Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School

“Allentown School Board renews charter school despite concerns about operation, ties with church.” The Express-Times (PA), 3/23/2012

Despite concerns about its operations and close affiliation with a city church, the Allentown School Board has renewed a five-year agreement with the Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School.

But that renewal came with a warning from school board members that the school must be more transparent with the district and adhere to the existing charter, which board members say has not occurred in the last year.

"It's a partnership, and this partnership has to be 50-50, and it has to be trust 50-50, and we have to work together 50-50," board President Robert Smith Jr. said during a meeting Thursday.

"There have been issues that haven't worked out 50-50, and that's got to stop," Smith said of the 1414 East Cedar St. school.

Among the largest concerns are charter school's close affiliation with Lifechurch, an Allentown church at 1401 E. Cedar St., with whom Lincoln Leadership is seeking to buy or rent additional space.

Smith said there is concern that Lifechurch families are getting preferential treatment when it comes to choosing prospective students, even choosing non-Allentown residents from the church over city children seeking to apply.

That prompted board member David F. Zimmerman to cast the sole dissenting vote against the charter agreement Thursday.

"The ties with Lifechurch seem just a little too close," he said. "Lincoln Leadership Academy reminds me a little too much of a private school. My concern is if our funds are being diverted for students not really part of the Allentown School District."

Additionally, the charter school added two modular expansions to the building without consulting the Allentown School Board, and brought on additional students beyond its 320-student cap, Smith said...

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Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School

“Rejected 3 Times, School May Still Open Soon, and With a Grant, Too.” New York Times, 1/8/2012 

In the last couple of years, Sharon Akman, a real estate agent, applied to the state of New Jersey three times to open a new charter school in the Highland Park area, to be called Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School.

Each time, she was rejected.

Then on Oct. 6, one week after the state’s most recent rejection, the United States Education Department announced that it had approved a $600,000 grant to finance Ms. Akman’s proposed charter.

It would have taken federal officials just a few phone calls to determine that there were many good reasons for the state to have rejected Ms. Akman’s applications...

Ms. Akman, who declined to comment for this column, writes that the charter school would be located in St. Mary of Mount Virgin Church in New Brunswick, even though the bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, Paul G. Bootkoski, has repeatedly said that the building is not available.

Ms. Akman’s documents list community supporters of the school, including Jun Choi, a former mayor of Edison, and the directors of the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick, who have written in e-mails made public that they are not supporters.

The application says there is a need for a Hebrew charter in the Highland Park-Edison-New Brunswick area, even though there are many Jewish private schools close by and, as Ms. Akman has told state reviewers, no community survey has been done.

The application says that the families served by the New Brunswick schools, which are predominantly black and Hispanic, support the Hebrew charter, even though school leaders and the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter do not...

An applicant with a $600,000 pledge in her pocket may be seen in a new light by state officials...

What we do know is that in mid-October Ms. Akman made her fourth try, as 1 of 42 applicants statewide.

And in December, the state made its first cuts, leaving 17 applicants — including Tikun Olam.

Next week state officials are to announce which are approved. If Tikun Olam is successful, the school plans to open in September with 100 students.

Ms. Akman has repeatedly refused to talk to reporters...

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Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School

“News 2 Investigation uncovers lawsuits involving Kenilworth Charter School.” WBRZ (LA), 7/28/2011

BATON ROUGE- Two lawsuits single-out a charter school in Baton Rouge, and the company that runs it, for abuse and mistreatment.

Teachers allege discrimination, and at least one parent says her child was assaulted and treated unfairly.

Kenilworth Science and Technology is run by the Pelican Educational Foundation, which also runs Abramson Charter in New Orleans. Abramson was closed two weeks ago to investigate allegations of a similar nature. The state expanded its investigation less than a week later to include Pelican and Kenilworth.

At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, three teachers told a court they were wrongfully terminated from Kenilworth Charter School. They say they were discriminated against because of their gender and their religion and they were harassed until they were fired.

This month, a mother filed a lawsuit detailing, what she calls, neglect and mistreatment of her Kenilworth student. The neglect included one teacher ignoring the child's weak bladder condition, forcing her to urinate on herself, and sit in the urine until class was over.

The mistreatment involved the child being punished for hitting another student just to stop him from touching her inappropriately.

In both instances, and in several others like them, Dr. Shirl Gilbert, who was in charge of charter schools in the Baton Rouge area at the time, tried to help.

He said, "While I think there might be hints of discrimination with relation to some of the actions that Kenilworth administrators took, in every instance, they were able to point to some substantive performance inadequacy that they said was the reason."

Gilbert says after concerns were not addressed, by the school or managers at the charter group, and finding questionable religious practices on campus, exclusively for Turkish staff members, he went to then State Superintendent Paul Pastorek...

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“Probe opened at school; BR charter has link to troubled site.” The Advocate (LA) 7/21/11

State Department of Education officials said Wednesday night they will launch an investigation of Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School.

The Baton Rouge school is operated by the Pelican Educational Foundation.

The foundation also runs Abramson Science and Technology Charter School in New Orleans, which was closed last week amid allegations of sexual abuse and other problems.

The fact that both schools are run by Pelican means that operations at Kenilworth need to be reviewed, said Ollie Tyler, acting state superintendent of education...

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Read more about Abramson Science and Technology Charter School HERE.

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Northwest Charter School (attempt)

“Charter School Bid Draws Scrutiny; L.A. district officials are concerned that organizer's ties to Scientology could raise 1st Amendment questions.” Los Angeles Times, 7/24/1997

A proposed charter school in the east San Fernando Valley is receiving close scrutiny from Los Angeles Unified School District officials who are concerned about the organizer's ties to the Church of Scientology and are questioning whether church teachings would appear in the new public school.

Advocates of the Northwest Charter School acknowledge that they want to employ teaching methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but say his system emphasizes common-sense strategies appropriate for a public school setting and children of any religion.

After hearing of a possible Scientology link, however, school board President Julie Korenstein placed the charter school proposal on the agenda of the board's closed-door session for discussion Monday. She and other board members expressed concern that the Hubbard materials could violate the separation of church and state...

Scientology was founded by Hubbard in the early 1950s as a movement combining philosophy, modern psychoanalysis and Eastern religion into a system aimed at self-improvement. Criticized as a cult unforgiving of defectors and a front for a profit-driven business, the controversial movement received official status as a tax-exempt religion in 1993 from the Internal Revenue Service.

The author of the Northwest Charter School petition, Los Angeles school district special education teacher Linda Smith, insisted that the teaching approach she wants to employ--known as Applied Scholastics--is nonsectarian...[*]

"Scientology is a religion. This is Hubbard Study Technology. It has nothing to do with religion," said Smith in an interview at Applied Scholastics' central office in Hollywood, just down the street from the Church of Scientology's headquarters. "It's totally above board."

Applied Scholastics President Ian Lyons said the organization is an "independent, nonprofit corporation" separate from the church, with its own board of directors. However, he acknowledged that Bridge Publications, which prints Applied Scholastics materials, also produces literature for the Church of Scientology...

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About Applied Scholastics and Study Technology

Study Technology is a method for learning developed by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Applied Scholastics is an organization founded to promote the use of Hubbard's Study Technology. It provides training and services. In response to the NCLB requirement that districts offer Supplementary Educational Services to students, Applied Scholastics has been able to become an SES provider in a number of states. For example, read “Controversial church linked to tutors on state list.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/1/2009

• Wikipedia entry about “Applied Scholastics” @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Scholastics
• Official Applied Scholastics Web site: http://www.appliedscholastics.org/
• Critical analysis of Applied Scholastics:“Applied Scholastics Exposed” by Project Chanology Anonymous AND studytech.org @  http://studytech.org/

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Choice Scholarship Pilot Program

“Judge halts Dougco voucher pilot.” Education News Colorado, 08/13/2011

A Denver judge has granted a motion to halt the Douglas County voucher pilot pending further court action, a ruling that could send hundreds of students back to district schools.

In a 68-page ruling issued late Friday afternoon, District Court Judge Michael Martinez finds merit in six of eight legal challenges raised by attorneys representing a handful of Dougco parents and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union.

“This court is not prepared to mandate that Colorado taxpayers fund private religious education,” the judge wrote, noting the voucher plan “violates both financial and religious provisions” of the Colorado Constitution...

Some of the students already have started classes at their private schools and about $300,000 in voucher payments have gone out, Barber said. It was not immediately clear whether the judge’s ruling means the private schools will have to return those dollars.

If so, some private school leaders have lamented the impact on their schools. Terry Martin, academic director of Woodlands Academy, said she may have to lay off teachers. Kurt Unruh, head of Valor Christian School, said in an affidavit filed in court last week that as many as 40 students would not be able to attend without vouchers.

So Valor, which charges $13,950 in annual tuition, “stands to lose $558,000 in annual revenue, which would be a substantial financial hardship,” he said...

Douglas County school board members voted 7-0 on March 15 to launch the pilot, the first serious effort in Colorado to create a voucher plan since the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a 2003 effort by state lawmakers.

The state’s highest court did not address religion in its ruling, deciding the 2003 plan was unconstitutional because it stripped locally elected school boards of their constitutional control over instruction.

But Martinez tackles religion head-on in his decision, finding a clear violation of the constitutional prohibition against using public money “in aid of any church” or “for any sectarian purpose.” This provision is known as the Blaine amendment.

At least 16 of the 21 private schools participating in the voucher plan are religious and the pilot places no limits on the schools’ use of public money to support or promote religion.

“In fact, because of the interplay between the participating private school partners’ curriculum and religious teachings, any funding of the private schools, even for the purpose of providing education, would further the sectarian purpose of religious indoctrination,” the judge wrote...

Dougco’s voucher pilot has drawn national attention, in part because it involves an affluent district with high-performing schools. Most voucher programs nationally target students with special needs or those from low-income families...

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"Douglas County School District to create faux charter school.” 9News (CO), 7/13/11

CASTLE ROCK - There will be no classrooms full of students. There will be no staff of teachers. The sign outside indicates that the location is the school district headquarters. Yet, this will be the location of Douglas County's newest charter school.

"We had to find a way to do this," Randy Barber, media and events director for the Douglas County School District, said.

The district is trying to establish the first widespread school voucher system in Colorado history. Dubbed the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, 500 students have been selected to receive 75 percent of their per-pupil funding to pay for private school tuition. The remaining 25 percent will be kept by the district.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Taxpayers for Public Education have sued Douglas County. Out of the 19 private schools eligible to receive students, 14 of them are religious schools. The lawsuits allege diverting public money to religious schools is against Colorado law...

Barber says the charter school will be used as a mechanism to administer the voucher program...

The students in the Choice Scholarship Program will technically be enrolled in this charter school even though they will really be attending classes at the private school of their choice...

"They are setting up a sham charter school, which is a public school, and they are using this sham charter as a flow through of funds from the state to the private schools," Kleinkopf said.

Barber says the Choice Scholarship Program will not provide money directly to the private schools which, he says, makes their program different - and legal.

"If the money is given to a parent, and then they make the choice, that money can go to any private school including those that are religious," Barber said...

"We want to be a model for other school districts throughout the country, not just here in Colorado," Barber said...

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Shalom Academy Charter School

“Some Parents Hedging Bets On Englewood Charter: Complaints of lack of communication from founder as state deadline nears.” The NY Jewish Week, 7/5/11 

It’s a common trope: the lottery winner who discovers his or her fortune to be less of a than a blessing than it first appeared.

Now, some New Jersey parents whose children won spots in Shalom Academy Charter School’s admissions lotteries this winter and spring are wondering if they were so lucky after all.

With the first day of classes two months away, much about this brand-new Hebrew charter school in Englewood, which many Jewish parents had hoped would solve their tuition-related financial challenges, remains unclear — including whether it will actually open.

“If it does miraculously work out, it’s going to be chaotic the first year,” said one Teaneck mother who recently decided to turn in a contract to keep her child in a local yeshiva even though the child had one of the 160 spots at Shalom, which is tuition-free and open to children from Teaneck and Englewood.

The mother, who asked not to be named, added, “We were happy with the yeshiva anyway; it was just a matter of the money.”

The K-5 school’s founder, Raphael Bachrach, has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.

Growing numbers of parents, many of them Orthodox Jews who would otherwise have enrolled their children in yeshivas, are voicing concerns about whether the new Hebrew-immersion school will open — and if it will offer a quality educational program...

...many parents complained that their calls and e-mails to lead founder Bachrach have gone unreturned, that the location for the school has yet to be announced and that they have received only minimal information about the staff hired so far. There has also been no recent information provided about Hebrew Options in Public Education, a nonprofit (also run by Bachrach) that was to offer an optional after-school Judaic studies program.

“I wouldn’t send my dog to a kennel that I know this little about,” said one Englewood mother who decided to pull her children from the charter school and instead enroll them in a yeshiva.

Like most other parents interviewed, she asked not to be named, explaining that Bergen County’s Orthodox community is tight knit and she is reluctant to get ensnared into a public conflict...

According to one source, Bachrach has not even shared information with the six other founders listed on the charter application, saying he is reluctant to send e-mails for fear they could be subpoenaed in the EPSD’s lawsuit...

One father of children registered for Shalom Academy told The Jewish Week, “Charter schools are supposed to be more responsive, more transparent than public schools, but ... Shalom Academy is actually operating with less transparency and responsiveness than public schools. They don’t seem to understand they are operating a public institution.”...

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Harmony Public Schools, AKA Harmony Science Academy schools / Cosmos Foundation (40 schools)

“Texas Legislature To Launch Investigation Of Charter Schools.” CBS Dallas / Fort Worth 29 Jun 2011 

The Texas Legislature ordered an investigation on Tuesday of the largest charter school network in the state after news organizations reported potential ties to a Muslim organization and misuse of public funds.

These concerns about Houston based-Harmony Public Schools helped lead to the initial defeat of Senate Bill 1, which had to pass before the budget could be balanced, because of provisions that provided guarantees for charter school bonds.

“We were uncomfortable voting for that bill unless we were sure that those funds were being properly spent,” said Rep. Phil King (R – Weatherford). The bill allowed charter schools to achieve AAA bond ratings, which decreases the cost of insurance rates and issuance costs.

King said a caucus after the bill’s defeat brought out these concerns, and he suggested an investigation into the charter school network as a stipulation of passing the funding. This guarantee led to the passage of the bill on the second vote.

The concerns stemmed from a New York Times article published earlier this month [see below] that drew a connection between Harmony and Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish preacher of moderate Islam who has built up a worldwide network of followers.

The article also insinuated the school gave preference to Turkish-run companies when choosing building contractors and food suppliers when cheaper options were available, as well as hired international teachers, specifically from Turkey, who might not have been qualified.

“These are serious allegations,” King said. “As public officials, it is our duty to look into them.”...

Jennifer Sarver of Burson-Marsteller, the public relations firm representing Harmony, said the New York Times article that prompted this investigation was inaccurate and “full of bias.”...

When CBSDFW.com contacted [NY Times reporter Stephanie] Saul, she rejected charge of bias and said the story was “100 percent accurate.”

“I think that the report stands on its own,” Saul said. “The story lays out a number of details about their construction arrangements and if the reader takes away from it that they feel it’s improper, then that’s how the reader interprets the story.”...

Sarver denied any connections with the Gulen organization, and said the only interest in hiring contractors to build schools was the speed at which it could get done...

While Duckett echoed Sarver’s feelings that the article and the investigation were unfair, King said the Legislature’s decision did not reflect feelings of bias within the House or Senate.

“This investigation is absolutely not any type of witch hunt,” he said, “it’s just an effort to make sure public dollars are being used appropriately.”...

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“Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas.” New York Times 6 June 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 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...

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’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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

* Re Harmony's response to the article: http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-york-times-vs-harmony-public.html

For more information about the Gulen movement and Cosmos Foundation's schools, read these entries posted by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S.:

• Charter schools offer numerous business opportunities
• Does Harmony Science Academy have a connection to Fethullah Gulen? Two Turkish journalists weigh in. 
• Harmony Schools: Fact-Checking 
• Harmony Science Academy, Cosmos Foundation: Evidence of Affiliation with the Gulen Movement 
• How the Harmony schools serve the Gulen Movement
• Importing English teachers from Turkey
• ISWEEEP - Evidence of affiliation with the Gulen Movement (ISWEEEP is an annual "international" science fair in Houston Texas, sponsored and run by the Cosmos Foundation, and for students attending Gulen schools)
• Winning over Texas politicians

Added 1/10/2012: Harmony charter school network (TX)

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Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL EXPELS CHILDREN OF INQUISITIVE WOMAN. The Arizona Republic 13 Oct 2009

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/10/13/20091013expel1013.html

A Christian school in Glendale expelled the children of a parent who persistently asked questions about how the private school was spending its tuition money.

Lise Hopson had been asking Joy Christian School in Glendale why she paid tuition when a public charter school, Sequoia Choice, was providing the bulk of the private school's academic courses. Charter schools, like all publicly funded schools, are free…

The Republic published an article about the relationship between Joy Christian School and Sequoia Choice on Oct. 2. Before the article was published, state education officials sent copies of parent complaints and state records about the two schools to the state Attorney General's Office for review…

The day before Hopson was quoted in the Republic article, Hopson picked up her daughters as usual after school. The principal handed a letter to Hopson that stated both Hopson and her husband, James, were not "contributing to the harmonious attitude of the school."

In the letter, Kempf called Hopson's actions disruptive and damaging and said they "may have caused financial losses to the school, as well."

Kempf "terminated" the Hopson children's education at Joy Christian School as of 5 p.m. that day and gave the Hopsons a formal notice that as of 5:30 p.m. that day, they were barred from school and church property. The notice allowed the family to visit the "reasonable radius" of the gravesite of Joanne Wright, the children's grandmother, and access to a building leased by the charter school, as long as the Hopsons did not exit their vehicle or talk to anyone on campus.

Hopson's father, Don Wright, said last week that he had his wife's remains removed from a niche on the Joy property.

Wright said a letter he wrote to the pastor also may have led to the children's dismissal. Wright questioned Joy Christian School's relationship with a public charter school. In the letter, Wright said he "expected a refund" of $12,700 in tuition and threatened to take the issue to state officials…

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SCHOOLS UNDER SCRUTINY FOR FINANCING PRIVATE SCHOOL WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS. The Arizona Republic 02 Oct 2009 http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/02/20091002sto-joy1002.html

State officials are raising questions about an arrangement in which a private school in Glendale and a public charter-school operator have teamed up to help finance the private school with taxpayer dollars.

State records obtained by The Arizona Republic show that Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning, a charter-school firm, collected at least $1.9 million in state funds from 2005 through 2008 to teach courses to students of Joy Christian School.

During the same period, Joy was collecting tuition payments from the parents of the same students, many of whom used private-school tuition tax credits to help pay. Tuition ranges from $6,710 to $8,000 this year.

Last month, the partnership between Sequoia and Joy Christian, which is affiliated with Community Church of Joy, a megachurch along Loop 101, caught the attention of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne…

An official with the Attorney General's Office said the office will examine the legality of all aspects of the partnership.

A non-profit tuition organization that provides most of Joy's scholarship money said it will stop providing the tax-credit funds if Joy does not dramatically reduce the number of Sequoia-provided courses.

In 2008, Sequoia taught nearly 60 percent of Joy Christian's courses. Sequoia said that the arrangement started when it was asked to help the students and that Joy does not pay it to provide the classes…

The partnership is another indication of how the state's private-school tuition tax credit has been used in ways not originally intended.

The tax credit gives taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar reduction of their state income tax for donating to private-school tuition scholarship. The money is collected and distributed by non-profit school-tuition organizations.

A series of Republic stories has revealed that the tax-credit law, which is scarcely enforced, has given rise to creative ways to tap state funds. For example, some charter schools, which are privately owned but state-funded, obtained tax-credit money by designating the afternoon half of their all-day kindergarten as a private service…

The partnership between Joy Christian and Sequoia began in the 2004-05 school year when Sequoia began providing Joy a few courses that the private school couldn't afford, such as a high-end math course and a language course, said Ron Neil, manager of Sequoia…

By 2008-09, Neil said, Sequoia attorneys warned the charter school that religion had become too prominent in Sequoia's classrooms at Joy; classroom prayer and crosses displayed in class could raise issues related to separation of church and state, Neil said…

Last school year, state officials began receiving complaints from a few parents who didn't like that they were paying tuition at Joy Christian when most courses were provided by a public charter school.

"When I started to piece things together, what we were paying for really came down to music, PE, art and Bible class," said Joy Christian parent Lise Hopson, who has two children at the school. "It almost feels as if our kids are pretty much at a charter school, with a little bit of biblical emphasis."…

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Vanguard Charter School Academy

NEW CHARTER SCHOOL FACES CRITICISM OF ITS CURRICULUM. Business Courier (Cincinnati, OH) 21 July 2003

Cincinnati's newest charter school will be managed by a national for-profit company that has faced lawsuits for allowing religious instruction and denying services to special education students.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based National Heritage Academies will manage Alliance Academy in Evanston, which is renting the former St. Mark's Catholic School and will open in late August…

In 1998, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of parents who alleged that NHA was violating the separation of church and state at its Vanguard Charter Academy in Grand Rapids. The suit was dismissed in 2000 after the school put policies in place to prevent the types of actions alleged…

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ACLU OF MICHIGAN CHALLENGES CHARTER SCHOOL FOR CHURCH-STATE VIOLATIONS. ACLU news release 01 Apr 1999 

DETROIT -- Acting on behalf of five parents, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan today challenged a Kent County charter school for violating the First Amendment's protections of separation of church and state.

Vanguard Charter School Academy sanctioned prayer in the school, allowed the distribution of religious materials during class, allowed a nearby church to use its facilities rent-free to conduct worship, conducted a mandatory staff retreat with distinct religious overtones and taught creationism as an accepted scientific theory, according to the amended complaint filed today in United States District Court.

Vanguard Charter School Academy teaches children from kindergarten through seventh grade. Like all other charter schools in Michigan, Vanguard is a public school and must follow Michigan's code for public school academies. It is managed by National Heritage Academy, one of the largest management companies in Michigan.

The ACLU is suing on behalf of five parents of students at the school…

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Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy

This is an extensive article which is packed with information. Be sure to read the whole thing.

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CHARTER’SCONSERVATIVE BACKERS RAISE QUESTIONS. North Carolina Policy Watch 20 Apr 2011 

The Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, a public charter school in Rutherford County, is quick to promote the school’s high SAT test scores and international field trips to China, Europe and South America.

But not as widely advertised is the Western North Carolina public school’s connection to John Bryan, a retired Oregon business executive and significant funder of the conservative school choice movement.

Nor is the school’s annual diaper drive for a local anti-abortion religious group, an activity that an expert says violates the Constitutional separation of church and state.

Bryan’s $37 million family trust, the Challenge Foundation, contributes heavily and regularly to conservative causes like challenging global warming research and scaling back government in addition to lending its name to public schools like the Thomas Jefferson charter school.

He’s a national figure in libertarian circles when it comes to charter schools, and spoke last June about the push to expand charter schools at an annual retreat held by the billionaire Koch brothers, according to a copy of the retreat’s agenda obtained by the Center for American Progress…

Out-of-state organizations like Bryan’s Challenge Foundation stand to play bigger roles in North Carolina’s public education system with the state on the verge of lifting a 100-school cap on public charter schools. The contentious GOP-sponsored Senate Bill 8, which would give charters more access to education funding in addition to lifting the cap, is expected to land on Gov. Bev Perdue’s desk shortly. She’ll then have to decide if it will become law or be vetoed…

…If it passes, the state would allow up to 50 more charter schools to open each year and oversight of public charters would continue to be slim..

Some of the new slots will likely be filled by schools affiliated with philanthropist-backed groups like Bryan’s Team CFA (the charter school arm of the Challenge Foundation), for-profit companies like the National Heritage Academies (which already manage five charters in the state) and “virtual charters” similar to K12, Inc., a publicly-traded Virginia company paying a lobbyist this year to go to the N.C. General Assembly on its behalf…

The extent and influence of Bryan’s trust on the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy and the three other Challenge Foundation Academy charter schools in North Carolina isn’t clear, with only limited tax records available in the public record to examine the connections.

But two members of the Challenge Foundation, Bryan’s daughter Cheryl Reinstadler and the foundation’s national school director Joan Lange, sit on the board of Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, flying in for meetings and make decisions with the eight other members of the board about the school’s curriculum and management, as well as the $7.6 million in public funds the school runs on…

Faunce, the school board member who worked at the school as a dean of students in its first years, says the charter school and TeamCFA have no political agenda that makes its way into classrooms…

That may not be the case, however.

An NC Policy Watch investigation found that the school’s activities include only one political club — a Young Republican’s Club – that has a mission to “shape the future of Republican politics in North Carolina by recruiting, engaging, training and mobilizing a new generation of conservative leaders,” according to the school’s website.

More contentious is the school’s annual diaper drive for a Hands of Hope for Life, a pro-life ministry in nearby Forest City that provides services to low-income women with children under the age of three and “has a general concern for sharing the love of Jesus Christ through both actions and words” by providing information about prenatal development, abortion and abstinence education.

Joel Medley, the acting director of the N.C. State Board of Education’s charter school office, said that because charter schools are independent non-profits, separate from the state education agency, there’s nothing to prevent the public schools from taking part in activities like a diaper drive that benefits religious anti-abortion groups.

But others feel differently, including Barry Lynn, the executive director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State as well as an ordained minister with the Church of Christ.

“This is clearly an unconstitutional program,” Lynn said. “This charter school is connecting itself to a religious ministry.

“They can’t do things like that,” he said…

An often cited 2009 national study of standardized test results by Stanford University scholars, found that for every charter performing better than the traditional public schools in its area, there are two charters either at or below or the performance of their public school counterparts.

The study found things were slightly better in North Carolina where charter school students’ reading skills were higher overall than students in traditional schools, but that their math skills were significantly worse off than their peers in traditional schools. Black students in the state tested significantly below their peers in math, and there was no difference in reading, according to the Stanford report.

When it comes to racial makeup of charters, Duke professor Helen Ladd recently surveyed the state’s charter schools and found schools tended to be either primarily white or black. Out of the 99 charter schools in North Carolina, 37 had populations comprised of more than 80 percent white students while 26 schools have populations that are less than 20 percent white, she said.

The state Department of Public Instruction doesn’t keep track of the household income levels of charter school students, something it does track for traditional public students…

Giving rise to tension in the larger community about charters was a lawsuit filed in 2009 by Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy against the Rutherford County School System seeking more funding the charter schools says it’s entitled to. An appeals court is expected to weigh in soon on the suit, in a decision that charters across the state are watching to increase the funds they get from public school system…

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Life Force Arts and Technology Academy

(Note: Information about Scientology is at the end of this series of excerpts)

"Life Force teachers, principal struggle to figure out charter school's finances." Tampa Bay Times (FL), 4/6/2012 

DUNEDIN — After the Life Force Arts and Technology Academy's embattled director of operations said she was leaving for a new job, principal Lenor Johnson discovered a problem: Passwords to the charter school's bank accounts had been changed and she couldn't access them.

Johnson had asked Vikki Williams, the outgoing operations director, for help learning the books. But when they sat down together, Williams couldn't explain why the accounts and the school's QuickBooks accounting software suddenly couldn't be accessed.

"Huh. Someone changed the password," Johnson recalled Williams saying. "At that point, I knew it was a game."...

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“Parents, teachers blast management of Life Force Arts and Technology Academy.” Tampa Bay Times (FL), 3/25/2012

DUNEDIN — Parents and teachers at the Life Force Arts and Technology Academy shouted down charter school leaders on Saturday for deceit and mismanagement they say has led to the school's demise.

A dozen parents and faculty members, including the principal, slammed the school's former management company at a meeting of the board of directors. They alleged questionable spending, suspect leadership and the sly introduction of Scientology study methods...

But the school that Art of Management leader Hanan Islam pledged she would rescue from bankruptcy remains troubled and deeply in debt. Parents worry the school's dramatic last days and their children's sudden move could cause their education to suffer.

Steve Hayes, a longtime Scientology attorney representing the school's board, told the group the school's Chapter 11 bankruptcy is set to end early next month. Without that protection, creditors could aggressively seek repayment of $400,000 in debt...

Teachers and volunteers said their devotion to the children trumped their desire for pay. Board chairman Louis Muhammad and members Annie Tyrell and Fatima Talbird voted unanimously to keep the school open.

Class will stay in session without Islam, the executive director of the Scientology-tied World Literacy Crusade, who ended her management of Life Force this month.

Perhaps the strongest criticism of Islam's management came in a letter from principal Lenor Johnson, who wrote that decisions by school leaders "were made solely for the personal gain of outside interests."

Islam demanded hundreds of books on "study technology," a methodology devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, be purchased from the Church of Scientology at the school's expense, Johnson wrote. A rewrite of the school's charter led by Islam cost $18,000, and failed. Her company hired unqualified employees, implemented unapproved techniques in the classroom, held secret meetings with teachers and pressured faculty to write letters supporting her company's management.

"The education of our young children (was) compromised for personal gain, greed and the need to control others," Johnson wrote. "The re-opening of our school was nothing more than a business venture."

Teachers also slammed Muhammad, a Nation of Islam minister, alleging he served as a mouthpiece of Hanan Islam. Muhammad said he was hired by Islam in July as a "public relations consultant" but fired in October after he pushed a boy on the school bus. The boy was uninjured, and Muhammad said it was a light shove to bring the unruly boy in line. Hanan Islam appointed him to be board chairman in January...

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“Controversy over Scientology influence clouds future of Pinellas charter school.” Tampa Bay Times (FL), 2/26/2012

DUNEDIN — One Friday afternoon in December, leaders of a tax-funded elementary school called Life Force Arts and Technology Academy shepherded students into a Scientology church in Tampa's Ybor Square.

The children were fed candy and pizza, given Scientology books and DVDs, and shown a performance of a play written by Scientology's late founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Some posed for photos with Santa Claus in front of a silver Scientology cross.

It was, as Life Force leaders had promised, a Christmas party, the school's first since a small Clearwater company called Art of Management had been hired to reorganize the school as it filed for bankruptcy.

Though company president Hanan Islam was also executive director of the World Literacy Crusade, a California organization that promotes Scientology study methods, she had reassured parents then that her group would "not push any religion" at the school.

But as Life Force parents stood in one of Scientology's newest churches, dedicated last year by Scientology's worldwide leader, David Miscavige, some felt their trust had been betrayed.

Some parents and former teachers at Life Force, which receives about $800,000 a year in public funding, say the Pinellas County charter school has become a Scientology recruiting post targeting children.

Opened to serve a low-income Clearwater neighborhood and advertising classes in computers and modern dance, Life Force had begun pushing Hubbard's "study technology," which critics call a Trojan horse Scientology uses to infiltrate public classrooms.

And while Life Force students and teachers worked in poorly stocked classrooms and teachers went unpaid, the bankrupt school funneled tens of thousands of dollars more to Islam's business interests than she told the bankruptcy court she would charge...

[Be sure to read this entire piece of investigative journalism by Drew Harwell]

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“Pinellas charter school reaches out to Scientology for help.” St. Petersburg Times (FL), 7/30/2011

CLEARWATER — Looking for a savior, a North Pinellas charter school that has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy has asked for help from the director of a group affiliated with Scientology.

Life Force Arts and Technology Academy, which caters to low-income children from Clearwater's North Greenwood neighborhood, filed paperwork in federal court July 25 showing it is $250,000 in debt...

To help the school recover, [Maurice Mickens, the school's former chairman and a current board member] turned to Hanan Islam, executive director of the World Literacy Crusade. The group promotes the use of study techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the late founder of the Church of Scientology.[*]

Islam is from Los Angeles, though she has been staying in Clearwater for about eight months, and is an owner of a local company called Art of Management Inc., described on a website as specializing in management services for speakers, artists and authors.[**]

Islam said Mickens approached her earlier because the school needed help. She said she immediately saw what the problems were and gave Mickens a written report. She said he didn't follow her advice.

Now, she said, "We are coming to reorganize it and save the school. We want to make sure the church is taken care of and staff are paid. The priority is rent, staff and taxes. Our only job is to help save it, turn it around. There are no intentions of taking over the school.

"This is what we do," Islam said. "We set up programs in churches and schools all over the world."

Mickens makes no apologies for reaching out to Islam's group and to Scientology...

Mickens said he is not a Scientologist, but a Baptist church deacon. Scientology can provide "some techniques and stuff for reading that has worked very well," he said...

In April, Life Force Arts and Technology Academy fired its principal, Martie Woodie, after she was arrested in Manatee County on a charge of exploitation of the elderly. Authorities said Woodie stole at least $16,000 from a trust designated to pay her 77-year-old adoptive mother's health care expenses, using the money to, among other things, take a cruise.

That same month, Pinellas County school officials sent a stern letter to the head of the school's governing board because the school's financial reports showed its expenses had exceeded budget for three months...

Life Force Arts and Technology Academy opened with the intent of mixing ballet, hip-hop, modern dance, singing, theater and computers with a traditional educational curriculum. The school serves kindergarten through fourth-graders.

The school was founded by Jai Hinson, who in 1991 founded the Life Force Cultural Arts Academy, which has its origins in the Dundu Dole Urban African Ballet.

Hinson said about a year and half ago, she separated from the school and no longer has ties to it. Though they still share a similar name, she said her cultural arts academy has nothing to do with the charter school.

"I was very disappointed," Hinson said of the school's decline. "My 20-year legacy of work, and this was an offshoot. The management was not good. All I can say is that I'm very disappointed."

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“Clearwater Charter School is Told It Must Fix Its Finances or Close.” St. Petersburg Times (FL), 4/29/2011

Pinellas County school officials issued an ultimatum Thursday to the operators of the Life Force Arts and Technology Academy charter school: fix your finances or shut down…

The letter came after the firing of principal Martie Woodie this week by the school's governing board. The board learned that she had been arrested in Manatee County on a charge of exploitation of the elderly. Authorities say Woodie stole at least $16,000 from a trust designated to pay her 77-year-old adoptive mother's health care expenses, using the money to, among other things, rent a car and take a cruise.

Life Force board chairman Maurice Mickens said Woodie's arrest was a surprise but that board members had been concerned about her management of the school…

Pinellas school district assistant superintendent Kevin Smith said the district has been watching a steady decline in Life Force's financial health for several months. The school's financial reports show that its expenses have exceeded budgeted amounts for three months…

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MORE ABOUT SCIENTOLOGY

* Mickens has had previous connections with Scientology. Excerpt from “Harlem Nights Jazz.” Tampa Bay Magazine, Nov/Dec 2009

“The chairman, Maurice Mickens, and his co-chair Pat Harney, the public affairs director of the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, planned the evening.”

** The Art of Management is a promotional tool for Alfreddie Johnson, the founder of World Literacy Crusade (see below). More about Hanan Islam.

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Scientology’s education wing and involvement in public education:

A. Study Technology (“Study Tech”) is a method for learning developed by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Applied Scholastics is an organization founded to promote the use of Study Technology. It provides training and services. In response to the NCLB requirement that districts offer Supplementary Educational Services to students, Applied Scholastics was able to become an SES provider in a number of states. For example, read “Controversial church linked to tutors on state list.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/1/2009

• Wikipedia entry about “Applied Scholastics” @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Scholastics
• Official Applied Scholastics Web site: http://www.appliedscholastics.org/
• Critical analysis of Applied Scholastics:“Applied Scholastics Exposed” by Project Chanology Anonymous AND studytech.org @  http://studytech.org/

B. World Literacy Crusade is an organization founded by Scientologist Baptist minister Rev. Alfreddie Johnson. It uses Study Technology as its literacy program.

From the Wikipedia entry about World Literacy Crusade: 

“WLC has been criticized for being a deceptive marketing tool intended to get Scientology programs into schools without disclosing its close ties with the Church of Scientology.”

C. Connections between Scientology and the Nation of Islam: “Black Supremacist Nation of Islam Pushes White-Dominated Scientology.” Southern Poverty Law Center Hatewatch, 6/7/2011. Excerpt:

Two of America’s better known UFO-friendly religions, Scientology and the black nationalist Nation of Islam (NOI), now have more in common than unusual theologies involving intergalactic spaceships. For about a year, NOI leader Louis Farrakhan has been telling his followers to embrace Scientology in order to move closer to perfection in preparation for the end times.

According to a May 31 article in Final Call, NOI’s newspaper, nearly 700 NOI members have become Certified Hubbard Dianetics Auditors, and more will soon be trained in Church of Scientology (COS) techniques “to prepare better servants and saviours of the people by helping to clear up their minds and lives.” COS “auditors” supposedly help people ascend to higher levels of consciousness.

Although both the Nation of Islam and Scientology embrace extraterrestrial theories as well as self-improvement programs aimed at lifting members to higher and higher levels, they nevertheless make for extremely surprising partners. NOI is a racist hate group that holds that white people are intrinsically, biologically evil — “blue-eyed devils,” in the group’s parlance. Scientology’s followers, who include several well-known celebrities and other wealthy people, are overwhelmingly white (although membership is open to all) and its founder reportedly was a racist who long defended South African apartheid...

Though Farrakhan has only recently started talking about it publicly and with such great enthusiasm, NOI and the COS have worked together for years. According to Marty Rathbun, once a high-ranking official within COS and now a well-known “independent Scientologist” who has been chronicling the NOI-COS entente on his blog, Farrakhan was introduced to Scientology in the late 1990s by the late Isaac Hayes. Hayes was the international spokesman for the World Literacy Crusade, a Scientology-backed literacy program developed in the early 1990s by Alfreddie Johnson, a Compton-based Baptist minister. By the middle of the 2000s, NOI was training members in the methods used by both the World Literacy Crusade and Scientology’s drug addiction treatment program, Narconon. In 2006, Farrakhan was among four black clerics honored at COS’s “Ebony Awakening” awards...

Read the whole piece HERE.

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