Saturday, June 26, 2010

Gulen schools here and abroad

There is now evidence of 122 related Turkish-run charter schools in 27 states: 101 in operation, nine scheduled to open in the fall of 2010, five charter school applications pending approval from various boards of education, and seven attempts which were denied, withdrawn, or are of an unknown status. Texas, Ohio, and California are the states most heavily impacted. See http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/06/gulen-charter-school-network-update.html for the updated list. [Update 8/20/2010: The count is now up to 145]

The characteristics of the schools can be found HERE.

There is no doubt that – despite some positive reports about these charter schools – they do indeed exhibit certain oddities. But one of the things yet to be determined is if there are any less-than-honorable intentions on the part of the tight-knit groups of individuals who are running the schools.

To conclusively answer that question, it would be important to investigate all possible rationales. While doing this, it seems wise to consider these two things: the profound shift in Turkey’s global role after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and Turkey's relationship to future U.S. access of Middle East energy sources.

Processing clues about possible intentions can be found by learning about the schools set up by the Gulen movement in other countries. After doing a great deal of reading, I have no answers but I do certainly have a lot of questions. I invite you to join me in trying to figure out what is going on, and offer you eight sources of information to give you additional things to think about:

1. “Georgian Labor Party protests opening of Turkish schools,” April 27, 2010, Trend News Agency (Wikipedia: “…the biggest private news agency in Azerbaijan, Caucasus and Central Asia.”)

“The Georgian Labor Party protested the opening of Turkish schools in Georgia. The party's Political Secretary Giorgi Gugava called the mass opening of Turkish schools in Georgia, "the dominance of Turkey in the Georgian educational system," and noted that these schools aim to spread Turkish culture and fundamentalist religious ideas.

“Gugava said the process is headed by Turkish religious leader Fetulla Gulen, whose activities are banned in his motherland…”

2. “Turkish Schools Coming Under Increasing Scrutiny In Central Asia,” April 26, 2009, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Wikipedia: “a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress than provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East…”)

“…The first so-called Turkish schools in Central Asia were founded in the mid-1990s. Turkish educational institutions there -- as well as in countries from Russia to North America -- were set up by the Gulen movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar and author Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is a Sunni Muslim who advocates tolerance and dialogue among different religions…

“Yet, Turkish educational institutions have come under increasing scrutiny in Central Asia. Governments as well as many scholars and journalists suspect that the schools have more than just education on their agendas..."

3. “Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam,” May 4, 2008, The New York Times

“Mr. Kacmaz (pronounced KATCH-maz) is part of a group of Turkish educators who have come to this battleground with an entirely different vision of Islam. Theirs is moderate and flexible, comfortably coexisting with the West while remaining distinct from it. Like Muslim Peace Corps volunteers [NOTE: Gulen's followers call themselves the Hizmet Movement; hizmet means service, duty, etc.], they promote this approach in schools, which are now established in more than 80 countries, Muslim and Christian…

“…The model is the brainchild of a Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen. A preacher with millions of followers in Turkey, Mr. Gulen, 69, comes from a tradition of Sufism, an introspective, mystical strain of Islam. He has lived in exile in the United States since 2000, after getting in trouble with secular Turkish officials…

“Moderate as that sounds, some Turks say Mr. Gulen uses the schools to advance his own political agenda. Murat Belge, a prominent Turkish intellectual who has experience with the movement, said that Mr. Gulen “sincerely believes that he has been chosen by God,” and described Mr. Gulen’s followers as “Muslim Jesuits” who are preparing elites to run the country.

Hakan Yavuz, a Turkish professor at the University of Utah who has had extensive experience with the Gulen movement, offered a darker assessment.

“The purpose here is very much power,” Mr. Yavuz said. “The model of power is the Ottoman Empire and the idea that Turks should shape the Muslim world...”

NOTE: The school featured in the article above is PakTurk. It has the same identifying features of the Gulen charter schools in the U.S.: students participate in the usual assortment of math and science competitions, including Turkish Olympiads!

4. "Central Asia: Fetullah Gülen's Missionary Schools" by Bayram Balci, 2002, published in a newsletter produced by the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM). Excerpts:

  • “The movement obtains much of its support from young urban men, especially doctors, academics and other professionals.”
  • “These schools can be said to focus on modem [robotics] and scientific education. Religious matters are completely absent from their curricula.”
  • “The movement's schools are managed by Turkish and national administrators and teachers.”

As far as the religious mission of the schools goes, Balci further explains:

  • “His [Gülen's] community, or cemaat, is designated as the Fethullahci movement, alhough [sic] its members do not appreciate this term. Basically, Fethullah Gülen's ideas serve to accomplish three intellectual goals: the islamization of the Turkish nationalist ideology; the turkification of Islam; and the Islamization of modernity.”
  • “No one knows exactly the size of Gülen's enormous community of followers and sympathizers, but most agree on an average es­timate of 3 million members…The movement has grown in part by sponsoring student dormitories, summer camps, colleges, universities, classrooms and communication organizations.”
  • “…Nurcu missionaries never openly or directly proselytize.”
  • “Their hocaefendi, or "respected lord", Gülen advocates two main ways of spreading Islam, tebligh and temsil.”
  • “They are not allowed to pronounce the name of Gülen or Nursi, nor are they permitted to spread Nurcu literature, at least not openly.”
  • “…the most important aim of the cemaat is to spread the message without expressing it directly.”
For more extensive information, read “Fethullah Gülen’s Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam,” Balci’s 27-page article which appeared in Religion, State & Society (Vol. 31, No. 2, 2003).

5. "Rising Islamist movements challenge secularism in Turkey," , October 21, 2009, Worldfocus (Wikipedia: “…an American newscast focused on international news and reporting…produced by WNET and distributed to U.S. public television stations by American Public Television.”)

This is a 6:04 minute news report where one Turkish sociologist draws similarities between the Gulen Movement and the Evangelical Movement.

6. "Turkey, from Ally to Enemy," July/August 2010, Commentary Magazine (Wikipedia: “…a monthly magazine on politics, Judaism, social and cultural issue founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945.”)

“Whereas Iran’s Islamic revolution shocked the world with its suddenness in 1979, Turkey’s Islamic revolution has been so slow and deliberate as to pass almost unnoticed. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Turkey is a reality—and a danger.

"The story of Turkey’s Islamic revolution is illuminating. It is the story of a charismatic leader with a methodical plan to unravel a system, a politician cynically using democracy to pursue autocracy, Arab donors understanding the power of the purse, Western political correctness blinding officials to the Islamist agenda, and American diplomats seemingly more concerned with their post-retirement pocketbooks than with U.S. national security. For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it is a dream come true. For the next generation of American presidents, diplomats, and generals, it is a disaster…”

“…With the independent press muzzled and almost all print and airtime dedicated to his agenda, Erdogan upped his campaign against both the political opposition and the military. Whereas the Interior Ministry would once root out Islamists and followers of the anti-Semitic Turkish cult leader Fethullah Gulen, the AKP filled police ranks with them.

7. Sibel Edmonds Deposition, 8/8/09: Part 3 of 5 (17:30 minutes long)

According to Wikipedia, Edmonds is a Turkish-American former FBI translator and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). Edmonds gained notoriety following her firing from her position as a language specialist at the FBI's Washington Field Office in March, 2002, after she accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving foreign nationals, alleging serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence which, she contended, presented a danger to the United States' security.”

At 8:06 – Edmonds’ testimony about Fetullah Gulen begins. She explains that Gulen has established more than 300 madrasas in Central Asia.

At 12:52 – Edmonds explains that she is aware that Gulen has set up schools in the US (recalls Texas and Virginia), but does not know more about them.

8. The Turkish Olympiads

Whether in the U.S. or abroad, students from the Gulen schools are encouraged to acquire Turkish language and cultural skills (singing and dancing), then to attend their annual regional Turkish Olympiads which feed into an international event. From the official Web site of the International Turkish Olympiad: "...from our land the power of the Turkish language would spread throughout the world. Watch the propaganda piece produced by Samonyolu TV: "hayal edin" (hayal = n. dream, fantasy, etc., edin = v. obtain, acquire, etc.).
9. “The Educational Philosophy of Fethullah Gülen and Its Application in South Africa", a paper posted on Fetullah Gülen’s website which was presented at a 2007 conference entitled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement." An explanation of the motives and a description of the Gulen schools' template of operation. This item added on 8/20/2010.

QUESTION: Why are states funding
charter schools which are entwined in all of this?

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Grannan: Once more with feeling -- Newsweek's high school rankings are still invalid and corrupt

Guest post by Caroline Grannan.

The Newsweek Magazine high school rankings have just come out.

Once again I’m posting a blog commentary debunking these rankings as both invalid – based on a single measure that simply does not measure the quality or efficacy of a high school – and corrupt. And I'd like to add a warning to the local press. Please don't fall for this dishonest and corrupt PR ploy. Ignore it or debunk it, but don't hype it. You discredit yourself, your publication or outlet, and your entire profession.

I’m reposting the comment I made last year on examiner.com, with slight updates. Here's that post:

**

Newsweek Magazine has once again compromised both credibility and ethics by releasing its annual high school rankings feature. The "rankings" are based on one single measure -- one that is invalid as a gauge of quality and simply does not measure how "good" a high school is. They also violate journalistic ethics, as the gauge is one that directly promotes increased profits for an enterprise run by Newsweek's parent company.

The rankings are based entirely on the single criterion of how many AP (or two other similar) tests are taken by the students in the school. That's it. How the students perform on the tests is not part of the equation. Holly Hacker of the Dallas Morning News reported that at the No. 26 school, Herron High School in Herron, Ind., an average six exams were given to each graduating senior -- but only 5 percent of the graduating seniors passed one or more of the exams.

But the sheer number of exams given qualified Herron as one of the nation's supposed top high schools, despite the students' abysmal performance (or quite possibly deliberate sabotage, I would add, knowing teens all too well. I would cheer them on in this case, though).

Newsweek's description: "Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by [reporter/editor] Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate (IB) and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors."

This is so clearly not a valid gauge of a school's quality that it's hardly worth wasting words explaining. The criterion is also subject to easy manipulation, needless to say -- as is obviously happening in Herron, Ind.

Meanwhile, here's why this feature compromises Newsweek's ethics. Newsweek's parent company, the Washington Post, also owns Kaplan, the test prep powerhouse. It's also hardly necessary to explain that encouraging more students to take AP tests directly correlates with increasing Kaplan's business.

Standard journalistic ethics call for avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest. The Newsweek high school rankings emblazon the appearance of conflict of interest across the heavens.

An increasing chorus of dissenters complains each year about this feature -- including some of the "winners." In May 2008, the superintendents of 38 high-performing school districts signed a letter to Newsweek protesting the feature and requesting that their districts be excluded (a toothless request, but a meaningful gesture).

At this moment, if you Google "Newsweek top high schools 2010," the first post that comes up is the DCist blog, headlined: "Why Newsweek's Best High School List is Useless."

It's not just time-wasting but also harmful to pass authoritative-looking judgments on schools based on invalid criteria. Meanwhile, with the very survival of the news media under threat, journalistic credibility is one asset the media should struggle to keep. Newsweek is making a big mistake to compromise its ethics so shamelessly. The magazine needs to eliminate and renounce this corrupt and damaging feature.

***

The letter sent by superintendents from 38 high-income school districts in five states to Newsweek was intended to announce their boycott of the rankings. Actually, a boycott is impossible, because districts can’t withhold public information, but the message was made strongly. The letter is pasted below.

To the Editor,

The signers of this letter are school superintendents representing a cross section of districts, including some of the finest public schools in the nation. Many of our high schools have received top rankings in your annual edition of "Americas Best High Schools," as well as in numerous other publications. Others might never appear in such rankings, despite great achievements, because of challenges beyond the reach of your superficial approach to measuring quality.

Although some of our schools may seem to be the fortunate beneficiaries of your articles, we all believe that all schools, communities -- and your readers -- are poorly served by Newsweek's persistent efforts to use a single statistic, the number of students who sit for A.P. or I.B. exams, to rank schools.

The inventor of this flawed methodology, Jay Mathews, has insisted that it is meaningful because A.P. or I.B. participation is the sole available nation-wide measure of whether students take a rigorous program of study. He is right that there are few consistent measures of school quality, state-to-state, but that does not justify inappropriate use of the data that is available.

In reality, it is impossible to know which high schools are "the best" in the nation. Determining whether different schools do or don't offer a high quality of education requires a look at many different measures, including students' overall academic accomplishments and their subsequent performance in college, and taking into consideration the unique needs of their communities.

Students and school communities deserve better than simplistic and misleading school rankings, and that is why the signers of this letter will not respond to your request for our A.P. or I.B. test data. We respectfully insist that you omit our schools from your rankings, no matter how well we score, even if you already have our data, or obtain it in some other way.

Sincerely,

School Districts - Superintendents:

New York Schools:

Ardsley UFSD – Jason Friedman

Bedford CSD – Debra Jackson

Blind Brook-Rye Public Schools – Ronald D. Valenti

Brewster CSD – Jane Sandbank

Bronxville UFSD – David Quattrone

Byram Hills CSD – John Chambers

Chappaqua CSD – David Fleishman

Dobbs Ferry UFSD – Debra Kaplan

Greenburgh/North Castle UFSD – Robert Maher

Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools - Les Omotani

Katonah-Lewisboro UFSD – Robert Roelle

Mamaroneck UFSD – Paul Fried

Mt. Pleasant-Cottage School, UFSD – Norman Freimark

North Shore Schools – Ed Melnick

Ossining UFSD - Phyllis Glassman

Rye Neck UFSD – Peter Mustich

Scarsdale UFSD – Mike McGill

Spackenkill UFSD - Lois Colletta

Tuckahoe UFSD – Mike Yazurlo

Valhalla UFSD- Diane Ramos-Kelly

New Jersey Schools:

Montclair Schools - Frank Alvarez

Montgomery Schools - Sam Stewart

Tenafly Schools – Morton Sherman

Verona Public Schools – Earl Kim

Connecticut Schools:

Darien Schools – Don Fiftal

Simsbury Schools – Diane Ullman

Stonington Public Schools – Michael L. McKee

Wilton Public Schools - Gary Richards

Illinois Schools:

Decatur Public School District #61 – Gloria J. Davis

Deerfield/Highland Park Township HS District 113 – George V. Fornero

Evanston Township High School – Eric Witherspoon

Glenbrook High School District 225 - Dave Hales

Lincoln-Way High School District 210 – Lawrence A. Wylie

New Trier High School District 203 – Linda Yonke

Oak Park and River Forest High School - Attila J. Weninger

Massachusetts Schools:

Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools - Jere Hochman

Masconomet Regional School District - Claire Sheff Kohn

Wayland Schools – Gary Burton

Cc: The Editors of Time and US News and World Report

US News and World Report

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Magnolia Schools charter management organization


This post has four sections:
  • Background information about the approval of a petition for a charter school in Santa Clara County, California. The school, Magnolia Science Academy – Santa Clara, is slated to open in Sunnyvale for the 2010-2011 school year and is currently enrolling students.
  • Revealing excerpts from an email exchange sent to me by a reader who, as a prospective parent, was in communication with a representative of the new MSA-Santa Clara school.
  • Evidence which clearly contradicts the representative’s statements.
  • Why so much about Turkey and Turkish?

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

PART 1: Petition approved!

In July 2008, the San Mateo Union High School District rejected a charter school petition submitted by the Magnolia Educational and Science Foundation [aka Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation]. As the San Francisco Examiner explained:

“Undeterred by the district decision, the Magnolia Foundation turned to the California Board of Education and received authorization to open 10 new charter schools anywhere in the state during the next six years. The foundation can locate its schools within any district without seeking approval at the local level, according to Joseph Hurmali, the foundation’s president.”

In March 2009, three Magnolia Charter Schools were approved (5-2) by the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

But because the Magnolia Science Academy-Santa Clara (MSA) did not open as planned in fall 2009, the Santa Clara County Board of Education sent a Notice of Violations in February 2010. “Administration defers recommendation to the Board’s legal counsel.”

In April 2010, the board members reviewed the status of the charter school’s remediation of the violation and voted (4-2-1) to approve the recruitment and enrollment revisions.

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

PART 2: Answers given

This is a prospective parent’s May 2010 email communication with B. Yenikaya as he fielded questions about the school. Undoubtedly, this would be Bayram Yenikaya, who is listed as one of Magnolia Schools’ board members. Yenikaya also contributed to “Islamic Perspectives on Science” published in 2007 by a Gulenist publishing company in New Jersey (The Light, Inc., now known as Tughra Books). Note the lines I've highlighted in bold.

From: PARENT

Subject: can we enroll?

To: santaclara@magnoliascience.org

even though the school is run by the Gulen Islamic movement, we are a Christian family would it be OK to enroll our children?

From: BYENIKAYA@...

Hi,

We have no affiliation with the movement. Some of our staff may have unofficial affiliation with the movement, though we do not question our teachers' affiliations with any political party or religious organization…

I believe you are misinformed by internet conspiracy theories. Let me correct a few things you mentioned in your email…

1. There is no country as "Islamic Republic of Turkey." Turkey is a secular country about to join European Union… [According to the U.S. Department of State, Turkey is officially known as the Republic of Turkey and is 99 percent Muslim]

3. We have no affiliation to Beehive or Chesapeake so I don't know their case. I just checked on the internet and it says they were closed because they had low enrollment and not enough financial security…

6. Turkish language is only offered at one Magnolia school as an elective out of nine schools. And that was due to demand from parents. We offer Spanish as primary foreign language. Based on demand from parents we have opened Chinese, Japanese and French in some of our schools. 8 out of 9 of our schools have never offered Turkish language…

From: PARENT

Thank you for your reply, but we were told that the Gulen schools teach Turkish language, dance, singing - they have a Turkish American Club and then take a Trip to the Islamic Republic of Turkey…

From: BYENIKAYA@...

…Some of our international teachers are Turkish. They probably organize cultural events with Turkish food. But I am very sure there is no religious concept mentioned or discussed with students. Baklava and shish kebab hardly constitutes a cultural enforcement…

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

PART 3: Evidence clearly contrary to BYenikaya’s claims

Eleven schools are listed on the home page of the Magnolia Schools Web site, two of which will be opened in the Fall of 2010. ALL of the active schools feature formal and institutionalized activities for students which give an intense exposure to Turkish culture and travel. I encourage you to follow the progressions and explore.

1. Magnolia Science Academy 1 – Reseda; Varol Gurler, principal

  • Home page>Europe Trip: “MSA had a wonderful trip to Turkey with 4 students and 2 teachers during the spring break.”
  • Home page>Arizona Trip and Turkish Contest [April 1-4]: “MSA had a trip to Arizona with 13 students, 3 parents and 4 teachers for four days during the spring break. We went to Grand Canyon. The following day we went to Phoenix for the Turkish Competiton [sic]. Our students competed in poem, skit and special talent categories.”
  • Gallery>2008 Turkish Olympiads, 16 pictures
  • Documents>After School Programs>Turkish club with Mr. Yilmaz

----

2. Magnolia Science Academy 2 – Valley; Erdal Kocak, principal

  • Social/Fun Clubs> “TURKISH CLUB - Students will have the opportunity of learning Turkish culture beside Turkish language and songs. Students will taste various Turkish food, make cultural filed [sic] trips and watch movies.”
  • Gallery>2007-2008 Album>Trips>Turkish Class Six Flags
  • Gallery>2009-2010 Album>Trips and Camps>After School Clubs>Turkish Folk Dance Club
  • Trulia.com review for MSA2: “…They have a good foreign language program which includes Spanish, Turkish, and Russian…”

----

3. Magnolia Science Academy 3 – Carson (formerly Gardena); “Matt”/Metin Demir, principal

  • Left vertical bar>Turkish Contest: April 3-4th Mesa Arts Center In Phoenixs [sic], AZ Thanks to all the students that participated! Our trip to Arizona headed out Friday, April 2nd at 9a.m. The weekend was full of not only Acticvties [sic] during the Contest but also visiting the Grand Canyon, Raw Hyde, and Flagstaff. Students enjoyed sight seeing, Snow Ball fights, and Go Cart Racing. Nevertheless the Turkish Language & Performing Arts Contest was the highlight and main event of our trip. We had a total of 11 participants representing our school this year…Our very own [student name] won First Place in the Special Talent Category. Five states participated in the West Coast and we had the only winner in the state of California! Lets [sic] all congratulate everyone that participated.
  • Left vertical bar>Anatolian Festival>Gallery page labeled “Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival,” 34 pictures
  • Gallery>2009-2010 Albums>Turkish Language & Art Contest, 43 pictures
  • Gallery>2009-2010 Albums> Europe Trip 2010, 85 Pictures: Photographs reveal a trip to Turkey, complete with minarets and a Turkish flag flying on a pole (see image above).

----

4. Magnolia Science Academy 4 – Venice; Mustafa Sahin, principal

  • Msa4 News, April 2010>Page 5>Arizona Trip: “The ext [sic] day, early in the morning, we went to the Mesa Art Center to watch the Turkish contest. Our friend November participated in the contest. She sang a Turkish song and we supported her.” And “On the last day, we watched the finals of Turkish Contest and many students performed singing, dancing, skits and poetry. That was unforgettable!”
  • Msa4 News, April 2010>Page 6>Europe Trip: “The Europe Trip was an unforgettable journey to France and Turkey. The students went there over Spring Break. They flew into France, and stayed there for two days. On the second day, they headed to Turkey by flying over Europe. It was a total of eleven days and packed with many events to do and see. There was also a choice of just going to Turkey for nine days. Mr. Gurcan arranged all the trip details…After Paris they took a flight to Turkey, Istanbul for three days. They stayed at Ufuk School…They took another flight to Turkey, Izmir and stayed there for two days. They stayed at Marla Hotel. While they stayed at Marla Hotel they met the parents of one of the teachers from MSA6, Mr. Koray…
  • From Trulia.com reviews for MSA4: "…They have Turkish, Ethics and Art classes too. Many of the teachers are Turkish. They go on field trips every month. There is also a yearly trip to Europe and Turkey…"and "…I don t [sic] like how many Turkish teachers there are because some of their accents are hard to understand..."

----

5. Magnolia Science Academy 5 – Hollywood; Dr. Suleyman Karaman, principal

  • Gallery>Year 2008-2009>Europe Trip>Turkiye, 21 pictures)
  • Gallery>Year 2008-2009>Trips>Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival, 31 pictures
  • After School>Club Descriptions: “TURKISH CLUB Students will have the opportunity of learning Turkish culture beside Turkish language and songs. Students will taste various Turkish food, make cultural filed [sic] trips and watch movies.”
  • Documents>December 2009 Newsletter>MSA Student Parent Handbook: “Europe trip is scheduled for the spring break, in between March 25 and April 5. For more information, please see Mr. Emin”*
  • Documents>MSA Student Parent Handbook: “Field Trips offer exciting ways to learn. MSA students will have the opportunity to go on field trips at various times throughout the school year. MSA plans many field trips, weekend getaways, summer camp, and our infamous Europe Trip during spring break.”

----

6. Magnolia Science Academy 6 – Palms: “Ike”/FNU Ozis, principal**

  • Gallery>Europe Trip 2010, 10 Pictures: Photographs of kids standing in front of famous French and Turkish landmarks
  • Gallery>Arizona Trip 2010, 12 Pictures: Photographs of kids doing various activities along with a photo of students on stage at the Turkish Language Institute sponsored Turkish Language & Performing Arts Contest.
  • Documents>MSA Student Parent Handbook (same as above for MSA5): “Field Trips offer exciting ways to learn. MSA students will have the opportunity to go on field trips at various times throughout the school year. MSA plans many field trips, weekend getaways, summer camp, and our infamous Europe Trip during spring break.”

7. Magnolia Science Academy – San Diego: “David”/possibly Durmush Yilmaz

  • Gallery>Field Trips and Camps>Turkish Cultural Trip (Jan ’08), 19 pictures: Photographs of a small number of kids (6) on an outing to a beach and eating in someone’s home (Turkish-style floor seating around a short table)
  • Gallery>Field Trips and Camps>International Trip (Apr ’08), 27 pictures: Photographs of kids (same three students) posing at famous Turkish landmarks
  • Gallery>Academic Activities>Turkish Language & Performing Arts Contest (Apr ’10), 30 pictures

----

8. Magnolia Science Academy 8 – Bell (LA County): Opening in 2010-2011

----

9. Magnolia Science Academy – Santa Clara: Opening in 2010-2011

----

10. Pacific Technology School – Orangevale*** (Sacramento County, opened September 2009)); Mahmut Altun, principal

  • After School>Academic Clubs & Teams: “TURKISH CLUB Students will have the opportunity to learn Turkish culture and language. Students will taste various Turkish foods, go on cultural field trips, and watch movies.”

----

11. Pacific Technology School – Orange County***; “Steven”/FNU Keskinturk, principal

  • Gallery>Europe Trip, 51 pictures: Photographs of kids posing at famous French and Turkish landmarks and eating a meal “Turkish-style.”
  • Gallery>Trip to Anatolian Festival, 27 pictures: Photographs of kids posing at famous French and Turkish landmarks and eating “Turkish-style.” [it appears the Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival was sponsored by the Pacifica Institute]

*NOTE: Images of the Europe trips never include countries other than France and Turkey

**FNU = first name unknown

***These schools earned the classification of Statewide Benefit Charter schools. From the California Department of Education: "The State Board of Education may authorize a five-year charter for the operation of a charter school that will provide instructional services of "statewide benefit" that cannot be provided by a charter school operating in only one school district, or only in one county. Statewide benefit charters must adhere to all other charter laws with the exception of geographic limitations. They must open at least two new sites/schools in different counties in areas with struggling schools. After the first two sites have operated for two years and met performance objectives, operators may open two additional sites each year."

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

PART 4: Why so much Turkish? And other curiosities.

As a world language, Turkish ranks fairly far down on the world language popularity list:

  1. Mandarin
  2. English
  3. Spanish
  4. Hindi
  5. Russian
  6. Arabic
  7. Portuguese
  8. Bengali
  9. French
  10. Malay

And at long last there is Turkish at #22.

And as for the claim of only a remote connection to Turkey that simply involves exposing students to baklava and shish kebab, much more is going on and it is apparent if you watch this video of the 2009 California Turkish Olympiads on YouTube, narrated by Ebru news (a Gulenist TV station):

160 students from 17 schools contested in 5 different categories in this years Turkish Language Olympics organized by the Pacifica Institute which is based in California. The students displayed their skills in singing, poetry, folklore, talent and sketch categories; however, some others contested in grammar and essay categories. [student name] from Sonoran Science Academy was awarded with 1st place in the poetry contest, while [student name] from Magnolia Science Academy in California took second place and [student name] and [student name] from Coral Science Academy in Nevada took the third place. In the sketch category, students from the Bay Area Technical School took the gold medal while the students of Sonoran Science Academy Broadway took the silver. The gold medal and a lot of applause went to Brandon Thandi from Sonoran Sunset Arizona displaying his masterful art of the water marbling. He simply painted two tulips next to American and Turkish Flags.Coral Academy of Science Nevada team of folk dancers got the gold medal and the cup.Every year Pacifica Institute organizes a Turkish Language and Performing Arts Contest. Students from all across the US compete in categories as varied as singing, poetry, sketch and folk dance.

Ebru is also the name for the Turkish craft of paper marbling.

For a review of this network of 100 U.S. charter schools, see U.S. Fethullahci charter schools.

B.Y.’s denials about the connection of Magnolia schools to Utah’s Beehive School of Science & Technology can also be easily challenged. From The Salt Lake Tribune (November 2009):

In 2007, Beehive received a $61,000 loan from Murat Biyik, who at the time was the school's vice principal. The loan was equivalent to Biyik's salary. Biyik is now principal at Magnolia Science Academy in Hollywood, Calif., part of a chain of charter schools once overseen by Erdogan.

And the foundation overseeing the Magnolia schools is home to another Beehive benefactor, Mustafa Keskin. Keskin is secretary of the foundation and loaned Beehive $49,000.

Other loans to Beehive include $20,000 from Buyamin Karaduman, and $30,000 from Suleyman Bahceci [Executive Director/CEO of Magnolia Schools], who both work for the Accord Institute in Tustin, Calif. [south of LA, near Santa Ana] The institute contracts with Beehive on curriculum design and performs teacher evaluations for the school.

Incidentally, Tustin, California is also the home of Ted Mitchell, the president and chief executive officer of the New Schools Venture Fund, an organization which exists to fund charter start-ups. Mitchell was appointed to the California State Board of Education in 2007 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and is currently serving as the Board’s president.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Grannan: A little-noticed but triumphant victory for public education

Guest post by Caroline Grannan.

In what looks like a close race but was actually a crushing defeat on June 8, state Sen. Gloria Romero, the candidate of the billionaires and privatizers, was shut out of the November runoff for California state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Two candidates who do not represent the charterizing “education reformers” – Larry Aceves and Tom Torlakson – split the non-Romero vote (along with a scattering of less visible hopefuls).

It’s Aceves’ and Torlakson’s vote-splitting that makes the Romero smackdown significant, even though their numbers were close, with each of the three winning between 17 and 19 percent of the vote.

Torlakson, a state assemblyman and former public school classroom teacher (his website emphasizes that he’s still a “teacher-on-leave”), was supported by the California Teachers Association. Of course, with teachers’ unions ranking up there with Satan on the list of top villains to the pundit class, that endorsement was supposed to seal his fate.

And Aceves is a public school educator – a little-known retired superintendent from an obscure school district within San Jose (which is a sprawling metropolis cut up into several school districts), with a background as a teacher and principal and no prior experience with elected office.

There’s no doubt that this is a largely ignored office and that almost no voters know a thing about the candidates other than what’s in the ballot statements. The pundits’ wisdom would have us believe that voters admire “education reform” and revile educators – and especially (invoke your personal charm or superstition to ward off evil) teachers’ unions.

But it looks like the punditry may have lost touch with reality, as it’s evident that voters looking upon educators favorably and saw that as a useful qualification for the job.

As to Romero, while I vigorously oppose the forces that boosted and funded her campaign, I’ve never seen her and had no reason to expect her to be personally unpleasant. Her concession was awfully surly, though: “The victors in the race for superintendent of public instruction were two different wings of the same status-quo education establishment,” she posted sullenly on her website. “The interests of the reform community … lost.” Her statement took an angry jab at public schools and their students and teachers, too, in her peevish comment about “an education morass which remains complacent with failure.”

She really doesn’t need to be so cranky, as there’s undoubtedly a cushy job awaiting her in the bounteously funded charter school industry.

A brief digression into political theory: There’s a concept called the Overton Window, conceived in a right-wing think tank, that describes how ideas and policies may shift from unthinkable to popular, or the other direction. Here’s how the Mackinac Center, where that concept was conceived, describes it: "Imagine, if you will, a yardstick standing on end. On either end are the extreme policy actions for any political issue. Between the ends lie all gradations of policy from one extreme to the other. ... The essence of the Overton window is that only a portion of this policy spectrum is within the realm of the politically possible at any time. ... Actions outside of this window … are politically unsuccessful.” If advocates want to make the unthinkable into the possible, the strategy? “Shift the window."

I’m hoping that that creaking sound we heard was the Overton Window shifting, so that the billionaire-promoted charterization/privatization “reforms” are moving toward the unpopular end of the scale – Romero’s fate might even suggest the term “politically suicidal” – and educators and even (yes) their often-reviled unions are viewed favorably once again.

Now let's hope that Aceves and Torlakson get that message and try to outdo each other as supporters of public schools, teachers and kids – and, please, please, that they resist the noxious blandishments of the billionaires.

The headline news from the election is our governor’s race, but it was the Republican contest that was in the spotlight – a battle over who could be more mean-spirited and engage in more ridiculous magical thinking about running the state with less and less revenue. (And while pouring more and more millions into TV commercials.)

But now our Democratic candidate, former two-term governor (1975-’83) Jerry Brown, strides onstage.

So, how’s Brown on schools? Well, as Oakland mayor from 1998 to 2006, Brown (who himself attended parochial school in my part of San Francisco) turned his back on Oakland's public schools to found and promote his two pet charter schools.

Despite that, I have some hope. It's clear what he has learned from that experience, though he has yet to publicly acknowledge it.

Long story short, Brown's two Oakland charter schools (Oakland School for the Arts, OSA, and Oakland Military Institute, OMI) have struggled desperately for survival and would never have made it this far if he hadn't been knocking himself out for years raising more money than God for them. I know from sources within the OSA community that he remained deeply involved with the school even after he became California Attorney General, even attending parent meetings. I also know from those contacts how troubled the school has been.

What Brown cannot have failed to learn from this experience is that it's really, really hard and really, really expensive to run a school. (I heard him speak about the two schools before they started up. His message then was that he was going to show those stupid educators in public schools how it was done.). His relentless fundraising demonstrates that he has learned that running a school requires vastly more resources than state funding provides.

Wouldn't it be admirable, principled and appropriately humble if he would man up and acknowledge those things publicly?

By the way, I've posted a couple of times on different local blogs about Brown's schools, and he has posted comments in response (or at least someone purporting to be him; an impostor just doesn’t seem that likely). At one point he tried to deny that OSA had had rough times, but he shut up when I pointed out that I had contacts there and was commenting from an informed position.

Now it's time for him to come clean, take the lessons that he has learned from his adventures in the charter world and apply them to supporting all public schools throughout California. That means positive support in every way, including pushing for increased revenue (yes, the word of death – taxes) and committing to funding our schools adequately and fully.

----

You may be interested in my October 2009 posts about Jerry Brown's charter schools (part one and part two). -- P.P.


Sunday, June 6, 2010

The U.S. “Fethullahci” schools, sometimes locally known as Turkish-run charter schools

This is a list of 97 publicly-funded charter schools which are likely to be missionary schools started by followers of Fetullah Gülen, a controversial Turkish imam currently living in Pennsylvania. The operation of these schools is discreet and amorphous. There is no formal, visible umbrella organization that officially links them together in the way that is typical with very large EMOs like Imagine, White Hat, or KIPP.

As you search through the content on the schools’ Web sites, you will notice there are
extremely strong visual similarities with a subset of these supposedly-unrelated schools on their Web site designs and school logos (overlapping ellipses).Most importantly, the Gülen-connected schools always share the same following characteristics:

  • Emphasis on math, science, computers and robotics
  • Turkish language offered as a subject
  • Turkish student clubs
  • High student participation in regional Turkish Olympiads and other competitions
  • Annual spring and/or summer trips to Europe which always include a visit to Turkey
  • Promotion of summer programs in Turkey
  • Large number of male Turkish teachers
  • Administrative staff and founders who are nearly exclusively Turkish

Similar school features are described in "Central Asia: Fetullah Gülen's Missionary Schools" by Bayram Balci (2002). This piece was published in a newsletter produced by the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) at Leiden University (Netherlands).

Here are some excerpts:

  • “The movement obtains much of its support from young urban men, especially doctors, academics and other professionals.”
  • “These schools can be said to focus on modem [robotics] and scientific education. Religious matters are completely absent from their curricula.”
  • “The movement's schools are managed by Turkish and national administrators and teachers.”

As far as the religious mission of the schools goes, Balci further explains:

  • “His [Gülen's] community, or cemaat, is designated as the Fethullahci movement, alhough [sic] its members do not appreciate this term. Basically, Fethullah Gülen's ideas serve to accomplish three intellectual goals: the islamization of the Turkish nationalist ideology; the turkification of Islam; and the Islamization of modernity.”
  • “No one knows exactly the size of Gülen's enormous community of followers and sympathizers, but most agree on an average es­timate of 3 million members…The movement has grown in part by sponsoring student dormitories, summer camps, colleges, universities, classrooms and communication organizations.”
  • “…Nurcu missionaries never openly or directly proselytize.”
  • “Their hocaefendi, or "respected lord", Gülen advocates two main ways of spreading Islam, tebligh and temsil.”
  • “They are not allowed to pronounce the name of Gülen or Nursi, nor are they permitted to spread Nurcu literature, at least not openly.”
  • “…the most important aim of the cemaat is to spread the message without expressing it directly.”

For more extensive information, read “Fethullah Gülen’s Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam,” Balci’s 27-page article which appeared in Religion, State & Society (Vol. 31, No. 2, 2003).

In the United States it is is not legal to use public funds to support charter schools which are established to directly or indirectly embed religious messages into the minds of American children.

However, it is perfectly permissible to operate private religious schools, and this is what Gülen’s followers should have chosen to do.

------

ARIZONA (6)

Operated by Daisy Education Corporation (no Web site, seems to dba Sonoran Science Academy schools)

------

ARKANSAS (2)

------

CALIFORNIA (13)

Operated by Magnolia Schools (12)

Operated by Willow Education (1)

------

COLORADO (1)

Operated by LSE, Inc. (Lotus School of Excellence)

------

FLORIDA (4)

------

GEORGIA (2)

------

ILLINOIS (2)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

------

INDIANA (2)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

------

LOUISIANA (1)

Operated by Pelican Educational Foundation

------

MARYLAND (1)

------

MASSACHUSETTS (1)

------

MICHIGAN (1)

------

MISSOURI (2)

------

NEVADA (4)

------

NEW JERSEY (2)

------

OHIO (16)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

------

OKLAHOMA (3)

Operated by the Sky Foundation (no Web site)

------

PENNSYLVANIA (1)

------

TEXAS (31)

Operated by the Cosmos Foundation - 27 schools (no Web site, seems to be dba Harmony Public Schools)

Operated by Riverwalk Education Foundation, Inc. - 4 schools (no Web site, seems to dba SST Schools)

------

UTAH (1)

------

WISCONSIN (1)

------

Other non-charter schools which are likely to be connected:

*These schools waive summer program tuition and registration fees for Harmony and SST (School of Science & Technology) students.