Connections New Century Public Charter School

“Connections Charter School Employee Subjectof Hearing.” Big Island Now (HI), 11/26/2012

A charter school employee accused of violating state ethics laws will be the subject of a hearing to be held Tuesday in Hilo by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.

The commission has accused William Eric Boyd, an administrative assistant for Connections New Century Public Charter School in Hilo, with having a conflict of interest for having transactions with the school using his own private company...

The complaint issued in October 2010 charges Boyd with 26 counts of the state ethics code dating back to 2007. Most involve accusations that Boyd represented his company in a transaction with the school.

Many of the charges involve school lunches the school purchased from Boyd Enterprises, a business operated by Boyd and his wife, Erika. The school also did business with Boyd Enterprises operating under other names including Tropical Dreams, Tropical Dreams Ice Cream and Just Fabuloso.

Six of the charges allege that Boyd took “official action” on behalf of the school with a business in which he had a financial interest by either signing as a “requestor” or “approver” of purchase orders to his wife for business in the couple’s Amway distributorship...

According to Les Kondo, the commission’s executive director, this is the first contested hearing the commission has held since 1985...

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The counts are detailed in this document: http://hawaii.gov/ethics/hearings/boyd/02-ChargeExhibits.pdf

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Halau Lokahi Public Charter School

“Charter school lessens debt, kin exit board.” Honolulu Star Advertiser 6/17/11

In response to its first financial audit, Halau Lokahi Public Charter School in Kalihi is working to fix accounting problems and repay its debts, and has removed family members from the local school board that oversees it.

"Halau Lokahi has made changes and taken immediate corrective actions as recommended by the auditor," said June Nagasawa, chairwoman of the local board for the 10-year-old, Hawaiian-focused school, which employs several members of the director's family and touts its atmosphere of ohana...

The independent auditor that reviewed Lokahi's books cited problems with internal financial controls, unrecorded liabilities, payments to related parties and a lack of verification of employee advances. The school ended the 2010 fiscal year $425,000 in debt. Halau Lokahi's director, Laara Allbrett, said it has erased most of that liability this fiscal year, thanks to an infusion of federal stimulus money that went toward teacher salaries.

The charter school has 244 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Half are enrolled in its Hawaiian project-based curriculum, and the rest take classes online with Elite Element Academy, a local private school.

Halau Lokahi's 22-member staff includes Allbrett, two daughters, a son, a son-in-law and the son's girlfriend. Allbrett's son is a project manager, her son-in-law is a teacher and the others handle mostly administrative and clerical tasks. One daughter was also the treasurer of the local school board until stepping down from that volunteer position at the advice of the auditor, along with her brother, who was the board's secretary...

"The families come to us because they are sending their children to be educated by a family," said Leo Akana, a cultural and performing arts specialist at the school. "That's the way our families look at us, and that's how we look at them. We consider it an honor, a privilege and a huge responsibility to be their makua, their parents during the day. The Western notion of family comes first, favoritism — that is not the case here at all."

This year all of Hawaii's 31 charter schools were required for the first time to submit independent financial audits for the 2010 fiscal year to the state Charter School Review Panel. Halau Lokahi missed the deadline early this year and submitted its audit last month. It was one of five schools that had negative or marginal net assets and the only charter whose auditor declined to render an opinion, also known as a "disclaimed" audit, according to Bob Roberts, chief financial officer of the Charter School Administrative Office. Carbonaro CPA & Associates of Hilo, which audited most of the state's charters, said it was unable to form an opinion of Halau Lokahi's finances because it could not rely on internal controls at the school and was reviewing only one year's accounts.

"One audit was disclaimed, and that's not a good audit opinion, and the panel feels that it should look into that," said Ruth Tschumy, chairwoman of the state Charter School Review Panel. "It was discussed in the Finance Committee meeting, and the panel has put it on the agenda for its June 23 meeting."

...The [test] scores combine the performance of its day students with its "cyber" students who are studying with Elite Element Academy. That nonprofit online school was opened in 2007 by Heather Kanoe Ahuna and Reydan "Tita" Ahuna, and charges its private students $7,200 per year in tuition. The Charter School Review Panel has asked that the test scores be separated for review.

"The panel has had a hard time determining whether the students are students of Halau Lokahi or Elite Academy," Tschumy said...

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Gulen charter schools in Hawaii

STATE	# ACTIVE	# PENDING	# INACTIVE*	TOTAL
HI	0	0	1	1

* Denied, withdrawn, closed, or unknown status

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TOTAL ENROLLMENT IN 2010-2011 = NONE

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SCHOOLS

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MOKAPU STEM SCHOOL
Status	INACTIVE: rejected and withdrawn in 2011 NOTE: monitor Hawaii for future attempts, possibly with a changed school name
History	This would have been a charter school conversion of Mokapu Elementary School on the Marine Corps Base Hawaii on the Mokapu Peninsula (Oahu). It was presented in Fall 2010 and rejected by the Mokapu School Community Council in April 2011. If the proposal had been accepted by the school site, it would have gone before the state’s Charter School Review Panel, Hawaii’s only authorizer.
Management	“In partnership with Daisy Education Corporation dba Sonoran Science Academy”
Website	http://www.mokapustemschool.org/ (domain expired; website removed)
Board members	First interim board: Kazim Z. Gumus, Mehmet Argin, Adem Oksuz, Metin Yildirim Second interim board: Kazim Z. Gumus, Craig M. Fay, Gurdal Arslan, June Noelani Cleghorn, Peter Aprecio
Notes	“The Mokapu STEM School conversion will include a partnership with Accord Institute for Education Research that develops curriculum for DAISY EDUCATION CORPORATION dba Sonoran Science Academy Schools for curriculum support.” Board member Fay is a parent at Pacific Technology School-Orangevale, a Gulen charter school operated by Magnolia Public Schools. Peter Aprecio may be related to Nichole Aprecio Ataizi who has served on the board of Magnolia Public Schools.

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MANAGEMENT

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DAISY EDUCATION CORPORATION dba SONORAN SCIENCE ACADEMY
Federal Tax ID	EIN 860990917
Website	http://www.sonoranacademy.org/
History	“In 2000, local scientists, educators and community leaders saw a need in Tucson for a school that focuses on math, science and computer science.” (from website), AND “Three Turkish professionals living in Tucson founded Sonoran Science Academy in 2001… a couple friends got together." (Arizona Daily Star) http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_dec199db-be3f-5519-be3d-f6ad970db1f8.html
Individuals involved	Abdullah Yilmaz, Adam Oksuz, Akif Baysal, Cetin Urtis, Dilshod Achilov, Fatih Gelgi, Ishmael Palavi, Ismail [Emre] Arici, Metin Yildirim, Nashhi [sic Nasuhi] Yurt, Ozkur Yildez [sic Yildiz], Tayfun Gurbuz, and Turgay Korkman (source: IRS Form 990s for 2002-2008).
Notes	Daisy Education Corporation also operates the Daisy Early Learning Academy, a pre-school charter school where Turkish is taught (Pinar Eduran, director).

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SERVICE PROVIDER

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ACCORD INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH
Federal Tax ID	EIN 260658913
Website	http//www.accordeducation.org/
Location	13950 Milton Ave. Suite 200A, Westminster, CA (same address as the Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation, operator of Magnolia Public Schools in CA).
Services	The schools purchase program development, curriculum, professional development, and financial services from AIER. The fee is not known.
Individuals involved	Adem Oksuz, Ali Korkmaz, Ertan Salik, Faruk Taban, Hasan Deniz, Murat Arbas, Osman Sen, Suat Utku Ay, Carol Barkley, Suleyman Bahceci, and Yasin Cetindilin (source: IRS Form 990s for 2007 and 2008, and website accessed May 2011)

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NOTE: Learn more about the Mokapu STEM School HERE and HERE.

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Mokapu STEM School (attempt)

ANTI-GAY RELIGIOUS CULT TIED TO TORTURE SEEKS CHARTER CONVERSION OF MOKAPU ELEMENTARY; January 13, 2011; Hawaii Free Press

Hiding behind the benign sounding label, “Mokapu STEM School”, a religious cult with billions of dollars in assets is secretly trying use the charter school conversion process to take over Mokapu Elementary School located in Kaneohe on Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Mokapu STEM School organizers Kazim Gumus and Adam Oksuz propose to transform Mokapu into a K-12 school with 1,400 students in an effort backed by the Turkish Gulen Movement, sometimes referred to as the Risale-I-Nur movement.  But parents at other Gulen schools—many of whom originally chose the schools specifically to expose their children to Islam—are having second thoughts.  For many of the teachers, parents and even school board members, just discovering their schools’ hidden Gulen links took years of research.  And after years of experience with the Gulen schools, parents and teachers are reporting that Holocaust denial, 9-11 conspiracy theories, and denial of the Ottoman Turkish WWI era Armenian genocide are part of what a Tucson, Arizona newspaper describes as a “hidden agenda”.

It wasn’t easy to unearth the links between the Mokapu STEM School proposal and the Gulenists.  Gumus, a Texas Tech researcher recently hired at UH Manoa, is the only Hawaii resident named in the Mokapu proposal. An email inquiry to the Mokapu STEM School drew no reply.  A contact number listed on the Mokapu STEM School brochure is a disconnected Waikapu, Maui cell phone.  Nobody returned a message left at Gumus’ Lubbock, TX cell phone number which was also provided as a contact number.  An item in the Mokapu STEM proposal titled “Letter of Support from Kaneohe Marine Base” is blank.

An item titled “Charter” was on the agenda of the Mokapu Elementary School Community Council November 17 and December 13 and it looks like the Gulenists will be back to try again this year.  Ruth Tschumy, Chairwoman of the Charter School Review Panel tells Hawai`i Free Press, “Mokapu STEM withdrew its application for a charter, saying it might apply for the next round of chartering. The next round began in December, 2010, and the Panel did receive a letter of intent from the group.”

Movement leader Fethullah Gulen has espoused a Machiavellian approach to democracy, saying to his followers in a message broadcast on Turkish TV in 1999 that "every method and path is acceptable [including] lying to people."  Shortly thereafter Gulen fled Turkey into exile after being indicted for trying to overthrow the secularist Turkish state and replace it with an Islamic state.  Gulen movement schools are outlawed in Russia, Uzbekistan, and other Central Asian countries with Turkish populations…

Gulenists have been accused of stacking the boards of Gulen Charter schools in order to maintain control.  An email exchange between Gulenists in Ohio shows them illegally planning the agendas and preparing the votes for several Gulen school boards in violation of open meeting statutes.  As in Ohio, the Mokapu STEM Interim Board is 100% Gulen.  In addition to Gumus, the members are Arizona residents Metin Yildirim M.Sc., and Mehmet Argin PhD, Superintendent of the Sonoran Science Academy.  Not mentioned in the Mokapu application, Yildirim is a board member of Paragon Science Academy, a Chandler, AZ Gulen school.  Also left out: Gumus formerly taught science at the Gulen-controlled Harmony Science Academy in Austin, TX…

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January, 2011 Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I read your article about the Gulenites trying to establish a charter school on the Marine base.  Your research was outstanding. I worked for Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School in Cleveland, Ohio as a Dean of Students for two years.  I was formerly an assistant principal who retired from the Cleveland Municipal School District.  I had no idea what I was getting into until I started searching the web.  I was non-renewed or terminated after two years.  I was 59 years old at the time and I and another Dean, Gloria Catalusci, filed EEOC complaints that finally  wound up as a lawsuit.   Gloria won a sex discrimination lawsuit which was settled out of court.  She was being paid much less than I for the same work being done…

I can personally vouch for discrimination on the part of the Gulenites running these schools.   They are not even citizens nor do they desire to be.   I wondered from the beginning why a group of Turkish people would even want to start schools here in Cleveland.   When I asked that question I was told that they were "building bridges".   I now understand what they were trying to do.

Best regards, 

Ron Gehrlein

Cleveland, Ohio

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