Escondido Charter High School

“GOP, Tea Party Influence Permeates Local Charter School.” K-12 News Network, 9/19/2011

...Blatant electioneering by the GOP on school grounds. Click through to see photos [see below] of a political rally held for Republican candidates in May, 2010, pay special attendance to what the school’s white tiger mascot is wearing. Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, Darrell Issa and Pete Wilson are all in attendance. While my understanding is that it’s legal to use the facility for a political rally, it’s questionable in the least, to dress the school’s mascot in anti-Democratic Party garb and surround it by cheerleaders in school uniforms.
Adults in the photo appear to be leading the students in cheers for Republicans and against Democrats. I’ve been unable to find any evidence of attempts by the school to balance GOP influence with alternative political points of view.

The San Diego Tea Party held a “Constitution Seminar” for grades five and up on school grounds. In the online Meetup forum the San Diego County Tea Party organizer, Maggie Acerra,  writes  ”I guess something like this would never be put on at a PUBLIC High School anymore, would it?” I wonder if she understands that most charter schools are public schools.

The school has numerous ties to area Republican organizations. This is just one example. I found no links to any Democratic organization.

Parents have alleged that students’ constitutional rights were violated by promoting prayer in school.

The school’s celebration of their new “American Spirit” sculptures included several well-known area conservatives.  Roger Hedgecock, an ultra-conservative radio host broadcasted from the school’s celebration and the radio program was co-hosted by the school’s executive director. In attendance were Republican city council members.

The school’s motto is “Education is our Business.” Absolutely nothing really “wrong” or unethical about this, but it points to the fact that the school falls in line with the GOP line of thinking that everything should be run “like a business.” Children and their education are viewed as commodities, products.

The Executive Director of Escondido Charter High School serves on the Republican Mayor’s economic advisory council.  This alone should have disqualified the school from entering into a new lease in a city-owned building.

The Mayor donated $500 to the charter school as a city council member, prior to being elected mayor. This donation was part of an increase in sales at a gas station he owns following a rally in support of a controversial ordinance prohibiting landlords from renting to persons unable to provide proof of legal immigration status.  The ordinance was later pulled because the ACLU filed a lawsuit and the city determined it would be too costly to defend. It’s curious that one of the biggest champions of this ordinance (which was cheered by the Minutemen upon its initial passage) chose to donate profits gained because of his support to this particular charter school and not to one of the many public schools in the community he represents...

 

Click on image to enlarge.

New Orleans Charter Science & Mathematics High School

“Oprah-Backed Charter School Denying Disabled Collides with Law.” Bloomberg News, Sep 20, 2011

When talk-show host Oprah Winfrey handed a $1 million check last September to the principal of New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy, 200 students watched the broadcast from a church and celebrated with a brass band.

Lawrence Melrose, a ninth-grader with learning and emotional disabilities, sat next door in a school office. The staff was concerned his fighting and cursing could be an embarrassment, said Shelton Joseph, his great uncle. Because he has trouble communicating, Lawrence needed intensive counseling and speech therapy, which the school didn’t provide, Joseph said. He was repeatedly suspended and told he couldn’t take the school bus with other kids, according to his lawyer.

The education of 16-year-old Lawrence represents a common complaint about privately run, taxpayer-financed charter schools: They often exclude children with serious disabilities or deny them the help they need, violating federal laws.

“They left me,” Joseph recalled the boy telling him on the day of the Winfrey celebration. “They left me out.”

Along with the academy supported by Oprah’s Angel Network - - which the entertainer used to raise money from the public -- New Orleans charter schools accused of discrimination include those that are favored charities of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s Walton family and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Shunning special-education students helps school budgets since the average disabled child costs twice as much to serve as a nondisabled one, said Thomas Hehir, who oversaw federal special-education programs under President Bill Clinton. The practice also improves the reported academic results of schools because children with disabilities often have lower scores on standardized tests, he said...

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“Teenager Committs Suicide Due To High Stakes Test Scores.” WDSU (LA), 7/5/2011: This is a video news report.

Gulen charter schools in Missouri

STATE	# ACTIVE	# PENDING	# INACTIVE*	TOTAL
MO	3	1	0	3

* Denied, withdrawn, closed, or unknown status

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TOTAL ENROLLMENT IN 2010-2011 = 989 STUDENTS

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SCHOOLS

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FRONTIER SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE (formerly Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School)
Status	ACTIVE: opened 2007-2008
Non-profit and management	Millenium Education Foundation, in partnership with the Cosmos Foundation
Authorizer	University of Missouri – Kansas City (plus Missouri BOE approval)
Location/District	5605 Troost Ave., Kansas City / Kansas City (Missouri) School District
Website	http://www.kcfse.org/ (previously http://bfmass.org/)
Enrollment	Grades 6-12; 2010-11 enrollment = 242
Notes	6-12; at the end of 2010-11, BFMSS was renamed and both Kansas City schools were announced to be under the umbrella of a new organization, Frontier Schools AKA the Frontier School System (FSS); Principal Bilgehan Yasar listed, also Burak Yilmaz

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FRONTIER SCHOOL OF INNOVATION
Status	ACTIVE: opened 2009-2010
Non-profit and management	Millenium Education Foundation, in partnership with the Cosmos Foundation
Authorizer	University of Missouri – Kansas City (plus Missouri BOE approval)
Location/District	6700 N. Corporate Dr., Kansas City / Kansas City (Missouri) School District
Website	http://www.kcfsi.org/
Enrollment	Grades K-6; 2010-11 enrollment = 407
Notes	K-6; at the end of 2010-11, both Kansas City schools were announced to be under the umbrella of a new organization, Frontier Schools AKA the Frontier School System (FSS); Ismet Isik listed as a principal

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GATEWAY SCIENCE ACADEMY OF ST. LOUIS
Status	ACTIVE: opened 2010-2011
Non-profit and management	Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis non-profit (see below); contracts with Concept Schools for management
Authorizer	Lindenwood University (plus Missouri BOE approval)
Location/District	6576 Smiley Ave., St. Louis / St. Louis Public Schools
Website	http://www.gsastl.org/
Enrollment	Grades K-7; 2010-11 enrollment = 340
Individuals involved	Governing board members appearing on website: Kemal Akkaya, Sarah Disney, Mustafa Y. Sir, Mehmet Kahyeci, Patricia G. Hunt, Imdat Ozen, Orville R. Goerger, Jr. Also involved: Ugur Zengince, Cengiz Karatas.
Notes	Intended to be K-12; school will expand to two sites in 2012

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PENDING

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GATEWAY SCIENCE ACADEMY SOUTH
Status	PENDING: planning to open Fall 2012
Non-profit and management	Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis non-profit (see below); contracts with Concept Schools for management
Authorizer	Lindenwood University (plus Missouri BOE approval)
Location/District	6651 Gravois Ave., St. Louis (location of former public school, Gardenville Elementary School. Concept Schools purchased vacant building from St. Louis Public Schools in March 2012). GSA-South will be located within St. Louis Public Schools district.
Enrollment	Starting K-5, to grow to K-12 w/650 students
History	According to article, application was submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for consideration at the May meeting of the Missouri Board of Education. However, the item does not appear on the BOE’s May 15 agenda (next meeting is scheduled for June 19).

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MANAGEMENT

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MILLENIUM EDUCATION FOUNDATION dba Frontier School of Innovation  (possibly now dba Frontier School System)
Federal Tax ID	EIN 421692516
Individuals involved	Names appearing on 990s for 2008, 2009: Coskun Cetinkaya; Ertugrul Ozbudak; Fatih Ozcan; Gene Augustine; Greg Reike [sic, Rieke]; Ismet Isik; Muharrem Ali Tunc; Yavuz Selim Silay
Visa applications	2007 – 5; 2008 – 4; 2009 – 12; 2010 – 3 http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Millenium-Education-Foundation/714201.htm
History	An organization called the Frontier School System (FSS) first appeared in the summer of 2011, with Mr. Isik as Superintendent. Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School was renamed Frontier School of Excellence (FSE). FSS claimed Frontier School of Innovation and FSE as its member schools.

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GATEWAY SCIENCE ACADEMY OF ST. LOUIS
Federal Tax ID	EIN 261425925
Individuals involved	Form 990s not yet publicly available.

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“PARTNER ORGANIZATION”

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COSMOS FOUNDATION / HARMONY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Federal Tax ID	EIN 76-0615245
Website	http://www.cosmostx.org/
Services	Cosmos is paid 3% of Millennium’s annual state funding because of their “Support Service Agreement.”
Individuals involved	Names appearing on IRS Form 990s (2002 to 2009): Ali Tekin, Bilal Akin, Burhanettin Kuruscu, Cengizhan Keskin, Cocksun Cetinkaya, Ellen A. MacDonald, Fatih Yigit, Gokturk Tunc, Ibrahim Sel, Iker Gure, Ismet S. Isik, Kadir Almus, Kudbettin Aksoy, Levent Bulut, Lynn Mitchell, Mehmet Okumus, Mustafa Atik, Mustafa Guvercin, Mustafa Ozen, Nihat Guvercin, Oner Ulvi Celepicikay, Ozgur Ozer, Selahattin Aydin, Soner Tarim, Tevik Eski, Umit Pecin, Yetkin Yildirim

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CONCEPT SCHOOLS, INC.
Federal Tax ID	None
Website	http://www.conceptschools.org/
Services	Concept provides services for school start-up, human resources, curriculum and school design, student information system, assessment, marketing, financial services, cross-cultural educational opportunities, school visits and evaluations, and professional development.
History	From website: “Taner [Ertekin] and Ehat [Ercanli] put together a team of scientists, business leaders, and educators, including Sedat Duman and Salim Urcan” to start the charter school. This is an example of the narrative which all Gulen charter schools have in common.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Learn more about the Cosmos Foundation / Harmony Public Schools HERE and HERE and HERE.
• Learn more about Concept Schools HERE.
• See slide presentation by CASILIPS, “The Concept Schools model: success in education or success in marketing?”
• Gulen schools around the world train their students to compete in regional competitions which are sponsored by local Gulenist Turkish "cultural" organizations. The winners of these regional events proceed to the International Turkish Olympiad, an annual Gulenist pageant held in Turkey each summer. Here are Gulen charter school students competing in the Greater Kansas City Raindrop Turkish House 4th Annual Turkish Language Olympiads Missouri Finals in 2010. 

Career Academic Technical Academy

“APS board revokes charter school's license." KOB.com (NM), 9/21/2011

Albuquerque Public Schools school board voted Wednesday evening to revoke a charter school's license after an audit showed the principal violated policy by hiring family members.

The audit said Career Academic and Technology Academy Charter School Principal Glee Hare hired her brother and son and said the governing board contracted a deal with another one of her sons.

Attorneys for the Career Academic and Technology Academy charter school defended the hires and said certain nepotism regulations were not in effect at the time of the hires and once those new rules were set in place in 2008, the school took proper action to make sure the hires were legal...

The school is now set to close at the end of the school year, but the school can appeal the decision...

Balere Language Academy

“Charter school building heads to foreclosure auction.” South Florida Business Journal (FL), 12/21/2012

The former home of a shuttered charter school is set for auction after Great Florida Bank won a $2.24 million foreclosure judgment.

The Miami-Dade County School Board voted in April to shut downthe Balere Language Academy after parents complained of house parties with alcohol and distasteful promotions.

The Miami Lakes-based bank (Pink Sheets: GFLB) won the judgment against nonprofit Balere and loan guarantors Rocka Malik and Nagib Malik over a $1.5 million mortgage, plus interest and fees. It was also awarded judgment against Strategic Empowerment for Economic Development Corp., which provided a $1.2 million second mortgage...

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“Charter school in adult-club scandal has money woes; A party promoterthat has been scheduling boozy bashes at a troubled Miami-Dade charter schoolhas ties to the school’s principal, records show.” The Miami Herald (FL), 0/13/2011

The “Push It To Da Limit: The Flossin Edition” late-night party is still scheduled to go off Saturday night — but it won’t be at a South Miami-Dade charter school, as previously advertised.

Miami-Dade School District officials on Friday were still trying to determine whether the Balere Language Academy — a charter school already facing financial free-fall and increased school district scrutiny — has also been doubling as an after-hours nightclub.

This week district officials learned of R-rated party fliers, featuring bikini-clad women and bottles of booze, promoting a bash at 10875 Quail Roost Dr. — the address of the South Miami Heights charter school. Older ads, Twitter posts, Facebook photos and a string of parent complaints about smoky smells and empty beer bottles on campus also indicated past parties were held at the school.

Balere’s principal and founder, Rocka Malik, told The Miami Herald on Thursday that she knew nothing about any after-hours parties at her school. But records show the party promoter is tied to Malik’s husband: A phone number for the promoter comes back to a car-wash company managed by Malik’s husband, Clifton Smith, who is also a director of a pre-school at Balere. Malik and Smith did not return phone calls on Friday.

This is not the first time the school has come under fire: Last fall, school inspectors discovered that nine seventh-graders were being taught in a wooden storage shed on campus, records show. “Students had difficulty putting their legs comfortably under the desks,” district inspectors wrote in one report. When interviewed by an inspector with Miami-Dade’s building department, Malik denied that the shed was being used as a classroom, records show...

The controversy comes as Balere struggles to stay afloat amid a barrage of problems. Among them:

• A lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the school in June for failing to make payments on a $1.5 million mortgage — one of four mortgages on the school’s six-acre property, records show.

•  Enrollment at the K-7 school has plummeted from 255 students last October to just 82 students today, records show.

•  The school’s revenue, which comes from public tax dollars directly tied to the number of students, has shrunk from more than $2 million in 2010 to just over $1 million today. As of February, the school owed more than $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid payroll taxes.

•  The school has lost two principals since January, and school district officials said they cannot identify the current members of the nonprofit school’s board.

School district officials threatened to close the charter school last year, after it received an F grade from the state based on poor student test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. But Balere appeared to make a dramatic turnaround when it raised its grade to an A this spring, winning the school a reprieve.

Yet Balere remains under scrutiny by the school district over its finances. The school had to submit a financial recovery plan to the district after two years in the red. District officials have questioned whether the school has a realistic plan to stay afloat...

District officials are now questioning how the school property is handled as well. The campus is owned by Balere, Inc., the nonprofit company that also holds the charter to operate the school. Yet Balere, Inc. leases the property to another school-related entity for $8,000 a month, according to a financial audit of the school...

Explorer Elementary Charter School

“Principal spent tax money on wine, dog treats; Explorer charter has since added oversight of credit-card spending.” San Diego Union-Tribune / SignOnSanDiego.com (CA), 04/27/2011

POINT LOMA — The founding principal of Explorer Elementary Charter School spent thousands of dollars on business meals, wine and dog treats over the last two years, expenses on her credit card that were covered by taxpayers.

The Watchdog obtained two years of statements and expense reports under the California Public Records Act for former Principal Jill Green, who resigned April 27.

Green, who earned $110,277 annually, said concerns over her expenses were raised by the charter’s governing board before her resignation, and she maintains none of the charges were for personal use. The Watchdog totaled her expenses of $37,868 from April 2009 through March 2011...

While Explorer Elementary is a part of San Diego Unified and submits annual budgets to the district, the finances are handled through a partnership with the San Diego-based High Tech High charter system. High Tech High’s credit card agreement, signed by Green, bans alcohol and gift card purchases for employees, but permits meal purchases within professional development groups or those charged out of business necessity.

Kay McElrath, chief financial officer for High Tech High, signed off on Green’s expenses and declined to comment when contacted by The Watchdog...

In June, the Explorer school’s board strengthened its expense policies, and board Chairwoman Margaret Egler said the board treasurer will now review the principal’s expenditures on a quarterly basis...

While alcohol purchases by public schools are banned under state law, charter schools operate under a “mega-waiver,” exempting them from most state laws governing public schools in the California Education Code. They are bound by the Charter Schools Act, which does not address alcohol purchases...

Green signed a separation agreement in late April, awarding her $59,000 in salary payments through Oct. 28 and other compensation. Board members did not disclose the agreement right away, leading parent Alison Patton to raise questions about open-meetings law compliance.

“Prior to the ratification by the board on June 7, 2011, the agreement was not a public document and was not subject to disclosure under the Brown Act or any other statute,” Andrea Sexton, the school’s attorney, wrote on Aug. 10 in response to Patton.

One trustee, Tiveeda Stovall, resigned from her post at the June board meeting, saying she was not sure if the board appropriately reported out its action from closed meetings held before Green’s departure. Stovall could not be reached for comment...