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charter school, charter school mismanagement, closing schools, Fethullah Gülen, financial audit, financial impropriety, Gulen Movement, Gulen schools, Magnolia schools
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The largest chain of Charter Schools in this country is run from the Poconos by a reclusive, self-exiled Turk named Fethullah Gülen. From its website, this self-proclaimed “faith-inspired initiative to improve educational opportunities for a local community” inspires instead a wide range of interpretation and suspicion.
And this is how the volatile and complex politics of a middle eastern country halfway around the globe, Turkey, overlaps with the convoluted and complicated politics of modern Education Reform in one of the world’s most diverse cities, Los Angeles.
The Gulen Movement (GM) is the ideological core of the Charter School chain that is at the heart of the recent court ruling “allowing” two of their schools to remain open in LAUSD.
Alleging financial impropriety in at least two of its schools, located respectively in Palms (westside) and Van Nuys (west Valley), the LAUSD charter office asserts authority to close the two schools, in keeping with a mandate to retain some semblance of oversight over the largest concentration of publicly funded quasi-private “Charter” Schools in existence anywhere. The leadership of these two particular schools, the Hizmet movement, or GM, won an injunction from the closing by arguing that failing to renew a school’s charter was tantamount to revoking its charter, a move that requires public input.
But it may just well be that avoiding such a messy discussion is the goal of our public school board. They must be sensitive to even the appearance of any sort of defamation of anyone’s culture or religion. And yet protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the Gulen Movement is a hugely powerful, and hugely controversial, political entity in this country. The incursions of this cult into our public school system and political landscape are so widespread and so deep that there is no escaping the need for the electorate to read about this movement for yourself.
Unless there is a broader understanding of the extent of its influence and teachings, the LAUSD has little hope of countering GM’s interference in our schools and our children’s lives, either ideologically or financially. To even begin to understand what is at stake is to necessarily traverse the incredibly murky international political waters of competing, Islamist ideologies. And this tricky story cannot be driven by xenophobia or prejudice. Investigating an organization on record as lauding secrecy, requires careful treatment of derivative underlying political motives.
What remains is the crucial logistic specifics of Charter School mismanagement. At the end of the day while this underlying political connection is important, we need, quite simply, for our public dollars to be spent wisely and fairly and openly. When these cannot be traced, it is incumbent upon any entity’s operating board to halt proceedings. In precisely the same fashion as LAUSD itself, the Gulen Movement must show us not only how but where our public dollars are being spent. And when they cannot or will not, we must not permit suspicious operations to continue. Given LAUSD’s own budget transparency issues, for another entity to arouse suspicion from the bowels of LAUSD accounting, suggests apart from the kettle calling the pot black, that the opacity of Magnolia-Gulen Charter Schools must be inscrutable indeed.
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2 Comments
July 28, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Last comment, their California operation has recently snowjobbed the state of California and on July 1, 2014 were awarded a $6 million Facilities Grant. This was issued 4 days after the fateful letter from LAUSD shuttering their 2 schools for financial mismanagement and insolvency.
However, their superintendent Mehmet Argin claims he has 2 accountants that vouch for the schools solvency. No doubt the same accountants that gave the solvency letter to the State of California for the grant. Of which they were suppose to hand over to the LAUSD today 7/28.
Mehmet is convinced their accountants are correct but the 3rd party the State of California, LAUSD uses a forensics accountancy group just has it all wrong. Shouldn’t that $6 million grant be frozen until the State of California can determine the financial solvency of Magnolia or MERF the management company?
Another slight of hand Magnolia doesn’t want MERF the management company to be looked at only the 2 schools which are under renewal.
http://www.magnoliascienceacademy.blogspot.com
July 28, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Excellent article, when dealing with the Gulen Movement it is best to not refer to it as a “faith based” organization. The members of the movement are keen on marketing, public relations spinning and will throw out the word “Islamophobia”
There was another California Based Charter Chain called Khadijah Ghafur Charter Schools that were tied to a pakestini radical cleric. They were even selling his books online, ultimately none of the radicalization ties were even brought up the Attorney General of California took them down for tax evasion.
The other thing many people miss the point on Gulen charter schools is the opportunities they present for huge money. Their ADA (Average Daily Attendence) fees barely keep the schools open and unless the student bodies have well over 300 students don’t cut even on their expenditures.
But what these schools do bring for the movement is the big windfall bonds, grants, construction loans. Not to mention the members of the movement create businesses that siphone more money off the schools like technology, consulting (Accord), janitorial, catering, even the uniforms are supplied by the Gulen Movement via their TUSKON group. They also greatly employ members of their own group as teachers, administrators, etc., who largely tuzuk (donate) up to 40% back to the movement’s front groups who put on Science fairs, Turkish Olympiads, Political parties, Dialogue Dinners, Trips to Turkey and more.
Unfortunately most of the American tax money stays within the community of Gulen not into the American communities that are paying the bills.
It was a brilliant plan, but their days are drawing to a close now that their Midwest operation Horizon Science Academies had 19 of their schools raided by the FBI.