Hastings, Ted Mitchell, Jack O'Connell, Tom Vander Ark, George Miller, Joanne Weiss, Randy Ward, Arnold Swarzenegger, all Milton Friedman-lovers, and any other free-market, pro-school choice, minimally-regulate-what-goes-on-in-charter school supporters who are also proud self-stated "DISRUPTORS" of public school communities, who have almost never, EVER been part of a public school community or local neighborhood, or who rejected being part of any public school community or local neighborhood long, long ago -- but have ended up deciding to help tear apart the tapestry of basic local human connections anyway.

Visitors

A variety of people have been looking at my blog, probably because of the great Gulen charter school information I've posted. This site is regularly visited by readers from Turkey. I get periodic visits from dhs.gov, doj.gov and ed.gov. I've had visits from house.gov and ed.gov, and at least one visit from someone at eop.gov (? Executive Office of the President). I've had a few visits from a couple of mystery IPs that are supposedly associated with the State Department, specifically the CIA. Hmmmmm...

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The Gulen Movement & its schools in the news