Magnolia Science Academy is without a doubt a Gulen Managed charter school
The Gulen Movement is fantastic at advertising, PR, and bestwowing fake honors on their students, politicians, local media and academia. The Parents4Magnolia blog is NOT American parents it is members of the Gulen Movement in damage control mode. Magnolia Science Academy, Pacific Technology School and Bay Area Technology is the name of their California schools. They are under several Gulen NGOs: Pacifica Institute, Willow Education, Magnolia Educaiton Foundation, Accord Institute, Bay Area Cultural Connection. Hizmet aka Gulen Movement will shamelessly act like satisifed American parents or students. They will lie, cajole, manipulate, bribe, blackmail, threaten, intimidate to get their way which is to expand the Gulen charter schools. If this doesn't work they play victim and cry "islamophobia". Beware of the Gulen propagandists and Gulen owned media outlets. DISCLAIMER: if you find some videos are disabled this is the work of the Gulen censorship which has filed fake copyright infringement complaints to Utube
Whats the matter Suleyman, is the money drying up? Perhaps if you were really spending the $4,000 per student (yr) you get in educational tax monies on ACTUAL educational expenses you could make do on this budget. Here are some suggestions for your money crisis: 1) Stop spending money on your Turkish Clubs and Turkish "character classes. 2) Do not rent buses to transport the kids over to the Gulen sponsored Anatolia Festival in Irvine, this was very expensive but in order to save face with your many Gulen NGOs like Pacifica Institute, Accord Institute you must put on the "dog and pony" show with American children. 3) Cease the countless hours teaching American children Turkish language, Turkish singing, Turkish Dancing, Turkish poetry and the endless Turkish cooking classes for the parents. You try way too hard to get Turkishness into their senses (taste, hearing, smell, see, touch, etc,) 4) The expensive purchase of Kerry Mazzoni as your lobbyist in California is irresponsible way to spend money. 5) You can cut out the trips to Turkey for the students, we know you are assisting the low income children with their trip to participate in the Turkish Olympiad in Istanbul for President Gul and other dignataries from Turkey. Along with children from over 100 countries that attend Gulen schools, some knowingly some not. 6) Stop the participation in the Turkish Olympaid and the rental of the expensive Turkish costumes. American children are not trained monkeys for your agenda. 7) Looking at your 990 Tax returns at http://www.guidestar.com/ under MERF fdba Dialog Foundation, Willow Education, Accord Instutite, Pacifica Insitute and your other gaggle of NGOs you can cut back on the $200K for public relations, marketing, and advertisements. There is also a suspicious entry of "consultation fees", etc., 8) Stop putting on shows, contests and speaking engagements at the school to sell yourself, it is expensive and isn't fooling anyone even Sheriff Baca who you invited to tour the schools and had your "camera" ready to snap it up. 9) Think about getting a personal loan from your fellow Hizmet members that put up the original $100K to get the schools started. Or perhaps the other Hizmet member that loaned failing Beehive Science Academy money or perhaps the Gulen dudes that loaned Lotus School of Excellence in Colorado Money. 10) Lastly go to Baba Gulen for a loan, we hear he is worth $25 - 40 billion, surely he can afford to throw you a paltry $1 million or so, a mere drop in the bucket to him. What is that you say? Oh, "you have never met Gulen? Then why do you blindly follow a 5th grade educated leader that has never met you?.
edited from the Magnolia Schools website
Dear Magnolia Schools Family,
Despite Magnolia Schools’ effort to provide quality education for all students, the unfortunate budget crisis makes it difficult to fully support all of our programs.
As of yet, we have not been forced to cut any programs, but without additional support from readers like you, we may have to decrease the number of fun activities like those described above.
Therefore, it is very important for each parent to support Magnolia Schools in whatever way possible during this period of financial stress. Please
keep in mind that even a small donation from each parent can help us retain
these great activities for our students.
It is up to us to take control of our destiny so that we can make an impact on every child at Magnolia Schools. Magnolia will keep working hard to enhance
the current academic success, and our teachers will always continue to educate, challenge, and support your children.
Posted: 8:12 pm EDT March 21, 2011Updated: 9:15 am EDT March 22, 2011
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Recently released reports have linked a charter school in Centre County to a controversial network with Turkish links that has gained the attention of federal authorities.
A report published by the Philadelphia Inquirer linked the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania in State College to a network of more than 120 charter schools in the U.S. connected to Turkish preacher and Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen is living in self-imposed exile in a remote section of the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
Several reports claim that followers of Gulen have opened the network of charter schools across the U.S., and that federal authorities are investigating claims that school workers are donating portions of their salaries to a Muslim movement founded by Gulen.
Former Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Parent Group President Ruth Hocker told WJAC-TV that she started filing freedom of information requests when local teachers were replaced by Turkish teachers and school administrators wouldn't explain the changes or verify teacher certification.
"We liked that they were multicultural, but any group that is favoring certain people over other people; favoring less-qualified people based on their race, that's when it's of concern," said Hocker.
Hocker said four of her children attended Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania; one graduated elementary school and three were eventually pulled from the classroom.
"We would say, 'Why are you hiring teachers who aren't certified?' and they would respond with, 'We can't find anyone local and certified who is qualified.' We would respond with, 'Penn State is right around the corner,; how can you not find someone certified and qualified in this town.' It doesn't even make sense," said Hocker. "We weren't concerned about their safety, but we certainly are concerned about the secrecy and where the money is being spent."
State College Area School District officials said that the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania charter was renewed last July.
Calls requesting comment to the FBI, Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania have not yet been returned.
Copyright 2011 by WJACTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attentionBy Martha Woodall and Claudio Gatti
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER FOR THE INQUIRER
Fethullah Gulen is a major Islamic political figure in Turkey, but he lives in self-imposed exile in a Poconos enclave and gained his green card by convincing a federal judge in Philadelphia that he was an influential educational figure in the United States.
As evidence, his lawyer pointed to the charter schools, now more than 120 in 25 states, that his followers - Turkish scientists, engineers, and businessmen - have opened, including Truebright Science Academy in North Philadelphia and another charter in State College, Pa.
The schools are funded with millions of taxpayer dollars. Truebright alone receives more than $3 million from the Philadelphia School District for its 348 pupils. Tansu Cidav, the acting chief executive officer, described it as a regular public school.
"Charter schools are public schools," he said. "We follow the state curriculum."
But federal agencies - including the FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education - are investigating whether some charter school employees are kicking back part of their salaries to a Muslim movement founded by Gulen known as Hizmet, or Service, according to knowledgeable sources.
Unlike in Turkey, where Gulen's followers have been accused of pushing for an authoritarian Islamic state, there is no indication the American charter network has a religious agenda in the classroom.
Religious scholars consider the Gulen strain of Islam moderate, and the investigation has no link to terrorism. Rather, it is focused on whether hundreds of Turkish teachers, administrators, and other staffers employed under the H1B visa program are misusing taxpayer money.
Federal officials declined to comment on the nationwide inquiry, which is being coordinated by prosecutors in Pennsylvania's Middle District in Scranton. A former leader of the parents' group at the State College school confirmed that federal authorities had interviewed her.
Bekir Aksoy, who acts as Gulen's spokesman, said Friday that he knew nothing about charter schools or an investigation.
Aksoy, president of the Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pa., where Gulen lives, said Gulen, who is in his early 70s, "has no connection with any of the schools," although he might have inspired the people who founded them.
Another aim of the Gulen schools, a federal official said, is fostering goodwill toward Turkey, which is led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the pro-Islamic prime minister, whose government recently detained journalists after they alleged that Gulen followers were infiltrating security agencies.
Gulen schools are among the nation's largest users of the H1B visas. In 2009, the schools received government approvals for 684 visas - more than Google Inc. (440) but fewer than a technology powerhouse such as Intel Corp. (1,203).
The visas are used to attract foreign workers with math, science, and technology skills to jobs for which there are shortages of qualified American workers. Officials at some of the charter schools, which specialize in math and science, have said they needed to fill teaching spots with Turks, according to parents and former staffers.
Ruth Hocker, former president of the parents' group at the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School in State College, began asking questions when popular, certified American teachers were replaced by uncertified Turkish men who often spoke limited English and were paid higher salaries. Most were placed in math and science classes.
"They would tell us they couldn't find qualified American teachers," Hocker said.
That made no sense in Pennsylvania State University's hometown, she said: "They graduate here every year."
Other school parents described how uncertified teachers on H1B visas were moved from one charter school to another when their "emergency" teaching credentials expired and told of a pattern of sudden turnovers of Turkish business managers, administrators, and board members.
The charter school application that Truebright filed with the Philadelphia School District in 2005 mentioned that its founders helped start similar schools in Ohio, California, and Paterson, N.J.
Shana Kemp, a School District spokeswoman, said that the district had just learned Riza Ulker, Truebright's permanent CEO, was on extended sick leave and that it would look into that. She said district officials knew nothing about a federal investigation of these charter schools.
Further evidence of the ties comes from a disaffected former teacher from Turkey who told federal investigators that the Gulen Movement had divided the United States into five regions, according to knowledgeable sources. A general manager in each coordinates the activities of the schools and related foundations and cultural centers, he told authorities.
Ohio, California, and Texas have the largest numbers of Gulen-related schools. Ohio has 19, which are operated by Concept Schools Inc., and most are known as Horizon Science Academies. There are 14 in California operated by the Magnolia Foundation. Texas has 33 known as Harmony schools, run by the Cosmos Foundation.
In their investigation, federal authorities have obtained copies of several e-mails that indicate the charter schools are tied to Hizmet and may be controlled by it:
One activist sent an e-mail Aug. 30, 2007, to administrators at four schools and the president of Concept Schools in which he mentioned "Hizmet business" and several problems that needed to be addressed so that "Hizmet will not suffer."
And the disaffected teacher who described the five regions gave authorities a document called a tuzuk, which resembles a contract and prescribes how much money Turkish teachers are supposed to return to Hizmet.
State auditors in Ohio found that a number of schools had "illegally expended" public funding to pay legal, immigration, and air-travel fees for nonemployees and retained teachers who lacked proper licenses. Audited records from the Horizon Science Academy in Cincinnati in May 2009 also say that "for the period of time under audit, 47 percent (nine of 19) of the school's teachers were not properly licensed."
The same records show that the founder of Horizon Cincinnati was listed as the CEO of the school's management firm and as president of the school's property owner.
The American charter schools were a central part of Gulen's argument that won him a green card after the Department of Homeland Security ruled that he did not meet the qualifications of an "alien of extraordinary ability" to receive a special visa.
In a lawsuit Gulen filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in 2007 challenging the denial, his attorneys wrote: "In his position as the founder and head of the Gulen Movement, Mr. Gulen has overseen the establishment of a conglomeration of schools throughout the world, in Europe, Central Asia, and the United States."
His attorneys also referred to a letter of support from a theology professor in Illinois who described Gulen as "a leader of award-winning schools for underserved children around the world, including many schools in the major cities in America."
On July 16, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell ruled that Gulen met the requirements for a green card.
Hocker, the State College parent, said the current CEO had assured her the school had no ties to Gulen.
Rather, he told her that Gulen had inspired him to go into education and that Turkey "wanted to be known for teaching, the way you would think of India" for information technology, Hocker said.
But she noted that when the school's founding CEO disappeared, his successor arrived from the Buffalo Academy of Science, another Gulen school. The dean of academics came from a related school in New Jersey. Ulker, Truebright's, CEO, was one of the school's founders and is a board member.
"If you start looking at their names, you can connect them back to all the other charter schools and Gulen groups," Hocker said.
She later withdrew her three children over concerns about secrecy and finances.
A sister school - Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania - is scheduled to open outside Pittsburgh in the fall.
(Young Scholars in State College and Western Pennsylvania are not connected to the Young Scholars Charter School in North Philadelphia.)
Truebright, at 926 W. Sedgley Ave., opened in 2007, enrolls seventh through 12th graders, and is about to hold its first graduation. Ninety percent of its students are African American. The school has met the academic standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Law the last two years.
Cidav, the acting CEO, came from the Harmony Science Academy in Austin, Texas. He said he could not comment on behalf of the school. He referred all questions to Ulker, who Cidav said had gone back to Turkey for a family emergency after Christmas and was not expected back until July. Board Chairman Baki Acikel did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
Before Ulker's abrupt departure, he was involved in failed attempts to open charters in Camden and Allentown.
He also applied for Truebright to become one of the charter operators selected to take over failing Philadelphia schools as part of Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman's Imagine 2014 initiative. In late December, Truebright was one of 10 organizations the district deemed "not qualified" for further consideration.
________________________________________
Claudio Gatti is the New York-based correspondent of Il Sole 24 Ore, the leading daily financial newspaper in Italy.
Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or martha.woodall@phillynews.com.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001722
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND NEA/I
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2019
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: GULEN - TURKEY'S INVISIBLE MAN CASTS LONG SHADOW
REF: A. ANKARA 1029
¶B. ANKARA 834
Classified By: Ambassador James Jeffrey, for reasons 1.4(b),(d)
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Fethullah Gulen remains a political
phenomenon in Turkey. Although "exiled" in Pennsylvania for
the past decade, Gulen's impact continues to expand, aided by
legions of loyalist supporters and a network of elite
schools. The Gulen Movement's purported goals focus on
interfaith dialogue and tolerance, but in the current
AKP-secularists schism, many Turks believe Gulen has a deeper
and possibly insidious political agenda, and even some
Islamist groups criticize Gulen's lack of transparency, which
they say creates doubts about his motives. END SUMMARY.
¶2. (SBU) Gulen was born between 1938-1942 (varying dates have
been given), and initially served as an imam and as an
employee of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs
(Diyanet). He established his own movement in the 1970s
based on the teachings of Said Nursi, an Islamic thinker of
Kurdish origin, whose followers are called Nurcus. Gulen
then broke away from the Nursi framework. Gulen's own
philosophy emphasizes the role of science in Islam. He
supports interfaith dialogue and condemns terrorism. In the
past two decades, Gulen has focused primarily on education,
not only in Turkey but around the world. His schools have
earned a reputation particularly in Central and South Asia
for academic excellence and the advocacy of moderate Islamic
views.
Indicted, Then Acquitted
------------------------
¶3. (SBU) Gulen has been living in the U.S. since 1999 when he
went there ostensibly for health treatments (a heart
condition and diabetes). At the same time, however, he faced
charges in Turkey of plotting to overthrow the state. The
charges were based on a 1986 sermon where Gulen is heard
declaring that "our friends, who have positions in
legislative and administrative bodies, should learn its
details and be vigilant all the time so they can transform it
and be more fruitful on behalf of Islam in order to carry out
a nationwide restoration." This indictment gave his travel
to the U.S. the appearance of his being a fugitive from the
Turkish judicial system. A Turkish Court acquitted him of
all charges in 2006. That acquittal was appealed but the
acquittal was upheld in 2008.
¶4. (SBU) In the meantime, Gulen had applied for Permanent
Residence status in the U.S. Immigration officials initially
rejected Gulen's application to be classified as "an alien of
extraordinary ability," but a Federal Court ruled in late
2008 that this rejection had been improper. Gulen now holds
a Green Card, and lives in a secluded compound in
Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.
¶5. (SBU) The core of the Fethullah Gulen Movement is his
network of schools, which extend from South Africa to the
United States. The schools emphasize high academic
achievement, and they openly recruit and provide scholarships
to the brightest students from poor and working class
families. Gulenist schools in Turkey routinely produce
graduates who score in the upper one percent of the annual
university entrance exam. These top graduates often become
teachers themselves. The Gulenist doctrine, with its
conservative and religiously observant undercurrent, has met
fierce hostility in regimes such as Russia, which expelled
the Gulenists en masse in the 1990s.
¶6. (C) But it is within Turkey that the movement has its
roots, its largest following, and its greatest controversies.
The Gulen Movement includes not only educational
institutions, including the famous Samanyolu ("Milky Way")
school in Ankara and Fatih University, but also the
ANKARA 00001722 002 OF 003
Journalists and Writers Foundation, various businesses, and
media outlets such as "Zaman," "Today's Zaman" (English
language), "Samanyolu TV," and "Aksiyon Weekly." Gulenists
also reportedly dominate the Turkish National Police, where
they serve as the vangard for the Ergenekon investigation --
an extensive probe into an alleged vast underground network
that is accused of attempting to encourage a military coup in
¶2004. The investigation has swept up many secular opponents
of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), including
Turkish military figures, which has prompted accusations that
the Gulenists have as their ultimate goal the undermining of
all institutions which disapprove of Turkey becoming more
visibly Islamist. (COMMENT: The assertion that the TNP is
controlled by Gulenists is impossible to confirm but we have
found no one who disputes it, and we have heard accounts that
TNP applicants who stay at Gulenist pensions are provided the
answers in advance to the TNP entrance exam. END COMMENT)
Championing the Ergenekon Probe
-------------------------------
¶7. (C) Gulenist newspapers such as "Zaman" relentlessly
question the validity of the Ataturk legacy and argue that as
an EU aspirant country, Turkey must ensure the diminished
voice of the Turkish military in political issues. These
papers champion the Ergenekon investigation and continually
stress that the traditional dominance of the Turkish military
has been a negative factor in Turkey's history. Not
surprisingly, contacts close to the the Turkish General Staff
openly loathe Gulen, and contend that he and his legions of
supporters are embarked on a ruthless quest not only to
undermine the Turkish military but to transform Turkey into
an Islamic republic similar to Iran.
¶8. (C) Even among some Islamist organizations, the Fethullah
Gulen Movement seems to have a murky reputation. The former
head of the City Women's Platform, Hidayet Tuksal, told us
that her group regards Gulen positively, because he
disapproves of the use of violence, but that Gulen's lack of
transparency creates doubt about his motives and leads to
suspicions about what lies ahead -- even within the
communities where Gulen is most active. Gulen's purported
main goal is to bolster interfaith dialogue and tolerance,
but the notion is widespread among many circles in Turkey
that his agenda is deeper and more insidious.
¶9. (C) The Gulen movement has been described as a modernized
version of Sunni Hanafi Islam. It shares this orientation
with "Milli Gorus," the grouping associated with former PM
Necmettin Erbakan, but the two movements are otherwise
distinct: "Milli Gorus" is Turkey-centric; the Gulen Movement
has a broader scope and is more comfortable with the concept
of justifying the means for the end, such as discarding the
headscarf when necessary. Still, there is some convergence:
many of the founders of AKP came from "Milli Gorus," but many
officials within AKP are known to be close to the Gulen
movement.
¶10. (C) Most discussions in Turkey which touch on Gulen tend
to be somewhat delicate and deliberately artful. Our
interlocutors often seem reluctant to express their views,
seemingly uncertain if it will rebound on them to their
detriment. In addition, the political context for
conversations about Gulen is complicated because President
Gul is himself seen by almost all of our contacts as a
Gulenist, while Prime Minister Erdogan is not. Indeed, some
of our contacts have argued that Erdogan is so firmly outside
the Gulen camp that Gulen loyalists view him as a liability.
At the same time, the Republican People's Party and other AKP
opponents of the ruling Justice and Development Party are
quick to accuse the U.S. of working covertly to prop up
Gulen, allegedly to weaken Turkey's secular foundation to
produce a "model" moderate Islamic nation. This accusation
relies on the premise that Gulen was given refuge in the
U.S., and ultimately permanent resident status, despite
ANKARA 00001722 003 OF 003
facing indictment in Turkey for illegal anti-secularist
activities.
¶11. (C) Gulen has his share of non-Islamic supporters, which
includes the Eucumenical Patriarch in Istanbul. In a recent
conversation with the Ambassador, the Patriarch reported that
he had visited Gulen during his last trip to the United
States and had spent more than an hour together in a
one-on-one discussion. He planned to see Gulen again on his
recent visit to New York. The Patriarch told the Ambassador
he had been "very impressed" with Gulen and commented on the
quality of Gulen schools, including a Gulenist University in
Kazakhstan named for Suleyman Demirel.
Comment
-------
¶12. (C) Given the current AKP-secularist schism in Turkey
today, it should not be surprising that any Islamist movement
in Turkey would choose to be circumspect about its
intentions. Unfortunately, this simply feeds the reflexive
tendency in Turkish society for conspiracy theories, and
magnifies suspicions about the Gulen movement itself. While
the purported Gulen goals of interfaith dialogue and
tolerance are beyond reproach, we see aspects of concern in
the allegations that the USG is somehow behind the Gulen
movement. Accordingly, we would recommend the following
standard press guidance:
Q:
Why is the U.S. sheltering Fethullah Gulen and doesn't this
mean that the US is promoting a non-secular Turkey?
A:
-- The U.S. is not "sheltering" Mr. Gulen and his presence in
the U.S. is not based on any political decision.
-- Mr. Gulen applied for, and received, permanent residence
in the U.S. after a lengthy process which ended in 2008 when
a Federal Court ruled that he deserved to be viewed as an
"alien of extraordinary ability" based on his extensive
writings and his leadership of a worldwide religious
organization.
-- As a Green Card holder, Mr. Gulen is entitled to all the
privileges which that status entails. His presence in the
U.S. should not be viewed as a reflection of US policy toward
Turkey.
JEFFREY
HEADER
VZCZCXRO7572
OO RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHFL RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHAK #1722/01 3381111
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 041111Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1371
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 6598
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP:PDUSDP/ISA:EUR/ISA:NESA// PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEUITH/ODC ANKARA TU PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J-3/J-5// PRIORITY
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/39ABG INCIRLIK AB TU PRIORITY
RUEPGAB/MNF-I C2X BAGHDAD IZ PRIORITY
55 Students on Magnolia Science Academy Honor Roll — 6 Are Perfect
By News @ 12:00 PM March 17, 2011 From Zig Gauthier Fifty-five students from Magnolia Science Academy 6, a free charter middle school based in a Palms/Culver City neighborhood, have received academic honors, including six who earned perfect 4.0 GPAs.
The six who achieved both Academic Excellence and High Honor Roll awards are: Alexis Atianzar, Grace Campbell, Gillian Cornwall, Kaeleigh Cornwall, Kai McNamee and Cole Thomas. At a school assembly, each received a certificate of Academic Excellence and a USB flash drive.
The 49 Magnolia students who gained a place on the Honor Roll for having a GPA of 3.5 and higher:
Ahmet Alkanis, Brandon Anyanwu, Jerusalem Belay, Aidan Cameron, Luigi Carpaccio, Charles Carroll, Tuba Cinar, Elad Cohenm Moriel Dror, Erroll Espino, Howard Felder, Tiana Flores, Tyler Flowers, Logan Frey, Kiana Fuller, Chandler Gauthier, Maeve Giza, Emily Gottlieb, Anani Gutierrez, Daniella Hagopian, Martin Harley, Kathy Herandez, Alexis Hernandez, Laura Jackson, Imani Johnson, Seamus Koenigsberg, Emmett Krantz, Anthony Lopez, Evan Mancewicz, Nicholas Murga, John Pavlica, Samuel Pekelney, Brandon Pineda, Nina Price, Daniel Reich, Breanna Roncal, Andrew Roy, David Shaw, Justin Shepherd, Casey Seifert, Nolan Seifert, Morgan Thompson, Daniel Valencia, Brandalynn Vernoff, Robert Villanueva, Gabrielle Schwartz, Georgia Webb, Armani Wells and Taylor Wheatly.
Magnolia Science Academy 6, 3754 Dunn Dr., Los Angeles, services 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the greater Culver City and Palms communities. The academy emphasizes a rigorous academic, college-prep-based curriculum. It prioritizes academics, leadership, good character, proper nutrition, small class sizes, quality teaching instruction, mandatory student uniforms, and cultural and environmental awareness. Magnolia’s programs include academic after-school programs, book fairs, role model guest speakers of the month, academic field trips, recycling programs, teacher and staff appreciation events, healthy, nutritional food offerings, disaster planning, cultural festivals and other ideals taught to prepare middle school students for four-year universities and to develop highTurkish character.
The standards at Magnolia Science Academy for receiving a 4.0 GPA are very low, put these same students in another school and see how they REALLY stack up.
11 Mar 2011For many journalists and opinion leaders who supported the Ergenekon investigations from the beginning, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener’s arrests are absurd and plainly wrong, says Kaya Genç
The Ergenekon case began four years ago, as an ambitious legal investigation seeking to reveal plots against Turkish democracy.
It would supposedly uncover the misdeeds of Turkish state officials who were part of an alleged ultra-nationalist plot that planned to overthrow the ruling AKP government and introduce martial law.
Last week’s arrests of Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, two highly respected journalists, threw doubts on the validity of the case.
For more than a decade Şık and Şener, both self-proclaimed human rights reporters, have reported on the Turkish state’s human rights violations.
The majority of the violations they have documented since 2000 were committed by military forces, whose high-ranking members are still waiting trial in the Ergenekon case.
For many journalists and opinion leaders who supported the Ergenekon investigations from the beginning, Şık and Şener’s arrests are absurd and plainly wrong. It would be like Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward being imprisoned for taking part in the Watergate scandal.
Ahmet Şık was a reporter for the political journal Nokta in 2007, when it published a cover story entitled ‘Darbe Günlükleri’ (Coup Diaries) that led to the opening of the Ergenekon investigation itself. Nokta published extracts from diaries, which it claimed were written by the retired vice-admiral Özden Örnek.
The extracts detailed meetings which were said to have taken place between high-profile military chiefs, allegedly plotting a coup to overthrow the democratically elected government using illegal means, while collaborating with certain nationalist members of the Turkish media in disinformation campaigns against hand-picked, high-profile figures. Örnek has denied the allegations and says that he has never kept a diary.
The Ergenekon organisation were said to have planned to assassinate the novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, as well as prominent Kurdish politicians Ahmet Türk and Osman Baydemir. Ahmet Şık assiduously reported on the story.
Nedim Şener won the 2010 Oxfam/Novib PEN Freedom of Expression award. His most recent book Red Friday – Who Broke Dink’s Pen was published last month and is a brilliant exposé claiming that Turkish security forces were aware of a plot to assassinate Hrant Dink, the Turkish Armenian editor of Agos newspaper who was murdered in 2007.
Şener’s book created tension among the security community as the trauma surrounding Dink’s murder is still very much alive in Turkey and no institution wants to bear the blame alone.
Many Turks believe that those who were arrested in the Dink case are merely the hit-men who pulled the trigger or aided the actual crime, while the real perpetrators responsible for planning the assassination are still free.
After Dink’s murder, people were shocked to see images of Turkish police and gendarmes alongside his assassin, who smiled ecstatically into the camera phones of the officers.
After these horrors, the Turkish public demanded justice but what it received in return looks nothing like it.
In his column for Taraf newspaper last week, Turkish academic Murat Belge, who was also allegedly targeted by the Ergenekon generals, wrote: “If Ahmet Şık can be arrested, then I, too, may very well be.”
Ahmet İnsel, another leftist academic-cum-journalist, warned that “the Ergenekon case is turning into Susurluk”, implying that the attempt to expose the crimes of the security forces is itself turning into a plot that hinders justice, creating an impression of a country where unfair legal acts are committed.
In the late 1990s, Turkish journalists who revealed the existence of proto-fascist groups in the state apparatus that terrorised Kurds and leftists in the country, faced similar problems regarding freedom of expression while their reports and investigations helped unveil the Susurluk gang, a mixture of former MPs, police chiefs and army personnel.
While the arrests of Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, who were among ten journalists and writers taken into custody last Thursday, provoked widespread protests and various sit-ins in İstanbul, there were also some journalists who seemed to disagree with the outrage.
They asked the public to wait for the evidence to be produced by the prosecutor, Zekeriya Öz, who may eventually connect findings from previous arrests, implicating these journalists as accomplices of the Ergenekon organisation.
A friend and colleague of many years, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu of Radikal newspaper, begs to differ. He describes Ahmet Şık as a hard working reporter and an unyielding leftist, definitely having nothing to do with the Ergenekon crew whose ideology is extremely militant in tone.
Nedim Şener, who was chosen as 56th World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute (IPI) for his book The Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies, is an even more moderate figure who shares an inquisitive journalist’s perspective with Şık, asking unsettling questions about Turkey’s police organisation that may eventually help reveal its defects.
They both have reservations about Fethullah Gülen, the Pennsylvania-based Muslim scholar whose community (known as cemaat) is widely agreed to be an unprecedented force in contemporary Turkish politics and daily life.
While numerous secularists see Gülen as an extremely powerful figure, whose organisation is ultimately harmful for democracy, many pious Muslims and moderates see him as a peaceful voice whose blend of democracy and Islam is vital for a regeneration of Turkish democracy.
Şık’s forthcoming book, due to be published next month, is reportedly a critique of Gülen and many fear that this was the actual cause of his arrest.
It is claimed the police department has sympathy for the Gülen community, while the Turkish media has reported that his book was the chief reason behind the raid.
On Sunday, however, prosecutor Öz denied the allegations that Şık and Şener were arrested either for their books or their ideas. In an unusual statement published by a state prosecutor, Öz defended the arrests which he said were related to hard evidence “that cannot be revealed at this stage of the case”.
Socialist, nationalist, liberal and Islamist journalists walked together through İstanbul’s crowded İstiklal Street during protests last week.
There were more than 3,000 protesters who attended the march, many of whom are known to be deeply suspicious of each other’s ideas, uneasy about walking alongside their ideological polar opposites.
Some of the protesters expressed their concerns at a crackdown on secularism and republican values while others feared a right-wing wave of raids against socialists.
Many democrats who have supported the government over the last decade now fear a loss of credibility for the Ergenekon case that started with the findings of journalists.
Two of those journalists are now in Silivri Penitentiaries Campus, alongside retired generals and military personnel, waiting for their trial, date unknown. Kaya Genç is a novelist and journalist.
As revealed by the Hawaii Free Press Article “Gulen Cult: Legislators to welcome ugly union busting to Hawaii:http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3871/Gulen-Cult-Legislators-to-welcome-ldquoUgly-Unionbustingrdquo-to-Hawaii-schools.aspx The Gulen Movement Tuzuk contract amounts to nothing more than exploitation of fellow naive members of Hizmet (Gulen Movement) This Tuzuk (donation) contract is comparable to the Indentured Servants of early America and it is shameless to think that the Gulen Movement who supposedly teaches “respect” and “Turkish Character” would prey on their fellow brothers and sisters.The Tuzuk Contract: http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/Portals/0/Article%20Attachments/Gulen%20Tuzuk%20Contract.pdf The Gulen Movement’s Tuzuk human slavery contract a modern version of the past indentured servant.An indentured servant was typically a young, unskilled laborer contracted to work for an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of their indenture Here is a copy of the Gulen Movement Tuzuk Contract, which is used in conjunction with their abuse of H1-B visas.As you can see the Gulen Movement keeps the employee’s American retirement which must go back to the Gulen Foundation or NGO (Non Governmental Organization)and if the unsuspecting Gulen victim stays, they get a whopping $10.00 raise a year and no medical insurance.However, they can get extra money if the Gulen victim gets a fancy title.The board members determine whether the Gulen victim (aka Gulen Slave) can continue education in an American University for an advance degree.This is extortion and robbing of American tax dollars to perform a modern day indentured servant.The question is does the foundation hold their visa as collateral until they work off their expense of immigration fees.The Gulen slave Tuzuk contract is an abuse of human rights
As we have discussed before, there is NO shortage of math and science teachers and other qualifed teachers. America has suffered an unprecedented amount of traditional public schools that have closed, the unemployed number of American teachers is staggering. Meanwhile the Gulen Movement continues to abuse their own brothers and sisters. Consider these pathetic Gulen statistics:
The Gulen schools and their related organizations account for 31.5% of all H1B visa applications requested by the top 100 secondary school education H1B visa sponsors. (Table 1)
Of the top 100 secondary school education H1B visa sponsors, 34 of the 100 sponsors were Gulen schools or their related organizations.
A total of 4277 visas were requested by the top 100 sponsors.
1349 of the 4277 applications were submitted by Gulen schools or their related organizations.
There were fewer than 100 U.S. schools in this subterranean network of schools operated by Gulen movement missionaries in this same year. Read about the characteristics of these schools here.
The Cosmos Foundation, which operates approximately 27 Gulen schools in Texas, ranked #1 with 521 visa applications. These schools are heavily, but not exclusively, staffed with Turkish and Turkic teachers. The administrators and founders are nearly exclusively Turkish males.
To contrast, Global Teachers Research Resources (a teacher headhunting organization) ranked #2 with 325 visa applications. GTRR’s newsletters reveal a wide range of teacher nationalities.
Further investigation is likely to reveal that close to 100% of the visa applications of the Gulen schools and their related organizations will be for individuals from Turkey.
Public school districts also applied for visas. In fact, seven of the top-20 largest school districts in the country were also top-100 sponsors for visa applications. These seven districts represent nearly 2,900,000 students attending approximately 3,831 schools. (Table 2)
When averaged, seven of the top-20 largest school districts in the country submitted one H1B visa application for every 6.2 schools.
The average number of visa applications for the Gulen schools was 13.5 H1B visa applications per school!
Previous articles on the Gulen H1-B Visa scam: http://gulencharterschoolsusa.blogspot.com/2010/12/gulen-charter-schools-booming-h1-b-visa.html http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2010/07/gulen-schools-and-their-booming-h1b.html http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/importing-english-teachers-from-turkey.html An indenture was a legal contract enforced by the courts. One indenture reads as follows: This INDENTURE Witnesseth that James Best a Laborer doth Voluntarily put himself Servant to Captain Stephen Jones Master of the Snow Sally to serve the said Stephen Jones and his Assigns, for and during the full Space, Time and Term of three Years from the first Day of the said James’ arrival in Philadelphia in AMERICA, during which Time or Term the said Master or his Assigns shall and will find and supply the said James with sufficient Meat, Drink, Apparel, Lodging and all other necessaries befitting such a Servant, and at the end and expiration of said Term, the said James to be made Free, and receive according to the Custom of the Country. Provided nevertheless, and these Presents are on this Condition, that if the said James shall pay the said Stephen Jones or his Assigns 15 Pounds British in twenty one Days after his arrival he shall be Free, and the above Indenture and every Clause therein, absolutely Void and of no Effect. In Witness whereof the said Parties have hereunto interchangeably put their Hands and Seals the 6th Day of July in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Three in the Presence of the Right Worshipful Mayor of the City of London. (signatures) Like slaves, servants could not marry without the permission of their owner, were subject to physical punishment (like many young ordinary servants), and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant. But unlike slaves, servants could look forward to a release from bondage. If they survived their period of labor, servants would receive a payment known as "freedom dues" and become free members of society. One could buy and sell indentured servants' contracts, and the right to their labor would change hands, but not the person as a piece of property. On the other hand, this ideal was not always a reality for indentured servants. Both male and female laborers could be subject to violence, occasionally even resulting in death.
Dear Magnolia Schools Family,
link
email
