Harmony Science Academy - Lubbock

“Incident leads LISD officials to have concerns about Harmony.” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX), 8/27/2007

School districts in Lubbock say they're not concerned about a loss of state dollars if students transfer to a new charter school.

Public school systems lose state funds for student attendance when pupils transfer out, according to the Texas Education Agency. Harmony Science Academy-Lubbock opens today with about 250 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Lubbock Independent School District officials said they're concerned about something else: The issue stems from an incident at Hodges Elementary School earlier this year, but Harmony said it did nothing wrong.

Nancy Sharp, a district spokeswoman, said Harmony representatives entered Hodges shortly after school had ended. They started to ask teachers questions about students and demographics and refused to check in at the school office.

Sharp said LISD police and the FBI were notified. She couldn't provide a police report, and an FBI agent declined to deny or confirm the claim. The district also contacted the media about the incident.

"Our interaction [with Harmony] has been puzzling," Sharp said. "Our interaction has not been on the professional level we would expect from educators."

Harmony principal Gultekin Kaya denied the allegation...