The Danger With Charters--States Need To Learn Lessons From Texas

For years we have been warned by those in Texas who are suffering from the door that was opened for Islamic charter schools.  Here are important articles to bring you up to speed:

Phyllis Schlafly article on 4-9-12--Please read in entirety but here is an excerpt:

In Texas, 36 Turkish charter schools, called the Harmony Network, have received over $100 million in government funds. These schools now have 290 (mostly Turkish) employees on H-1B visas, about 16 percent of its workforce.

In Inver Grove Heights, Minn., a substitute teacher named Amanda Getz reported about what goes on inside a charter school called Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy, TIZA. TIZA is a K-through-8th-grade charter school funded by U.S. taxpayers and sponsored by Islamic Relief.

The teacher says there is no clear division between the subjects studied during school and the study of the Quran after school. She says that homework assignments for after-school religious instruction are written on the board right alongside assignments for math and social studies.

Getz says she was informed that, on Fridays, the Muslim holy day, there would be a school assembly in the gym after lunch. She was instructed to take her students before the assembly to the bathroom, four at a time, for “ritual washing,” and afterwards “teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap” led the students in Muslim prayers.

Visit an expert on this issue--Peyton Wolcott's website is full of great info of what happened in Texas and beyond.

Warning for Alabamians from State Board Member Betty Peters--"The latest AL legislation says on p. 53, lines 24 thru 27, “Employees of a public charter school, as well as members of the governing board of a public charter school, shall demonstrate to the authorizer of the public charter school that they are citizens of or lawfully present...”  Unless the  phrase “or lawfully present” is removed, foreign citizens can serve as members of an AL public charter schools’ governing board.  Can foreign citizens who are in AL legally serve as a board member of any of our existing county or city public schools or on the state school board?  Why in the world would we want to make exceptions for public charter schools and open ourselves up to groups like the Gulen charter schools? "

Why the hurry?  Let's get this right.  Please call or better still go to the Senate Committee hearing on Tues April 17th at 1:30 pm in Montgomery on the 8th floor Room 807 Conference Room and let your legislators see your concern.  Come an hour earlier if you want to sign in to be able to speak.

Here is a link to Alabama SB 513--see wording on bottom of page 55-56

Here is a link to Alabama HB 650--see wording on bottom of page 53-54

(When clicking on link --it will say something about session ended-login--just hit ok and file shows up)

For those in Alabama concerned--please call (334) 242-7800 Senate and (334) 242-7600 House

Hear interview with Mrs. Betty Peters

Let's Not Forget Who Wants To Change The Future of Americans Through Education

Folks please study this--it's happening in Alabama but it is also happening in other state.  In Alabama they are trying to pass this quickly and we need to learn a lesson from Tx--they have over 30 Turkish charter schools go to this website below and after being outraged  Alabamians need to call the legislature as they are trying to pass this by next week. Citizenship issue must be on this bill--let's not hurry it through! Interviewed Mrs. Betty Peters today and we all need to be very, very concerned.

http://www.peytonwolcott.com/SitemapApril2011.html

Link to interview--Mrs. Betty came on about 40 min into the program --listen

Let's wake up our legislators. Thanks.

Numbers to Call to stop-HB 541, Alabama's Charter School Bill --Operator 334-242-8000, Senate 334-242-7800, House 334-242-7600 Changes must be made!

The problem:   HB 541 must be amended to insure Alabama offers the best possible charter schools for our students. Many states are now trying to correct serious problems with their charter schools that we can avoid if our legislature takes its time and diligently studies and debates all aspects of the bill. Regarding Mississippi's pending charter school bill, their House Education Committee Chairman John Moore recently stated, "I don't want the biggest education legislation in years to be a big error. We have to be very careful. "We don't want to unleash a monster."

 

AL"s HB 541 authorizes charter schools to borrow money and issue bonds, but if they go out of business while in debt as many in the nation have, the state is stuck with paying the creditors. This potentially creates a significant liability for the state. Eric Fleischauer wrote in the Decatur Times on April 2, 2012, "A few states have laws that managed to create beneficial charter schools without devastating public schools in the process. A bill pending in the Alabama Legislature, however, fails to find this balance."

Fleischauer also warns that the bill does not limit charter schools to low-performing districts.  (It is commendable that the legislature is currently debating amending this part of the bill. ) Fleischauer also mentioned that although the bill restricts awarding charters to non-profits and secular groups, a charter school can turn around and contract with for-profit or secular groups for management and operations, including educational services.

 

A huge consideration we in AL likely will be facing if this bill is passed in its current form is Turkish charter schools, yet few people are discussing it in our state.   This rapidly growing network of public charter schools  has become a rapidly growing problem in many states. The entity in AL involved in the controversial Gulen Turkish Charter Movement is the Peace Valley Foundation in Huntsville, and it is part of a regional group in the Southeast called the Istanbul Institute. A guest article by Sharon Higgins featured in Valerie Strauss's 3/27/12  Washington Post column explains this issue well.  Since this subject is virtually unknown by our legislators and citizens, I will include a good deal of Ms. Higgins'  article  for your convenience.  The entire column can be read here:      www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/largest-charter-network-in-us-schools-tied-to-turkey/2012/03/23/gIQAoaFzcS_blog.html

 

Higgins wrote:  "The largest charter school network in the United States is operated by people in and associated with the Gulen Movement (GM), a secretive and controversial Turkish religious sect. With 135 schools enrolling more than 45,000 students, this network is substantially larger than KIPP, the well-known charter management organization with only 109 schools.  A lack of awareness about this situation persists despite it being addressed in a national paper and in articles about Gulen charter schools in Utah, Arizona, , Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Georgia, and North Carolina..  Ms. Higgins mentioned it has been reported that "the FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education are investigating practices at these schools.” 

 

"The concerns raised about the charter schools in the GM network have related to questionable admissions practices; the channeling of school funds to close associates; abuse of contractors; participation in biased, GM-created competitions; incidents of bribing; using the schools to generate political connections; science fair projects being done by teachers; unfair hiring and termination practices; and more. Still, authorizers continue to approve charter applications, ill-informed parents continue to use them, and taxpayers keep funding the schools – all without much discussion."

 

"The Gulen Movement originated in Turkey in the late 1960s.... Its members are followers of Fethullah Gulen (b. 1941) a self-exiled Turkish preacher [an imam] who has been living on a secluded compound in rural Pennsylvania since 1998. Members call themselves hizmet, meaning “volunteer services” movement. The GM conducts four primary activities around the world: a media empire, business organizations, an enormous number of Turkish culture-promoting and interfaith dialog organizations, and a network of schools in over 100 countries, a large portion of which are U.S. charter schools."

 

"After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the GM began to establish schools outside of Turkey, first in the newly established republics of Central Asia and then beyond. One expert noted that the “...worldwide extent of Fethullah Gulen’s educational network testifies to the internationalist, even imperialist, nature of the movement. Last year an analyst viewed the raison d'être for the schools “spreading across the globe” in this way: “Students will learn how to speak Turkish, the national anthem, how to be the 'right kind of Muslim', etc. In essence, it buys [the GM] loyalty.”

 

"The first Gulen charter school was opened in 1999. U.S. officials have known about the movement’s involvement in charter schools since at least 2006 when our Istanbul consulate noticed that a large number of Turkish men, suspected to be GM-affiliated, were seeking visas to work at charter schools. A company specializing in geopolitical analysis reported in 2010 that the GM was running “...more than 90 charter public schools in at least 20 states.”

 

"Board members of Gulen charter schools are primarily Turkish or Turkic and often can be tied to other Gulenist organizations. GM schools around the world emphasize math, science, and technology, and always provide Turkish cultural instruction. Turkish or Turkic individuals, almost all male, are imported (referred to as “international” teachers) to teach those subjects and serve as school administrators. They sometimes transfer to other schools, but only those within the movement’s network. Around the world, local teachers are usually hired for elementary grades and the non-Gulen favored subjects. The charter schools have been criticized for importing so many teachers but defend their practice by claiming that they are unable to find qualified Americans. "

 

" ...in 2009, readers of Sabah were presented with an account of GM insiders discussing how the U.S. charter schools serve the movement’s goals: “...through education, we can teach tens of thousands of people the Turkish language and our national anthem, introduce them to our culture and win them over. And this is what the Gulen Movement is striving for....A Turkish observer remarked, “No society would tolerate this big of an organization being this untransparent.” When the GM has been exposed involuntarily or criticized, it has been known to respond with evasive measures or defensive attacks. Because of our charter school system, the United States is the only country where the Gulen Movement has been able to establish schools which are fully funded with public money. "

 

"Gulen charter schools regularly take students to Turkey. The movement’s interfaith dialog and Turkish culture-promoting organizations also provide Turkey trips to academics, journalists, politicians and other public officials*. Tours include sightseeing as well as visits to GM-affiliated institutions (news outlets, schools, etc.). A special feature of these guided “cultural immersion” trips is at least one visit to the home of a Turkish family, with up to three different home visits within nine days. A GM insider once explained that hosting visitors is a way for members to contribute to the cause. It is extremely likely that American travelers don’t realize that their experience in Turkey has been carefully designed to be a concentrated and sustained exposure to the social and political views of one religious group. It’s also likely that they do not understand exactly why their trips were made to be so inexpensive, or even free."

 

"Concerns about this group have arisen in other countries, too, especially about their schools being used to recruit members, and spread Turkish culture and fundamentalist religious ideas.  There has been wide speculation on what the Gulen Movement really wants." {Recently while Mississippi;'s legislature has been working on a charter school bill, Jackson's  Clarion Ledger warned readers that "A Turkish foundation ...could be among those seeking to operate charter schools in Mississippi if state lawmakers clear the way.} Mahmut Gok, Mississippi representative for the Raindrop Turkish House... said the Cosmos Foundation {a Gulen affiliate} might be interested. A group of Turkish professionals started the Houston-based Cosmos Foundation, now the largest charter school operator in Texas. The foundation runs 33 Harmony Schools in all the major cities in Texas, educating more than 16,000 children and receiving more than $100 million in taxpayer monies."  See: www.clarionledger.com/article/20120305/NEWS010504/203050324/Outside-firms-could-among-suitors-charter-schools. The Ledger explained, "In a story last year, The New York Times questioned whether any taxpayer funds are going to support followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish preacher who teaches a moderate brand of Islam and promotes a philosophy of "peace, mutual respect, the culture of coexistence." The schools import hundreds of teachers from Turkey each year, according to a 2010 USA Today report.

 

Our neighbor to the north, Tennessee, also has had problems with the Gulen-affiliated Knox Carter Academy in Tennessee as evidenced by this video: :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM-Sy1sIef0&context=C35c3836ADOEgsToPDskKWr51Jg0KJ-4LT_WgJNAlf

A  website with extensive information on Turkish Charter schools and organizations in TN as well as in GA is located at http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com;  Another highly respected website with Turkish Charter schools information is located at:  www.peytonwolcott.com

 

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

How could AL legislators improve HB 541? Some suggestions for starters:

 

1. Amend the AL charter school bill to mandate that charters must provide proof of US citizenship for all charter school operator board members and top 5 highest paid administrators. In addition, mandate names, titles, and biographies be posted online at the school website for all charter operator board members and top 5 highest paid administrators. (KIPP Charter Schools already does this.)

 

2. Add language that a chartering authority may not approve a charter school application unless it limits its staff positions for teachers, administrators, ancillary support personnel or other employees to not more than 5% of the total number of positions at a single school being holders of a non-immigrant foreign worker H1B or J1 visa.

 

3. Amend language to clarify that charter schools cannot contract with for-profit or religious groups for instructional services.

 

4 Amend language to mandate all charter schools must offer health insurance and retirement benefits.

 

5. Add language to require that the source and amount of all gifts and/or grants be posted on-line.

 

6. Change language so that only local schools can issue charters, and applicants who are turned down can appeal to the state school board, which is an elected board.. Do not set up an appointed board for Charter School Application Review.

 

7. Insure legislation does not authorize charter schools to issue bonds or borrow money.

 

8. Clarify whether charter schools must use the same standards/courses of study and assessments as other AL public schools.

 

As our legislature discusses this important bill, and as the public becomes better informed on the issue and shares their suggestions with their representatives, many excellent ideas should be generated. Just think--Alabama could end up with the best charter schools in the nation.

 

Betty Peters

District 2 Representative

AL State Board of Education

526 Beatrice Rd.

Kinsey, AL 36303

334/ 794- 8024

bpeters@centurytel.net

Shocking-Who In New Mexico Would Allow Turkish Flag To Supersede Its Own? Leaders beguiled with free Turkey Trips manipulated by Gulen Movement?

What in the world would move leaders to uphold the flag of Turkey to fly over its own state flag?  It reminds me of how easily misled leaders can be with subtle inducements of goodwill favors such as free trips to Turkey that in reality isn't so free but is paid (untransparently of course) with taxpayer monies.  Wake up America and smell the stench--each state's leadership is in danger of influence from the Gulen movement--wake up your leaders--Texas is doing that--will you?

“Are Taxpayers Paying for Free Trips to Turkey?”

By Donna Garner

7.10.11

What Americans need to remember is that Fethullah Gulen is an Islamist imam who believes in Sharia law.  The Gulen charter schools are being funded by the taxpayers, should follow proper bidding practices, should be run by school administrators who are U. S. citizens and whose biographies are readily available on their school websites, should make their expenditures transparent, and should be carefully audited. 

The following articles contain disturbing details about how the Gulen charter schools (a.k.a., Cosmos Foundation, Harmony Schools, Raindrop Turkish House) operate through a large network of well-funded, Turkish entities.  

The first article describes the “free trips to Turkey” that various legislators and reporters in New Mexico have taken. Notice that the “money trail” for these New Mexico officials is not transparent.  Obviously, the trips are a way to propagandize all who go on them to come back to the United States and sing the praises of the Gulenist movement. 

A growing concern is whether taxpayers’ charter school dollars could possibly be traveling across state lines to pay for the freebies handed out in other states.  For instance, how do we know that our Texas public dollars are not funding the free trips given to the New Mexico officials? Where is the paper trail?  Where is the transparency? 

Underneath the New Mexico article, I have posted links to the Austin American-Statesman article which reveals the names of numerous Texas legislators who have taken the Turkish trips and another link that explains the investigation of the Gulen charter schools that the Texas Legislature is conducting. 

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

==============================   

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/N-M---Turkey-get-tight-as-lawmakers-get-gratis-visits#disqus_thread

N.M., Turkey get tight as lawmakers get gratis visits

Roundhouse Roundup

Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
Posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 - 6/2/11

Some Roundhouse regulars' heads were turned in January when they saw the flag of Turkey flying above the Capitol in place of the New Mexico flag.

I jokingly suggested in my blog that the state was trying to fix the state budget problem by renting out our flagpoles to other countries. But the truth is that seven Turkish congressmen were in town to meet with the governor, legislators and other state officials.

Turks seemed to be everywhere during the session. During the past two sessions, there have been "Turkish-New Mexican Friendship Receptions" in Santa Fe with host committees that included several state officers and legislators.

And in recent months, the Turkish-New Mexico connection has grown stronger. State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, who recently got back from a 10-day Turkish trip with several New Mexico journalists, said Wednesday that he's just one of several legislators who have traveled to Turkey courtesy of a private group.

Sens. Dede Feldman and Cisco McSorley, both Albuquerque Democrats, are currently in Turkey, Ortiz y Pino said. And another Albuquerque Democrat, state Sen. Eric Griego, even took time off of his campaign for Congress to make the trip.

Earlier this year, another group of lawmakers including Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española, went, he said. And last fall, Ortiz y Pino said he made his first trip there along with Senate President pro-tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, and others.

Raul Burciaga, executive director of the Legislative Council Service, confirmed Wednesday that the state isn't paying for any of the Turkish trips. Legislative leaders in recent weeks have been talking about cutting back on out-of-state travel because of the budget crunch.

So who is paying? The cost of the travel isn't readily available. Because the state isn't paying for it, lawmakers don't have to file travel vouchers or other records with the state, Burciaga said.

The group that instigated the Turkish trips is the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, which on its website describes itself as "a leading independent and an umbrella organization committed to advancing the interaction among American and Turkish, Turkic and Eurasian people to promote and encourage continuing good relationship and understanding through its affiliate organizations regardless of their ethnic origin, religion and other preferences."

The council "brings people together by hosting public programs and private events featuring leaders and experts with diverse views on a wide range of global and regional topics through task forces, executive forums, luncheons, conferences, studies and leadership dialogue."

Phone calls to the Houston-based group weren't returned Wednesday.

The group plans to build a Turkish cultural center in Albuquerque, which would be affiliated with the Raindrop Turkish House in Houston. The Turkish community in New Mexico is relatively small — only about 500 people, according to information on the council's website.

"They approached us about a couple of years ago about sending trade delegations," Jennings said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "A lot of people think that everyone in the Middle East hates America. They wanted to show us that's not true." He said he learned that Muslims, Christians and Jews live together in Turkey without strife.

Jennings said he and other legislators were allowed to go wherever they wanted in Turkey. "It wasn't like the government only allowed us to see what they wanted us to see."

Ortiz y Pino said the main motivation for the Turks wooing American legislators and journalists is that Turkey is trying hard to join the European Union. But the senator said a Turkish journalist told him even if Turkey doesn't get accepted in the EU, the effort has been worth it because of the reforms undertaken by his nation in seeking membership.

Ortiz y Pino said there's a lot to be learned from Turkey. "It's the world's third-fastest-growing economy," he said.

So if you begin noticing an influx of Turkish coffee, tobacco and bathhouses into New Mexico — and if Istanbul suddenly develops a hunger for green chile and tortillas — you'll know why.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.

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

6.19.11 -- Austin American-Statesman article by Laylan Copelin and Mike Ward, “Some Texas Lawmakers Have Second Thoughts about Turkey Trips” --  

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/some-lawmakers-have-second-thoughts-about-turkey-trips-1548440.html

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

6.29.11 -- Texas Legislature Investigating Gulen/Cosmos Foundation/Harmony Schools:  http://libertylinked.com/posts/7624/tx-investigating-gulen/View.aspx

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

“Personal Accounts: Gulen Harmony Schools”

By Donna Garner

6.30.11

http://educationviews.org/2011/06/30/personal-accounts-gulen-harmony-schools/

How Does Turkish Citizens Own and Control Texas schools and other states Charter Schools And Use Your Taxpayer Money To Enlarge And Grow Their Influence--Through Our Ignorance--But Wait Mother Bears Are Now Awake--Join them...

Hean an interview with Peyton Woolcott as she shares with us what happens when you follow the money.  A large operation of Turkish-owned charter schools have been silently working and enlarging their territory in Texas for almost ten years with no accountability.  But just this week Texas Gov Perry announced they will be opening  investigations.  Read notes from Donna Garner and under Education Blog (see top of navigation bar marked Blog Post) are more articles from Donna Garner on this important issue.

After much study (please visit peytonwolcott.com) there is a common link to those with these charter schools and his name is Fethulah Gulen.

"Mr. Gulen, 70, has lived in the United States since 1999, when he left Turkey. In a widely circulated video from that time, he advised his followers to “move within the arteries of the system, without anyone noticing your existence, until you reach all the power centers.”

In the United States, Gulen schools often import Turkish teachers using H-1B visas, which allow American employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty jobs.

The federal government places a strict limit on the number of H1-B visas it issues, and corporations often complain the cap restrains their ability to transfer highly qualified workers from foreign countries. Yet Gulen-backed schools received 839 H-1B visas in 2010, a 65 percent increase from 2007, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. "

Above excerpt from:
Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions
By DAVID LEPESKA
Published: May 28, 2011
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/29cncislamu.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=education

These charter schools are found in many states

Per New York Times Article Dated June 6, 2011

"Some of the schools’ operators and founders, and many of their suppliers, are
followers of Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic Turkish preacher of a moderate brand of
Islam whose devotees have built a worldwide religious, social and nationalistic
movement in his name. Gulen followers have been involved in starting similar schools
around the country — there are about 120 in all, mostly in urban centers in 25 states,
one of the largest collections of charter schools in America."

Get informed and look at your own state to see if their expansion is headed there or worse already ingratiating your legislature...and using your taxpayer money.

Gov Perry--Suggest You Do A Quick Study-Turkish Owned Gulen/Harmony Charter Schools Using Texas Taxpayer Money To Enlarge--Please Don't Let It Continue Under Your Watch!

6.19.11

[Just in case there is anybody left who does not realize that the Gulen schools (a.k.a., Harmony Schools in Texas) are deliberately targeting our public school students to indoctrinate them into anti-American, pro-Islam thinking, please read the following and then peruse the various articles and URL’s that I have posted further on down the page.  

People do not have to spend huge amounts of time doing in-depth research on the topic of the Gulen Schools because I have provided easy access to credible sources in this one e-mail.  

Someone told me today that when Gov. Rick Perry was asked about the prominence of the Gulen/Harmony Schools in Texas and why he had allowed them to flourish in our state using our tax dollars, he said that he was unaware about the dangers of these schools. This seems strange to me since I and other grassroots citizens have been sending his staff, the entire Texas Legislature, the print media (including the Austin American-Statesman), and many other elected officials these informative articles about the dangers of the Gulen Schools for well over a year now.  Obviously until the New York Times wrote its investigative report on June 6, 2011,  many of our elected officials chose to ignore the pleas of concerned grassroots citizens.  Thankfully some of these officials are beginning to put two and two together about the Gulen/Harmony Schools. -- Donna Garner]

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/some-lawmakers-have-second-thoughts-about-turkey-trips-1548440.html

Some lawmakers have second thoughts about Turkey trips

By Laylan Copelin and Mike Ward

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Updated: 7:26 a.m. Sunday, June 19, 2011

Published: 10:32 p.m. Saturday, June 18, 2011

For Texas legislators, one of the most coveted activities in recent years has been 10-day trips to Turkey, paid for in full or in part by various Turkish American organizations.

A dozen or so state officials, including several Central Texas legislators, have taken the trips in the past several years, and more have been invited this year.

Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said he has taken many fact-finding trips, including to almost every country in Europe, but Turkey stands out.

He said last fall's trip to Turkey was "the best I've taken" because of the high level of government officials and business leaders he was able to meet.

"They are trying to improve relations," Fraser said. "It was a trade mission."

The Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, an umbrella group for Turkish Americans, said the trips are about good will, not lobbying.

"These trips serve to further the business, commercial and cultural relations between Texas and Turkey," said Kemal Oksuz, the council's president-elect.

However, some legislators say they're having second thoughts about going this year, in part because of a recent New York Times article that suggested connections between the Harmony Schools, which operate 33 charter schools in Texas, and several Turkish American businesses and organizations, including the Houston-based Turquoise Council.

The Times questioned whether those connections favor Turkish American companies in bids to build the schools or provide education services.

Additionally, conservative bloggers have implied that the Harmony Schools promote Islam.

Harmony officials deny that their schools teach religion, They also have said they have no connection to the Turquoise Council and its trips.

Despite the denials, Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, said he believes there are connections between the Turquoise Council, the Harmony Schools and the promotion of Islam.

"After I researched it, I'm not interested," he said of the council's invitation to visit Turkey.

As for the Harmony Schools, Miller said, "Apparently it's (involved in) indoctrination of Islam."

Although Turkey is a moderate Muslim nation, Miller said: "That just means they're nonviolent. They won't cut off your head."

Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, said, "It's a tempting trip." But he said he worried about "political overtones" because of reports about Muslim connections.

"If it's true — and I don't know that it is — if they're teaching Islam, that's a problem," said Christian, a supporter of charter schools.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, visited Turkey a few years ago to observe its education system, among other things.

"I don't remember that anyone talked about the Harmony Schools or anything that anyone in Turkey was doing in Texas," she said. "They didn't make a big deal out of religion. It really wasn't brought up. They wanted people to understand their country."

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, traveled to Turkey five years ago but said he hasn't decided whether to return this year.

"It was the single most educational trip I've taken," he said. "You have in-depth conversations with the people there, the officials in government, in business, different groups, different ethnicities. You meet and talk with real people."

Rep. Ken Legler, R-Pasadena, said he is tempted to go because his district includes part of the Houston Ship Channel and he is interested in encouraging more Turkish trade through the port.

But he said he hesitated to accept an offer for an all-expenses-paid trip for him and his wife.

"It would look like a junket," Legler said. "I'm just worried about how it looks."

Lawmakers who have taken the trips have reported their value at between $3,200 and $3,800.

The itinerary includes visits with government and business leaders, journalists and everyday citizens, as well as sightseeing at tourist attractions and religious sites.

There's also time for fun, including a yacht trip on the Bosporus strait, a balloon flight and shopping in the city's famous bazaars.

Twenty years ago, the Legislature ostensibly outlawed pleasure trips paid for by lobbyists after news reports about lawmakers taking ski trips and golf junkets to exotic locales. But state law still allows lawmakers to travel at someone else's expense for fact-finding trips or if the lawmaker gives a speech or performs some other service that is "more than perfunctory."

That allowed the Association of General Contractors, for example, to pay $72,000 to take a dozen lawmakers to Maui for its annual conference in 2010. The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston typically takes 15 or 20 state and local officials to Israel every other year, according to that group's lobbyist.

Over the years, lawmakers have visited a variety of places, from Taiwan to Cuba to Europe. Opportunities to visit Turkey — a U.S. ally and trading partner — have increased dramatically in the past two years with the creation of the Turquoise Council.

The council, which operates in seven states and the nation's capital, raised its profile at the Texas Capitol this year, with a congressional delegation from Turkey visiting Gov. Rick Perry, Education Commissioner Robert Scott and Comptroller Susan Combs, as well as hosting a "Texan-Turkic Friendship Reception" for state officials on Jan. 25.

Oksuz, of the Turquoise Council, said Texas is Turkey's largest business and trading partner among the 50 states and that Houston and Austin are sister cities to Istanbul and Antalya, respectively.

The trips are not limited to legislators. Judges, congressional staffers and other officials are invited.

Travis County Constable Bruce Elfant and his wife went to Turkey in June 2008 with state Reps. Donna Howard, Valinda Bolton and Elliott Naishtat, all Austin Democrats, as guests of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, a Turkish American foundation associated with the Turquoise Council. The officials paid part of their expenses.

"It was amazing," Elfant said. "We talked about our cultures and what we don't understand about one another."

Several Texas lawmakers considering traveling to Turkey later this year are weighing whether the public's perception will be that the trips are more junkets than jaunts associated with their jobs.

Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, attended the general contractors Maui conference last year and traveled to Cuba to study how that country prepares for hurricanes. But he said he won't accept the Turquoise Council invitation.

"I was looking for the good government purpose for the trip," Whitmire said. "But I haven't found it."

Scott, who oversees charter schools, won't be going to Turkey.

"He just didn't feel comfortable with the perception," said Debbie Ratcliffe, the education agency's communications director.

Scott has allowed the state's more successful charter schools, including Harmony, to expand without obtaining a new charter for each campus.

Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, said he doesn't take trips paid for by someone else.

"As an elected official, I don't think I need to be taking anything of that value," he said. "It could be tied to a future vote."

During this summer's special session, for example, the Legislature is considering whether to have the state back construction bonds for charter schools.

The sponsor of that measure, Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said she's been invited to Turkey but hasn't gone.

"I generally don't go on trips like that unless there's some legislative issue," she said. "But I can't imagine what it would be in Turkey. It sounds like a cultural affairs tour or something like that."

Oksuz said there is no connection between the trips and the legislation, although his private construction company has built schools for Harmony.

In January, after Fraser and four other senators returned from Turkey, they co-authored Senate Resolution 85 honoring Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim preacher who lives in Pennsylvania but has a large worldwide following, including the Gulen Institute at the University of Houston.

The Senate approved the resolution on the day the Turkish congressional delegation was making the rounds at the Capitol.

State Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, who made the trip with Fraser, said he prepared the resolution in response to his Turkey hosts and his admiration for the people.

"Their attitude — we call it nice Christian values. Of course, it's not Christian," Lucio said. "Humanitarian is the word I'm looking for."

Lucio said he is planning a return visit, courtesy of the Turquoise Council, later this year: "I'd like to see more of the country."

lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617; mward@statesman.com

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

UPDATED -- 6.11.11

“Harmony Science Academies Tied to Gulen Charter Schools”

by Donna Garner

3.1.11

Here is the documentation to show that the Harmony Science Academies in Texas are directly tied to the Gulen Movement. We always need to bear in mind that Fethullah Gulen is an Islamist imam:  

1.  Guidestar -- Cosmos Foundation, Texas (a.k.a., Harmony Public Schools -- http://www2.guidestar.org/organizations/76-0615245/cosmos-foundation.aspx )

Cosmos Foundation is the management company for Harmony Science Academies, and the CFO of Cosmos is Umit Pecen; he attends the funding board meetings with Sonar Tarim. 

(Please see http://harmonyparenttruth.blogspot.com/2011/01/harmony-science-academy-charter-school_18.html to learn more about Umit Pecen.)  

(Please go to http://www.chroniclewatch.com/2010/06/21/islamic-movement-engulfs-lone-star-state/ to learn more about Sonar Tarim.)

2.  Oct. 7, 2010 -- Dr. Helen Rose Ebaugh -- “Mapping the Gulen Movement” -- Professor of Sociology, University of Houston --  Please slide the marker to 11:52 where Dr. Ebaugh says there are 25 Gulen charter schools in Texas (a.k.a., Cosmos Foundation -- Harmony Science Academies).  If these are not the Harmony Science Academies, to what other schools is she referring?  Obviously she means the Harmony Science Academies and that they are Gulen schools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJmldzfD884&feature=related

In Dr. Ebaugh’s remarks, she stated that she had traveled to Turkey to study the Gulen Movement; and she learned that after Gulen investors put up the capital for the Gulen schools for a couple of years, the schools operate on their own.

This should be the same model used in the United States. If individual citizens want to put up the money for the Harmony Science Academies to get them started, that would be a matter to be decided in the private sector; but we taxpayers should not have our tax dollars used to pay for any schools that are tied to the Muslim movement.

3.  PBS, “The Gulen Movement,” Jan. 25, 2011:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-21-2011/gulen-movement/7949/

Excerpts from this website:

SEVERSON: Gülen-inspired volunteers from Turkey bring Turkish language and culture with them. In Houston they sponsor a Turkish Olympiad where American students compete in Turkish dance and song. The winners compete in an annual competition in Ankara, Turkey. There are more than a 1000 Gülen-inspired schools and universities in over 100 countries...

SEVERSON: In Texas there are 33 nationally recognized public charter schools with over 16,000 students grades K through 12. They’re called Harmony schools, and the Turkish superintendent insists they are strictly secular and in no way connected to Gülen. [As shown in Points #1 and #2, the Harmony Science Academies most certainly are Gulen schools. -- Donna Garner]  Professor Ebaugh says there’s a reason for this kind of sensitivity. [Dr. Ebaugh has stated publicly that she believes the Gulen charter schools in the United States should be more forthcoming about their links to him and to Turkey because she does not believe they have anything to hide. -- Donna Garner]

(4)  Students in the Gulen schools celebrate various Turkish Muslim holidays, and students frequently win trips to Turkey. 

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

ACTION STEP:  All patriotic American taxpayers should be alarmed over the spread of the Islamist Gulen charter schools. Texans in particular need to contact all their Legislators and alert them to the safeguards (listed below) that must be placed in the charter school bills now making their way through the legislative process.

The free trips to Turkey and the campaign contributions given to our Texas Legislators by the Gulenists are highly troubling and leave taxpayers wondering how objective can our Legislators actually be about their votes on these charter school bills that financially enable the spread of Gulen charter schools.  Is this yet another example of “pay for votes”?  -- Donna Garner

http://libertylinked.com/posts/7479/breaking-new-york-times-does/View.aspx

6.7.11 -- BREAKING NEWS:

MAJOR INVESTIGATION OF GULEN CHARTER SCHOOLS BY NEW YORK TIMES

When the New York Times decides to do investigative journalism, they have the resources and staff to find things out that few others can discover.  I am sure you will want to go to this NYT link (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/education/07charter.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all ) to view the photos and other graphics which will give you more of an understanding about the Gulen charter schools. 

The NYT, however, also has shortcomings because of its left-leaning political bias that has kept their reporters from including very important aspects of the dangers of Fethullah Gulen and his Gulen charter schools.

Below the NYT article, I have posted links to other articles that explain the many dangers of Fethullah Gulen and his indoctrination of our nation’s youth into Islam, Sharia law, and anti-Americanism.  

Fethullah Gulen is an Islamist imam who has been behind the successful efforts in Turkey to turn that country into an armed camp that is now anti-American.  Its security police force has been almost totally infiltrated by Gulenists, and Turkey is on the verge of joining up with the rest of the Muslim world against the United States and Israel.  

As we speak, our Texas Legislature is in Special Session and is moving toward providing even more funding for Gulen charter schools.  A faithful few, such as Peyton Wolcott, are trying to convince Legislators to look more deeply into the financial “payoffs” that Gulen has given to elected officials. 

Please go to this link to see who has taken free trips to Turkey and/or reaped huge campaign contributions from Gulen-controlled entities.  Is it any wonder that these Texas Legislators are promoting the establishment of more Gulen schools in our state?

http://www.peytonwolcott.com/TX_TCSA_Delisi_Cash_2011Lege.html

Peyton Wolcott is presently leading an effort to force the Texas Legislature to include in its pro-charter-school bills three safeguards to protect the Permanent School Fund which by law in Texas is supposed to be used for students’ textbooks.  The Legislature is trying to take some of the PSF funds and make those dollars available for charter school bonds, including more Gulen charter schools. 

Wolcott has made the case that all charter schools should (1) have to show proof of U. S. citizenship for board members (e.g., ISD trustees) and top administrators; (2) post online the names, titles, and bios of board and top administrators, and (3) post their checkbook registers online so that taxpayers will know how their tax dollars are being spent.

ACTION STEP:  If you are a fellow Texan, you must contact your legislators and alert them to the alarming content of this NYT article, to the links posted under the article, and to the safeguards that Wolcott and others are trying to get the Legislators to include in the charter school bills.

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

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

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/education/07charter.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all

 

New York Times

 

Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas

By STEPHANIE SAUL

Published: June 6, 2011

 

TDM Contracting was only a month old when it won its first job, an $8.2 million contract to build the Harmony School of Innovation, a publicly financed charter school that opened last fall in San Antonio.

It was one of six big charter school contracts TDM and another upstart company have shared since January 2009, a total of $50 million in construction business. Other companies scrambling for work in a poor economy wondered: How had they qualified for such big jobs so fast?

The secret lay in the meteoric rise and financial clout of the Cosmos Foundation, a charter school operator founded a decade ago by a group of professors and businessmen from Turkey. Operating under the name Harmony Schools, Cosmos has moved quickly to become the largest charter school operator in Texas, with 33 schools receiving more than $100 million a year in taxpayer funds.

While educating schoolchildren across Texas, the group has also nurtured a close-knit network of businesses and organizations run by Turkish immigrants. The businesses include not just big contractors like TDM but also a growing assemblage of smaller vendors selling school lunches, uniforms, after-school programs, Web design, teacher training and even special education assessments.

Some of the schools’ operators and founders, and many of their suppliers, are followers of Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic Turkish preacher [Gulen is actually an Islam imam who believes in Sharia law and wants to establish a universal caliphate. -- Donna Garner] of a moderate brand of Islam whose devotees have built a worldwide religious, social and nationalistic movement in his name. Gulen followers have been involved in starting similar schools around the country — there are about 120 in all, mostly in urban centers in 25 states, one of the largest collections of charter schools in America.

The growth of these “Turkish schools,” as they are often called, has come with a measure of backlash, not all of it untainted by xenophobia. Nationwide, the primary focus of complaints has been on hundreds of teachers and administrators imported from Turkey: in Ohio and Illinois, the federal Department of Labor is investigating union accusations that the schools have abused a special visa program in bringing in their expatriate employees.

But an examination by The New York Times of the Harmony Schools in Texas casts light on a different area: the way they spend public money. And it raises questions about whether, ultimately, the schools are using taxpayer dollars to benefit the Gulen movement — by giving business to Gulen followers, or through financial arrangements with local foundations that promote Gulen teachings and Turkish culture.

Harmony Schools officials say they scrupulously avoid teaching about religion, and they deny any official connection to the Gulen movement. The say their goal in starting charter schools — publicly financed schools that operate independently from public school districts — has been to foster educational achievement, especially in science and math, where American students so often falter.

“It’s basically a mission of our organization,” said Soner Tarim, the superintendent of the 33 Texas schools.

The schools, Dr. Tarim said, follow all competitive bidding rules, and do not play favorites in awarding contracts. In many cases, Turkish-owned companies have in fact been the low bidders.

Even so, records show that virtually all recent construction and renovation work has been done by Turkish-owned contractors. Several established local companies said they had lost out even after bidding several hundred thousand dollars lower.

“It kind of boils my blood a little bit, all the money that was spent, when I know it could have been done for less,” said Deborah Jones, an owner of daj Construction, one of four lower bidders who failed to win a recent contract for a school renovation in the Austin area.

Harmony’s history underscores the vast latitude that many charter school systems have been granted to spend public funds. While the degree of oversight varies widely from state to state, the rush to approve charter schools has meant that some barely monitor charter school operations.

In Washington, concern is growing. A number of charter schools across the country have been accused of a range of improprieties in recent years, from self-dealing on contracts to grade-changing schemes and inflating attendance records to increase financing.

Last year, the inspector general’s office in the federal Education Department cited these complaints in a memo alerting the agency of “our concern about vulnerabilities in the oversight of charter schools.”

The Texas Education Agency has a total of nine people overseeing more than 500 charter school campuses. “They don’t have the capacity at the state level to do the job,” said Greg Richmond, president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Even so, the state’s education commissioner, Robert Scott, last year took the unusual step of granting Harmony permission to open new schools outside the normal approval process.

Officials at the education agency said staffing was sufficient to oversee charter schools. They would not discuss Harmony’s contracts, but a check of the agency’s past audits — largely desk reviews of financial statements submitted by the schools — did not find any alarms raised about Harmony contracting.

In April, however, the agency notified Harmony of an unreleased preliminary audit questioning more than $540,000 in inadequately documented expenses, the vast majority involving federal grant money. Neither the agency nor Harmony would disclose details of the findings.

Starting Out

The charter school movement did not begin in Texas, but the state embraced it with ideological fervor in the late 1990s as a pet project of the governor at the time, George W. Bush. The schools’ independence from local school boards and union contracts, the theory went, would free them to become seedbeds of educational achievement in a landscape of underperforming failure.

While Texas charter schools must meet core curriculum standards, they may emphasize some subjects over others, as Harmony does with math, science and technology. They do not have to hew to standard public school calendars or hours. They may — and some do — pay teachers less than the standard state-mandated salaries. (In exchange for this flexibility, the schools get less state money than regular schools, with various calculations showing an annual difference of between $1,000 and $2,000 per pupil.)

David Bradley, a member of the Texas Board of Education, served on the panel that reviewed the early charter proposals. “The only requirement was that you expressed an interest,” he said, adding, “The first time Harmony came forth, they had a great application, and they were great people.”

One of those people was Yetkin Yildirim, who had arrived from Turkey in 1996 to attend the University of Texas in Austin. He also worked as a volunteer tutor in local high schools. The idea for the Harmony schools was born, he said, when he and friends — including Dr. Tarim — saw how much less rigorous the American high schools were in teaching science and math.

“Then we realized that something can be done,” said Dr. Yildirim, now a University of Texas professor specializing in asphalt technology. They spent a year writing their proposal, and in 2000 the group opened its first school, in Houston.

The schools represented the expansion of a mission that had already created hundreds of schools — and a number of universities — in Turkey and around the world. According to social scientists who have studied them, these schools have been the primary vehicle for the aspirations of the Gulen movement, a loose network of several million followers of Mr. Gulen, who preaches the need to embrace modernity in a peace-loving, ecumenical version of Islam. At the center of his philosophy is the concept of “hizmet” — public service.

The movement is also influential in Turkish politics and controls substantial commercial holdings, including a bank, Asya; one of Turkey’s largest daily newspapers, Zaman; and an American cable television network, Ebru-TV, based in New Jersey.

Mr. Gulen, 70, considers his teachings a bulwark against Islamic extremism. Yet he and the movement that bears his name have been surrounded by controversy in Turkey. He came to this country in 1999 while under pressure from secular Turkish authorities who accused him of promoting an Islamic state. He was charged, though the case was thrown out. More recently, the arrests of Turkish journalists critical of the Gulen movement have led to accusations of retaliation by followers in the current government, which has a more religious leaning.

Mr. Gulen now lives in a Pennsylvania retreat owned by a foundation. In an interview there last year with The International Herald Tribune, he said he had not benefited financially from the movement. His only possessions, he said, were a blanket, some bed sheets and a few prized books.

Still, at least for the schools, America has been a land of opportunity. The creation story has been enacted across the country — Turkish immigrants, often scientists or professors, founding charter schools run by boards of mostly Turkish-born men. Today the United States has more Gulen-inspired schools than any country but Turkey, according to a presentation by Joshua Hendrick, a professor at Loyola University Maryland whose 2009 dissertation explored the movement.

In Texas, Harmony now educates more than 16,000 children. Eight schools have opened in the last year alone.

Dr. Yildirim said that while he had been influenced by Mr. Gulen — he writes and speaks about his teachings — his primary motivation in starting the schools was to give back to the community.

“My life changed here. I’m so thankful for that,” he said. “I believe some people born in this country are taking some things for granted.”

At first, Harmony Schools used a mix of local American and Turkish immigrant contractors. But as it has grown, especially in the rush of new schools, Harmony has increasingly relied on its Turkish network.

In response to questions, Harmony provided a list showing that local American contractors had been awarded 13 construction and renovation jobs over the years. But a review of contracts since January 2009 — 35 contracts and $82 million worth of work — found that all but 3 jobs totaling about $1.5 million went to Turkish-owned businesses.

TDM, builder of the new San Antonio school, is one of several companies that stand out — for the size of their contracts, their seemingly overnight success or both. One of TDM’s owners, records and interviews show, is Kemal Oksuz, president of the Turquoise Council for Americans and Eurasians, an umbrella group over several foundations established by Gulen followers. Since TDM was formed in November 2009, its work has involved only Harmony Schools and a job at the Turquoise Council headquarters, according to a company accountant.

Another TDM principal is a civil engineer, Osman Ozguc.

“Please don’t think that I’m a new guy, inexperienced in this area,” Mr. Ozguc said when asked about the San Antonio project, explaining that he had 26 years of construction experience, mostly on large projects in Turkey. “I provided all the requirements asked in the bid. And when we got the job, we delivered in a very short time period, and with a very economical result.” He did acknowledge that change orders had added about $1 million to the cost.

Mr. Ozguc said he formed TDM after a split from Solidarity, another Houston company that has done major ground-up construction jobs for Harmony in the past two years. Records show that Solidarity is run by Levent Ulusal, a civil engineer with a prior connection to Harmony: he was a school business manager until March 2009, when he joined Solidarity.

Since Texas charter schools do not get separate public money for facilities, Harmony’s construction program is financed by bonds that will be paid off over time using regular public payments to the schools, bond documents show. The group has issued more than $200 million in bonds since 2007, making it the state’s largest charter school bond issuer.

[The Texas Legislature is presently considering charter school legislation that would allow the Permanent School Funds to be used to pay for charter school bonds. -- Donna Garner]

With public money in play, Texas law requires charter schools to award contracts to the bidder that offers the “best value.” Lowest is not necessarily best, with the schools given leeway. But the criteria for choosing the best bidder must be clear.

Last year, local contractors questioned the fairness of bidding on two Harmony renovation jobs in the Austin area. On one job, in the suburb of Pflugerville, the low bidder, at $1.17 million, was a well-known Texas company, Harvey-Cleary. The job went to Atlas Texas Construction and Trading, even though its bid was several hundred thousand dollars higher. Atlas, with offices in Texas and Turkey, shows up on a list of Gulen-affiliated companies in a 2006 cable from the American Consul General in Istanbul, Deborah K. Jones, that was released by WikiLeaks.

A vice president of Harvey-Cleary said Harmony never explained its decision.

The same day Atlas won the Pflugerville contract, it got a job at another Austin-area Harmony school, even though four bidders came in lower.

Harmony Schools asked two architects to analyze the disputed Austin jobs. Both architects had previously worked for Harmony Schools; both concluded that the jobs should have been awarded to Atlas.

Atlas has an eclectic business portfolio: for several years, it has also supplied breakfast and lunch at many Harmony schools. The contract is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Two other bidders submitted formal catering proposals. One was Preferred Meal Systems, a national company that undercut Atlas’s price by 78 cents a day, a substantial margin given that the two meals are often supplied for about $4.

Jim Drumm, the regional vice president for Preferred Meal, said that when the company learned that its bid was lower than the winner’s, “We attempted, without success, to recontact Harmony Schools to learn why our proposal was rejected.”

Dr. Tarim said Preferred Meal was turned down because its food is heated in special company-installed ovens. With no kitchens in the schools, he said, there is no room for ovens.

Inside the Schools

Recently Dr. Tarim led a tour of one of Harmony’s big renovation jobs — the new home of the Harmony Science Academy, the chain’s marquee Houston high school. The academy, one of 11 Harmony schools in Houston, was recently rated among the city’s top 10 high schools by Children at Risk, an advocacy group. The campus used to be an ITT business center, and even now, the low-slung buildings communicate office park more than high school. There is also a new building, constructed by TDM, housing a gym and the Cosmos Foundation’s headquarters.

This being Texas, the academy is conspicuous for the absence of a football field. But in many ways, the Harmony Schools seem much like standard public schools, albeit of the strict, testing-oriented sort in vogue today.

Students wear uniforms, and anything that detracts from uniform appearance — even hoop earrings or highlighted hair — is frowned upon. One teacher described a disciplinary system in which students receive points for behavioral infractions as minor as tilting back in a chair.

The students, as at most Gulen-inspired schools, represent a racial and ethnic cross-section of the community. Many are children of immigrants drawn by the upwardly mobile allure of careers in technology and health care. Beginning in fourth grade, all students must complete science projects.

In a physics class, students demonstrated a homemade hovercraft — a simple plywood disc fitted with a chair. Rigged to a leaf blower, the contraption levitated inches above the ground, even with someone in the chair.

The project illustrates principles of physics, but the larger point, said the teacher, Levent Sakar, is developing an excitement about science.

“Once a student does a project like that, they will never forget it,” he said.

Still, the bottom line is measurable achievement. And so the Harmony schools place a heavy emphasis on preparing for state assessment tests, with four practice tests annually, according to schedules on school Web sites. Each practice test occupies the better part of a week, and students who fail get mandatory tutoring, some of it on Saturdays.

Judging school quality, of course, is an imprecise business. But by the measure that Harmony and most charter schools have embraced — scores on the state tests — the Harmony schools seem to be succeeding. Last year, 16 of the schools were deemed “exemplary,” the highest rating, while seven were rated “recognized,” and the other two “academically acceptable.” The eight new schools have not yet been rated.

The Harmony schools advertise themselves as college preparatory schools with every graduate accepted to college, and a bulletin board in the hallway at the science academy displays pictures of this year’s senior class, along with their college acceptances. But Harmony’s “100 percent” acceptance rate actually represents only a small census, since most of the schools do not have senior classes and many students transfer earlier on. Statewide, 154 students graduated this year, the largest class yet.

And while the schools’ combined math and English SAT scores — an average of 1026 — were 37 points above the statewide average last year, they fell short of the 1100 on those two parts that the state regards as predicting “college readiness.”

[In other words, Harmony students do well at mastering how to “play the game” on the state-mandated TAKS tests but fall short on actual college readiness.  Other troubling aspects to consider regarding Harmony students’ supposed academic “success” is (1) nobody monitors these Harmony Schools during the administration of tests. What is to prevent these H-1 visa teachers who are from Turkey and who have no commitment to the American value system to give their students the answers?  (2)  The Wikileaks cable from the U. S. Ambassador several years ago revealed that the Gulenists are taking over the Turkish Security Forces by giving applicants the answers to the tests. If this is their mode of operation in Turkey, it very well could be the way they operate here.  (3)  Dr. Ed Fuller’s research showed that over half of the students who start at Harmony leave.  This would certainly be a major factor in raising their TAKS scores -- weed out the weak students. -- Donna Garner]

Dr. Tarim, who came from Turkey and studied aquatic ecology at Texas A&M, objects to common references to the schools as Turkish. Still, even if they are American charter schools first and foremost, the schools do have an undeniable Turkish flavor.

Many of the furnishings are imported from Turkey — at a San Antonio school, the entryway features a turquoise arch, and the lobby ceiling is decorated with images of the sun and a star and crescent moon. Harmony advertises that its teachers “are recruited from around the world,” but most of its foreign teachers are Turkish men, and all but a handful of the 33 principals are men from Turkey. In addition to the standard foreign languages, the schools offer instruction in Turkish. They encourage students and teachers, even parents, to join subsidized trips to Turkey.

What they avoid, as publicly financed schools, is religious instruction. And amid jabs from critics — educators, disaffected parents and bloggers — about their Turkishness and ties to a Muslim group, the schools take great pains to separate themselves from the Gulen movement. They are not “Gulen schools,” they insist, and have no affiliation with any movement.

“I’m not a follower of anybody,” Dr. Tarim said in an interview. Records show, however, that when applying to the State of Texas to form Harmony schools, he was a consultant to Virginia International University in Fairfax, one of the private universities that lawyers for Mr. Gulen say were originally inspired by his teachings.

At a forum on the schools last December in Houston, Dr. Hendrick, the Maryland professor, argued that such denials had only deepened the ambiguity and helped fuel suspicion. “Why do leaders deny affiliation when affiliation is clear?” he asked.

Ultimately, some scholars say, the schools are about more than just teaching schoolchildren.

Hakan Yavuz, a Turkish-born assistant professor at the University of Utah’s Middle East Center, says he does not oppose the movement, though he is critical of what he calls its male domination and lack of transparency. In his view, the schools are the foundation for the movement’s attempts to grow in the United States.

“The main purpose right now is to show the positive side of Islam and to make Americans sympathize with Islam,” Dr. Yavuz said.

Teachers and Visas

Around the country, the most persistent controversy involving the schools — and the one most covered in the news — centers on the hundreds of Turkish teachers and administrators working on special visas.

The schools say they bring in foreign teachers because of a shortage of Americans qualified to teach math and science. Of the 1,500 employees at the Texas Harmony schools this year, Dr. Tarim said, 292 were on the special “H-1B” visas, meant for highly skilled foreign workers who fill a need unmet by the American workforce.

But some teachers and their unions, as well as immigration experts, have questioned how earnestly the schools worked to recruit American workers. They say loopholes have made it easy to bring in workers with relatively ordinary skills who substitute for American workers.

“I think they have a preference for these H-1B workers,” said Dr. Ronil Hira, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has studied the visa program. “It may be a preference for a variety of reasons — lower wages or a network where they’ve got family or friends and connections and this is a stepping stone for them to get a green card.”

The American jobs, often offered to educators at Gulen schools around the world or graduates of Gulen universities, also provide a way for the movement to expand its ranks in this country, Dr. Yavuz said.

American consular employees reviewing visas have questioned the credentials of some teachers as they sought to enter the country. “Most applicants had no prior teaching experience, and the schools were listed as related to” Mr. Gulen, a consular employee wrote in a 2009 cable. It did not say which schools had hired the teachers. Some with dubious credentials were denied visas.

In February, a Chicago charter school union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers complained to the federal Department of Labor, alleging that the Chicago Math and Science Academy and Concept Schools, a group that operates 25 schools in the Midwest, had abused the visa system by “routinely assigning these teachers duties or class load that seemingly do not take into account the laws governing H1-B visa holders.”

The Labor Department had already been investigating at least one Concept school. The investigation appeared to have been triggered by a complaint in July 2008 by Mustafa Emanet, a network systems administrator and teacher at a middle school in Cleveland. By law, imported teachers must be paid “prevailing wage.” Mr. Emanet alleged that while his visa reflected his promised salary, $44,000, he was actually paid $28,000 his first year.

A Labor Department spokesman said the investigation was ongoing.

Expanding the Network

The heart of the movement’s Texas operations is the Turquoise Center, a Houston complex that houses several foundations established by Gulen followers. Their activities show how the movement has integrated itself into life in Texas, often by dint of the foundations’ connections to the Harmony Schools.

The Turquoise Center opened in 2008, financed partly through donations from Gulen followers, who on average tithe 10 percent of their income, experts say. The money, Dr. Hendrick wrote in his dissertation, goes “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 or to sponsor an academic conference devoted to Fethullah Gulen.”

Dozens of Texans — from state lawmakers to congressional staff members to university professors — have taken trips to Turkey partly financed by the foundations.

One group, the Raindrop Foundation, helped pay for State Senator Leticia Van de Putte’s travel to Istanbul last year, according to a recent campaign report. In January, she co-sponsored a Senate resolution commending Mr. Gulen for “his ongoing and inspirational contributions to promoting global peace and understanding.”

In an interview, Ms. Van de Putte described the trip as a working visit.

The Raindrop Foundation says its mission is to promote Turkish culture in America. It sponsors cooking classes, traditional Turkish dinners and performances of the Whirling Dervishes, a dance group associated with Sufi Muslim tradition. It also organizes an annual Turkish Language Olympiad where 6,000 students, many from Harmony schools, compete in Turkish language, poetry, dance and singing contests.

The 2011 singing winner was a Hispanic girl from a Harmony school in northwest Houston.

The Raindrop Foundation’s president, Mehmet Okumus, is a former Harmony school principal, and some of the foundation’s income — $770,000 a year, he said — comes through arrangements with the schools. Two Raindrop Foundation units, Zenith Learning and Merit Learning, operate after-school programs, test preparation programs and summer camps at the schools. Parents pay Zenith up to $200 a week to leave their children after school. Of that, Harmony collects 25 cents per child per day, according to Dr. Tarim.

Another group at the Turquoise Center, the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, sponsors lectures on interfaith relations and finances the Gulen Institute at the University of Houston, which sponsors graduate scholarships in social work and pays for graduate students to study in Turkey.

The Institute of Interfaith Dialog — founded by Mr. Gulen himself, according to court documents — does not appear to have business dealings with Harmony. But its president, Yuksel Alp Aslandogan, does. Indeed, in 2002, he purchased the former Austin church that became Harmony’s second school.

Dr. Aslandogan, a former computer science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, paid $1.375 million for the building, then leased it to Harmony. Last year, he said in an e-mail, Harmony bought it for $1.7 million. He described his original purchase as “an investment opportunity toward a good cause” but declined to say how much he made off the deal, emphasizing that he had to pay taxes and make repairs.

Dr. Aslandogan has other connections to Harmony. He is chief executive of the Texas Gulf Foundation, a nonprofit that provides an array of services to the schools.

The foundation, in fact, grew out of Harmony: its owners and operators originally worked for the schools, according to a statement from Harmony, but left to form Texas Gulf, which they believed would “provide Harmony and other Texas schools with quality services at lower costs.” Until recently, Texas Gulf had offices at a Harmony campus.

Since 2007, Harmony says, it has paid Texas Gulf $525,000 for services that include an online professional development program for teachers and administrators, an assessment tool for students and special education assessments.

Dr. Aslandogan reflected on his role in Texas’ Turkish community in a PBS program on the Gulen movement broadcast in January. He said he donates “beyond the expected level in my income” and added: “I believe that all these actions — charitable donations, volunteerism — are pleasing to God. That’s why I am doing all this.”

SUBSTANTIVE RESOURCES ON GULEN SCHOOLS

 

5.28.11 -- “Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions” by David Lepeska --

http://libertylinked.com/posts/7445/return-of-islam-college---/View.aspx

 

5.20.11 -- “Feds Question Schools' Visa Use: Federal Funds Used To Pay for Teachers' Families” by Jennifer Smith Richards  --

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/20/feds-question-schools-visa-use.html?sid=101

 

5.2011 - “Harmony Science Academy, Cosmos Foundation: Evidence of Affiliation with the Gulen Movement” --

http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/harmony-science-academy-cosmos-foundation.html

5.1.11 “Frog in the Water”  by Donna Garner --

http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/insights_on_education/155212.html

4.19.11 -- “Flood of Turkish Teachers Prompts Investigation: Witness Says Feds Looking into Islam-Influenced Network” World Net Daily --

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=289153

4.11.11 -- “H-1B + K-12 = ? A First Look at the Implications of Foreign Teacher Recruitment” by David North --

http://www.cis.org/h-1b-teacher-recruitment

4.9.11 -- “Harmony Charter” by Dr. Ed Fuller --

http://fullerlook.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/harmony-charters/

4.5.11 - “Turkish Authorities Launch Raids To Censor Book before Publication”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/05/turkey-censorship-ahmet-sik-perrier

4.5.11 -- “Texas: Land of Charters and Economic Opportunity” by Peyton Wolcott --

http://www.peytonwolcott.com/

3.30.11 -- “Is Fethullah Gulen Working for the CIA?” by Dr. Aland Mizell --
 

http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc043011AM.html

3.26.11 -- “Gulen Is Indeed a Dangerous Man” by Donna Garner --

http://www.educationnews.org/political/152367.html

3.24.11 -- “FBI Launches Investigation of Gulen and His Movement” by Paul L.
Williams --

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/34766

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

3.24.11 -- “Re: FBI Investigation of Gulen Schools (a.k.a., Harmony Science Academies in Texas) by Donna Garner, EducationNews.org  --

http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/insights_on_education/152233.html

Here is a YouTube (Parts 1 and 2) by a TV news station in Pennsylvania that tells of the FBI investigation of the Gulen schools in Pennsylvania and across the country:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN04cOqLc9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZtg9jfVZbo 

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

3.22.11 -- “Young Scholars Charter School Faces Scrutiny over Ties with Islamic Leader” --  

http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/22/2597590/charter-school-faces-scrutiny.html#ixzz1HJbliDXz

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

2.10.11 -- “Texas Senate Honors Islamist Imam, Fethullah Gulen” by Donna Garner --

The Texas Senate passed SR 85 on Jan. 25, 2011.  Guess who was honored:  Fethullah Gulen.   “WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas is pleased to recognize Fethullah Gˇlen for his ongoing and inspirational contributions to the promotion of global peace and

Understanding...” 

Here is the link: 

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82R/billtext/pdf/SR00085F.pdf#navpanes=0

The authors of SR 85 are Senators Lucio, Fraser, Huffman, Nelson, and Van de Putte:  http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=SR85

Now look at how this action by the Texas Senate was viewed by the people in Turkey.  This link is to a Turkish newspaper article that covered this “momentous” decision: 
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-233740-texas-senate-passes-resolution-commending-fethullah-gulen.html

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

3.3.11 -- “7 More Journalists Detained in Turkey” by Sebnem Arsu --

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/europe/04turkey.html?_r=1

10.17.10 -- “TIZA, an Islamic Public School, Threatens and Intimidates Witnesses in ACLU Lawsuit” --

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/10/tiza-an-islamic-public-school-threatens-and-intimidates-witnesses-in-aclu-lawsuit.html

8.16.10 -- “Fethullah Gulen: Infiltrating the U.S. Through Our Charter Schools?” by Guy Rodgers of Act! for America --

http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/learn/email-archives/1069-fethulla-gulen-infiltrating-us-through-our-charter-schools/

5.25.10 -- “Bill Gates Funds Gulen Islamist Movement” -- by Paul Williams, Ph.D.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6307/pub_detail.asp

3.29.10 -- “Islamist Gülen Movement Runs U.S. Charter Schools” by Stephen Schwartz --

http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/islamist_guelen_movement_runs.html

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

Donna Garner
wgarner1@hot.rr.com

Fethullah Gulen and his “frog in the boiling water” plan for American charter school children

5.1.11

Subject::  Fethullah Gulen and his “frog in the boiling water” plan for American charter school children

The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out; but if the frog is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. 

The danger is that by the time parents (and the taxpaying public) are discerning enough to figure out that the children in the Gulen charter schools are being indoctrinated into pro-Islam/anti-American thinking, the children will already be “cooked.”  -- Donna Garner

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

December 2010 trip to Turkey shows big details elude Austin ISD

April 6th 2011 By Curt Olson

COlson@TexasBudgetSource.com

http://www.texasbudgetsource.com/2011/04/december-trip-to-turkey-shows-big-details-elude-austin-isd/

The signs of financial crisis flashed everywhere for Austin Independent School District leaders.

A drop in property values hit its revenue stream between 2009 and 2010 and they expected lower state aid in 2012-13.

The district has now declared financial exigency and cut $94 million from its budget.

The Austin-American Statesman recently chastised Superintendent Meria Carstarphen in an editorial for botching a move to consider early retirement incentives in Austin ISD. She responded that those incentives will be too costly to the district. Yet, Board President Mark Williams admitted the missteps and the incentives should have been brought up in January.

Perhaps Austin ISD leaders should give more scrutiny to teachers they let go.

Austin ISD’s 2011 “Teacher of the Year” spoke at the recent “Save Our Schools” rally at the State Capitol. She said she and other “excellent teachers” have received notices they could lose their jobs.

No one doubts this is a stressful time in Austin ISD. But it’s becoming obvious that on big issues, important details elude the leadership.

Consider the “free” trip halfway around the world that Carstarphen and 10 other district curriculum directors and teachers took between December 14 and December 23, 2010.

Austin ISD had a responsibility to do their due diligence – even for a “free” trip, but they did not do it.

Austin ISD has a new relationship with Raindrop Turkish House (RTH), which will assist district staff in creating a curriculum on Turkey. This should assist teachers in preparing students for certain questions on state assessment tests.

It seemed obvious that completing their due diligence was the least taxpayers deserved.

However, Austin ISD was enthusiastic about the trip to Turkey. That enthusiasm extended from the superintendent to the board. Carstarphen and Board President Mark Williams did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

At one time 12 administrators and teachers were scheduled for the trip. However, 11 people made the trip before Christmas. The Austin Aztex soccer team gave Austin ISD $14,400 to cover the cost for airfares, meals, parking, visas, and other incidentals for Austin ISD leaders and staff to make the trip to Turkey and back.

RTH [Rainbow Turkish House -- a Gulen school] paid for the stay and activities in Turkey, with included meetings at schools that had some madrassas, Islamic religious schools.

Now, RTH in Houston and Austin will assist Austin ISD in drafting a curriculum design, resources and instruction.

The RTH is connected to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who exiled himself to Saylorsburg, Pa. in 1999 under armed guard. Saylorsburg, Pa. is in Northeastern Pennsylvania near the Pocono Mountains. Gulen exiled himself because he faced charges of trying to overthrow the Turkish government. It is believed Gulen, who is a billionaire with a vast network of organizations and schools, including charter schools throughout the world and in the U.S., wants to restore the Ottoman Empire to Turkey.

Gulen has more than 80 charter schools nationwide, and in Texas more than 30 affiliated with the Cosmos Foundation, which also is a Gulen organization.

This trip’s clearest connection to Gulen is a photograph taken of a few people from the Texas delegation while they were in Turkey. A picture and article of the Texas visitors appeared during their trip in Today’s Zaman, the English language version of the Gulen newspaper. Today’s Zaman’s U.S. correspondent has acknowledged the publication is Gulenist.

Many of Gulen’s organizations, including RTH and the Cosmos Foundation, have noble goals: open dialogue with people of different faiths and its charter schools.

However, foreign policy experts who have watched events in Turkey say there are reasons for concern.

One person is Michael Rubin, who worked as a Pentagon staff adviser on Iran and Iraq from 2002-04 in the administration of former President George W. Bush. Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Rubin described Gulen as “controversial,” “secretive,” and a man who “operates a number of front groups.”

Additionally, multiple cables from the U.S. State Department express concerns about Gulen because he is less than transparent about his goals. The State Department is no bastion of conservatism.

In an e-mail response, Austin ISD dismissed the need to check out RTH by not even answering a couple of questions. Again, the superintendent did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

The trip to Turkey likely will benefit those who went – and it will benefit the preparation of Austin students for future state tests.

However, the trip in December – in light of the financial crisis confronting Austin ISD – displays the epitome of tone deafness. Why would you travel halfway around the world with a financial crisis of this magnitude?

Additionally, the lack of due diligence on Gulen reveals that on the big issues the big details get overlooked. Perhaps some important financial questions were overlooked because the district’s leader was out of the country for 10 days just before Christmas.

Austin ISD will get their new Turkey curriculum, but at what price?

There were enough red flags about Gulen. All they had to do was look and ask some probing questions.

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

List of U. S. publicly funded Gulen schools: 

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/list-of-us-schools.html

Total number of schools currently in operation:  119
Number of states with schools in current operation:   25

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

4.20.11 -- “A Closer Look at the Cosmos Foundation/Harmony School Charter Operation in Texas” -- by Peyton Wolcott --

http://peytonwolcott.com/

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

“Harmony Science Academies Tied to Gulen Charter Schools”

by Donna Garner

3.1.11

Here is the documentation to show that the Harmony Science Academies in Texas are directly tied to the Gulen Movement. We always need to bear in mind that Fethullah Gulen is an Islamist imam:  

1.  Guidestar -- Cosmos Foundation, Texas (a.k.a., Harmony Public Schools -- http://www2.guidestar.org/organizations/76-0615245/cosmos-foundation.aspx )

Cosmos Foundation is the management company for Harmony Science Academies, and the CFO of Cosmos is Umit Pecen; he attends the funding board meetings with Sonar Tarim. 

(Please see http://harmonyparenttruth.blogspot.com/2011/01/harmony-science-academy-charter-school_18.html to learn more about Umit Pecen.)  

(Please go to http://www.chroniclewatch.com/2010/06/21/islamic-movement-engulfs-lone-star-state/ to learn more about Sonar Tarim.)

2.  Oct. 7, 2010 -- Dr. Helen Rose Ebaugh -- “Mapping the Gulen Movement” -- Professor of Sociology, University of Houston --  Please slide the marker to 11:52 where Dr. Ebaugh says there are 25 Gulen charter schools in Texas (a.k.a., Cosmos Foundation -- Harmony Science Academies).  If these are not the Harmony Science Academies, to what other schools is she referring?  Obviously she means the Harmony Science Academies and that they are Gulen schools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJmldzfD884&feature=related

In Dr. Ebaugh’s remarks, she stated that she had traveled to Turkey to study the Gulen Movement; and she learned that after Gulen investors put up the capital for the Gulen schools for a couple of years, the schools operate on their own.

This should be the same model used in the United States. If individual citizens want to put up the money for the Harmony Science Academies to get them started, that would be a matter to be decided in the private sector; but we taxpayers should not have our tax dollars used to pay for any schools that are tied to the Muslim movement.

3.  PBS, “The Gulen Movement,” Jan. 25, 2011:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-21-2011/gulen-movement/7949/

Excerpts from this website:

SEVERSON: Gülen-inspired volunteers from Turkey bring Turkish language and culture with them. In Houston they sponsor a Turkish Olympiad where American students compete in Turkish dance and song. The winners compete in an annual competition in Ankara, Turkey. There are more than a 1000 Gülen-inspired schools and universities in over 100 countries...

SEVERSON: In Texas there are 33 nationally recognized public charter schools with over 16,000 students grades K through 12. They’re called Harmony schools, and the Turkish superintendent insists they are strictly secular and in no way connected to Gülen. [As shown in Points #1 and #2, the Harmony Science Academies most certainly are Gulen schools. -- Donna Garner]  Professor Ebaugh says there’s a reason for this kind of sensitivity. [Dr. Ebaugh has stated publicly that she believes the Gulen charter schools in the United States should be more forthcoming about their links to him and to Turkey because she does not believe they have anything to hide. -- Donna Garner]

(4)  Students in the Gulen schools celebrate various Turkish Muslim holidays, and students frequently win trips to Turkey. 

Donna Garner
wgarner1@hot.rr.com

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

“Gulen Is Indeed a Dangerous Man” -- 3.26.11 --- by Donna Garner http://www.educationnews.org/political/152367.html

Donna Garner - The subject of the cable was Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist imam, who is behind the Gulen Movement and the Gulen Charter Schools in America (a.k.a., Harmony Schools in Texas). Ambassador Jeffrey gives what he wants America’s stock answer to be if anyone ever charges the United States with “sheltering” Gulen.

A link was posted as a comment under my 3.24.11 article on EducationNews.org — http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/insights_on_education/152233.html  –  entitled “FBI Investigation of Gulen Schools (a.k.a., Harmony Science Academies in Texas).”

Someone named Francis Venturini posted his comment on 3.25.11 at 5:18 A. M. and proceeded to give a link to the original Wikileaks cable sent on 12.4.09 from Embassy Ankara, Turkey, by Ambassador James Jeffrey [U. S. Ambassador to Turkey from 2008 - 2010].

I have never read a cable released by Wikileaks before (link posted at the bottom of this e-mail), but I believe this is what it said: 

The subject of the cable was Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist imam, who is behind the Gulen Movement and the Gulen Charter Schools in America (a.k.a., Harmony Schools in Texas).

Listed in the header to the cable are such words as Confidential, Ambassador James Jeffrey, Embassy Ankara, Secretary of State/Washington D. C., Secretary of Defense, CIA, Joint Staff, etc.  

At the end of the 2009 cable, Ambassador Jeffrey gives what he wants America’s stock answer to be if anyone ever charges the United States with “sheltering” Gulen.

I found it very disturbing that by 2009 when Ambassador Jeffrey wrote this cable, the Gulenists had already taken over the Turkish National Police by giving applicants the answers to the exams.  If this is standard protocol in Turkey by the Gulenists, I have to ask whether there is any outside monitoring of test security when the Gulen Charter Schools in the United States administer the state-mandated tests (TAKS in Texas) and the SAT/ACT.  If not, can we trust the Gulen Charter Schools’ (a.k.a., Harmony Schools in Texas) test results to be credible?

Notice that this cable from Embassy Ankara was written back in 2009. It was after that time in May and June of 2010 when the Gaza Strip flotilla fired on the Israelis; Turkey helped Iran to create a plan to avoid sanctions; and the Turkish prime minister said he regarded Iran’s President Ahmadinejad as a friend.

 

The author of  the 6.3.10 article entitled “It’s Not About the Flotilla: Turkey Changed Sides Years Ago” stated that the breakdown in U. S. and Israeli relations occurred in 2008 when Turkey elected an Islamist government: 

 

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/its-not-about-the-flotilla-turkey-changed-sides-years-ago/

 

All of this occurred during the time that the Gulen Movement was infiltrating Turkey and becoming more aggressive by taking over the news media, political structure, security police, educational system, and other institutions.  It cannot be a coincidence that as the Gulenist Movement in Turkey has grown, the Turkish relationship with the United States has deteriorated.

 

Is it any wonder that many Americans are worried about the Gulen Charter Schools and their Islamic influence upon our own public school children?  It is not a stretch to think that the Gulen Movement may be trying to take over our country using the same strategies they have used in Turkey.  

Combine this with the fact that a Texas legislator recently told me that he, unlike some of his fellow legislators, had refrained from accepting free trips to Turkey offered by Gulen/Cosmos Foundation/Harmony Schools.  I have also been told that many high-level policymakers on both sides of the aisle, selected news media pesonalities, and Congressmen have taken these free trips to Turkey — the center of the elegant Ottoman Empire — where they have been wined and dined royally by the Gulenists.  Students at the Harmony Schools also are sent on these Turkish trips.  

FYI:  The United States has two key permanent bases in the Middle East.  Incirlik, Turkey, and Riyad, Saudi Arabia. These are strategic installations.  For reference, Incirlik was the home base for all U-2 flights over Russia before satellites.  Riyad was the staging point for both Iraqi Wars. Both bases are essential in the Middle East.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incirlik_Air_Base

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

4.19.11 -- World Net Daily

Flood of Turkish teachers prompts investigation
Witness says feds looking into Islam-influenced network

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=289153

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

In Texas:

“…there were also 401 applications filed by the Houston-based Cosmos Foundation for a state-wide cluster of Turkish-sponsored charter schools, a Gülen organization…These H-1B hirings were taking place just as school systems across the country were preparing to lay off tens of thousands of public school teachers…” (CIS -- Center for Immigration Studies -- April 2011; http://www.cis.org/h-1b-teacher-recruitment/)

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

“Harmony Charter Schools: Gaming the System?”

Introduction by Donna Garner

4.10.11

Dr. Ed Fuller’s study shows that Texas’ Harmony Charter Schools have an exceedingly high disappearance rate of low-performing students.  Dr. Fuller says this definitely is “one way to increase the overall average performance and obtain higher accountability ratings than otherwise would have been obtained.”  

Harmony Charter Schools may well be gaming the system.  Also, are there any Texas Education Agency TAKS, ACT, or SAT monitors who unexpectedly drop in to observe the test security of these Harmony Charter Schools to make sure that they are not cheating on their test scores?  Regular public schools in Texas are monitored for TAKS test security. -- Donna Garner]

http://fullerlook.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/harmony-charters/

A "Fuller" Look at Education Issues

Examining K-12 and higher ed issues across the country by Dr. Ed Fuller

Teaser on Charter School Report

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Dr. Ed Fuller

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

Re:  FBI Investigation of Gulen Schools (a.k.a., Harmony Science Academies in Texas) -- 3.23.11  

Here is a YouTube (Parts 1 and 2) by a TV news station in Pennsylvania that tells of the FBI investigation of the Gulen schools in Pennsylvania and across the country:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN04cOqLc9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZtg9jfVZbo 

If you have pertinent information or have observed anything suspicious about the Gulen schools in Texas (a.k.a., Harmony Science Academies), here is the phone number for the Dallas FBI office (972-559-5000).  When you call, ask to be directed to “Intake.”  I verified this contact information this morning.  

At the bottom of this e-mail, I have posted some recent articles on the Gulen Movement and also information about Turkey and why it is so important for the United States to maintain a definite presence there. -- Donna Garner

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

3.22.11 -- http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/22/2597590/charter-school-faces-scrutiny.html#ixzz1HJbliDXz

YOUNG SCHOLARS by Ed McMahon

Young Scholars charter school faces scrutiny over ties with Islamic leader

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

 Other recent articles on the Gulen Movement and its harmful influence both in Turkey and in the United States:

3.14.11 -- Education or Indoctrination? By Gadi Adelman:  http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.8968/pub_detail.asp

3.21.11 -- Newly released Wikileaks documents show increased concern among U.S. officials of the Gulen Movement by Dr. Paul L. Williams:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/34651

3.10.11 --  U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attention

by Martha Woodall and Claudio Gatti -- Philly News:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/118313549.html?viewAll=y

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

For Your Information -- Why America needs to maintain good relations with Turkey --

We have two key permanent bases in the Middle East.  Incirlik, Turkey, and Riyad, Saudi Arabia. These are strategic installations.  For reference, Incirlik was the home base for all U-2 flights over Russia before satellites.  Riyad was the staging point for both Iraqi Wars. Both bases are essential in the Middle East. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incirlik_Air_Base

Incirlik Air Base (Turkish: İncirlik Hava Üssü) (ICAO: LTAG) is located in İncirlik, five miles east^[1] of Adana, Turkey's fifth largest city, and 56 kilometres (35 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. Air Force and the Turkish Air Force are the primary users of the base.

Incirlik is the home of the 10th Air Wing (Ana Jet Üs or AJÜ) of the 2nd Air Force Command (Hava Kuvvet Komutanlığı) of the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri). Other wings of this command are located in Merzifon (LTAP), Malatya/Erhaç (LTAT) and Diyarbakır (LTCC).^[2]

Incirlik has a United States Air Force (U.S.A.F.) complement of about 5,000 airmen, with several hundred British and Turkish Air Force airmen also present (-late 2002). The primary unit stationed here is the 39th Air Base Wing (39 ABW) of the U.S.A.F.

Incirlik has one 3048 meter-long main runway ^[1] and one 2740 meter-long secondary runway, both located among about 57 hardened aircraft shelters.

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

4.30.11 -- “Is Gulen in Bed with Politicians and the CIA?” --  http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc043011AM.html -- Dr. Aland Mizell

Excerpts from this article:

Gulen teaches that hearts are created as safes for keeping secrets. Intelligence is their lock; will power is their key. No one can break into the safe and steal its valuables if the lock or keys are not faulty. He urges his followers to bear in mind that those who carry others' secrets to you might bear yours to others. Further, he cautions them not to give such tactless people any chance to learn even the smallest details of your private concerns. A secret is a power only as long as it stays with its owner but is a weapon that may be used against its owner if it passes into the hands of others.

Developing his point, Gulen explains, “This is the meaning of one of our traditional sayings: ‘The secret is your slave but you become its slave if you disclose it.’” The details of many important affairs can be protected only if they are kept secret.

Often enough when the involved parties do not keep certain matters secret no progress is achieved. In addition, serious risks might confront those who are involved particularly if the matter concerns delicate issues of national life and its continuation. This doctrine admonishes them, “Explain what you must but never give away all of your secrets. Those who freely publicize the secrets of their hearts drag themselves and their nation toward an inevitable downfall. If a state cannot protect its secrets from its enemies it cannot develop. If an army reveals its strategy to its antagonists it cannot attain victory. If key workers are won over by the competitors their employers cannot succeed.” Secrecy undergirds Gulen’s life and movement…

What Gulenists want is total power and one-man rule; they want a status so that none could dare to object to them or to their leader, because they sincerely believe that Allah has chosen them to disseminate their brand of Turkish Islam to the world, and therefore that everything they do is right and without mistakes. That is why the best weapon for a dictator’s regime is secrecy, but the best weapon for a real democracy is openness and transparency, is it not? How democratic, open, and transparent are the Gulenists?

…Why would the Gulenists deny their relation to the CIA? The truth seems to be optional for Gulenists. According to Gulen’s teachings, his followers have an obligation to know the truth but that truth cannot be revealed anywhere anytime, because if the time is not right, they cannot tell the truth.  For example, the strategy of denial is fabricated to appear that they are not part of any movement or community if any charge against them appears in the news…Rather, they are to work patiently and silently until all the institutions are in order to seize power. Timing about when and how to reveal their true goal is very crucial for the Gulenists. Gulenists are experts on how to buy and use persons for their interest.

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

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

Texas Senate Unknowingly Honors Most Dangerous Islamist Imam, Fethullah Gulen and Taxpayers are Funding His Madrassahs(Charter Schools)

Interview with Donna Garner, former teacher now very busy activist shares with us troubling news of what is going on right under our noses.  Incredible how lack of knowledge of our leaders will jeopardize their nation.  Will they learn and will they correct their mistake?  I guess it depends on what matters most to them --the nation or their own pride?

Get a glimpse at the enemy within and get to know him now and inform your Congress before it is too late.

"His schools indoctrinate children in the tenets of radical Islam and prepare adolescents for the Islamization of the world...

One of these charter schools (madrassahs)- - Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) in Minnesota - - is so radically Islamic and subversive in nature that the Minnesota Department of Education issued two citations against it and the American Civil Liberties Union is suing it...

This individual has amassed a fortune - - over $30 billion - - for the creation of a universal caliphate." You must read entire article--see link.

The Texas Senate who honored this dangerous Imam should be contacted and those in Washington reminded that we can not afford the same mistake of allowing the enemy within to destroy us through what some may say as "lack of knowledge", some may say as "political correctness"--whatever--it is --it is foolishness to ignore the truth.