MAGNOLIA SCIENCE ACADEMY latest 990 tax return #gulen #charterschoolfraud #turkishcharterschools

 BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF MAGNOLIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

majority are Gulen Movement . 

Bay Area Technology Charter School - Magnolia's Gulen Sister school in Oakland under investigation #Embezzlement

Bay Area Technology School Financial Mismanagement Gulen School from Gulen Cemaat

click to enlarge

• At an OUSD board meeting last November, BayTech Principal Hayri Hatipoglu angrily denounced questions about his school’s ties to the Gulen movement.

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/baytech-charter-school-under-investigation-for-financial-mismanagement/Content?oid=18890699

Just before the end of the last school year, the principal of Oakland's Bay Area Technology School, Hayri Hatipoglu, suddenly resigned. At least four other senior staff and two of the charter school's five board members also abruptly quit. As a result, the organization was thrown into chaos. And then Hatipoglu disappeared. According to several sources, he left the country with his family for Australia, where he is a citizen.

Afterwards, the Oakland Unified School District, which is responsible for overseeing the BayTech charter school, opened an investigation. BayTech's three remaining board members also hired an independent party to carry out their own internal review.

While OUSD and BayTech have both attempted to keep the mini-crisis under wraps, the Express has learned that BayTech's three remaining board members are accusing Hatipoglu of defrauding the school. They allege that Hatipoglu surreptitiously changed his employment contract to provide himself with three years' worth of severance pay totaling about $450,000, an unusually large sum for a small school with an annual budget of approximately $3 million. His previous contract provided for only six months of severance pay, a standard in the education sector.

"We believe he changed his contract," said BayTech board member Fatih Dagdelen in a recent interview. "According to his contract, he'd get paid a six-months salary if he resigned, but all of a sudden his contract said he'd get paid two-and-a-half years further."

As to why Hatipoglu resigned, Dagdelen declined to say, but he added, "we have a lot of evidence and believe there's a fraud."

Hatipoglu has countered that he did nothing wrong. Instead, he alleges that Dagdelen and two other BayTech board members are part of a "shady network" trying to "take over" the school.

In an unusual and unsolicited email to the Express sent on June 28, Hatipoglu wrote that the school's Turkish board members conspired to punish him for his decision to break ties with a Southern California-based nonprofit. The nonprofit, Accord Institute, happens to be controlled by the followers of a powerful Turkish imam who leads a global Islamic political force called the Gülen movement.

Founded in the 1970s by the religious leader Fethullah Gülen, the Gülen movement is an Islamic-inspired social and political force that globalized as its followers immigrated to Europe, Australia, and the United States. The Turkish government considers the Gülen movement a terrorist organization because its members helped organize the 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Erdogan, and Erdogan has ordered thousands of Gülenists jailed. (The U.S. government, however, does not classify the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization.) Fethullah Gülen currently lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania, but he's considered one of the most powerful men in Turkish politics. His followers also set up and operate one of the largest chains of charter schools in the U.S. BayTech is one of these schools.

Former BayTech staff told the Express that for years there have been questionable financial practices at the school. They also confirmed that leading up to Hatipoglu's departure, there appeared to be a split between the school's Turkish directors and the former principal, but the cause of the falling out wasn't apparent. Non-Turkish staff and board members at the school said they have mostly avoided inquiring into the school's links to the Gülen movement.

But over the past decade, OUSD received multiple complaints asking that BayTech's rumored ties to the Gülen movement be closely examined. BayTech's leaders condemned these critics, however, calling any attempts to question the school's ties to Fethalluh Gülen's followers a form of discrimination.

At the OUSD board meeting last November, when BayTech was seeking to renew its charter, several members of the public questioned why the school district hasn't investigated. Hatipoglu responded angrily at the meeting by denying any link to the Gülen movement.

"It's worrisome for me that politics and education are in the mix here because whatever BayTech does, it goes through district oversight, state oversight," Hatipoglu said. "Is there one concrete example? Show me. It's all about slander."

According to Joshua Hendrick, a professor of sociology at Loyola University Maryland, many followers of Fethullah Gülen actually deny being part of the movement. This is especially true of Gülenists who have organized charter schools in the U.S.

OUSD officials have largely ignored BayTech's links to the Gülen movement, and the district had declined to investigate the school. But now, following the departure of the principal and other staff and allegations of fraud, OUSD confirmed that they've opened an investigation.

"OUSD takes seriously any allegations of financial mismanagement in our schools," district spokesperson John Sasaki wrote in an email. "As the charter authorizer, we have been informed of allegations of financial impropriety at BayTech."

According to BayTech's board meeting minutes from July 20, OUSD sent the charter school a Notice of Concern that outlines potential fiscal and managerial problems at the school.

Just eight months prior, OUSD's charter schools oversight office concluded that BayTech was fully in compliance with all fiscal controls. In a memo to OUSD's board, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel and Silke Bradford, who led OUSD's office of charter schools until February, wrote that allegations made against the school regarding fiscal mismanagement were "completely unfounded."

Johnson-Trammel and Bradford also wrote that claims that BayTech is linked to the Gülen movement — which the FBI has investigated for misusing public funds — are false. They concluded that critics of the Gülen movement who pointed out the school's ties were "racist." Following this assessment, OUSD's board renewed BayTech's charter to operate.

But BayTech's direct links to the Gülen movement are readily apparent.

BayTech, which is run by the nonprofit Willow Education foundation, was founded with a $450,000 state Department of Education grant in 2003 by Suleyman Bahceci, a prominent member of the Gülen movement who has set up other charter schools in Texas, Utah, and Southern California.

Bahceci didn't respond to an email seeking comment for this report.

Robert Amsterdam, an attorney working on behalf of the Turkish government, has identified Bahceci as one of the Gülen movement's key organizers in the U.S. charter school industry.

"Charter schools are free money for them," said Sharon Higgins, an Oakland resident who has closely followed the Gülen movement's expansion into the U.S. education sector. "If they get a school opened, they can bring their members to the U.S. They have a lot of H-1B visas to get their members here, so it's a way to increase their membership in the U.S. and tap into public funds."

Willow Education has obtained numerous H-1B visas to hire teachers from Turkey and other countries where the Gülen movement is strong. According to U.S. Department of Labor records, since 2009, Willow Education used 29 separate visas to hire math, science, English, and Turkish language instructors.

One of these visas was assigned to Hatipoglu. He immigrated to the U.S. from Australia, although he is of Turkish origin. Former BayTech staff told the Express that Hatipoglu took over BayTech at a time when the school was struggling financially and that he was able to turn it around. Parents and teachers at the school told the Express that the school has excelled academically, even if BayTech has run into management and financial problems.

In addition to Bahceci, other past BayTech staff and board members have obvious ties to the Gülen movement, according to records and interviews.

One key link is through the Accord Institute, a nonprofit charter school management company that was established by Bahceci and other Gülen movement members.

In Los Angeles, the Gülen movement set up several charter schools called the Magnolia Science Academy. These schools were audited in 2014 and 2015 by the Los Angeles Unified School District's Inspector General and the California State Auditor. Both series of audits found numerous problems including weak financial controls, bad record keeping, and mismanagement. The Magnolia schools were found to be paying Accord hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for services, but it's unclear what Accord did with the money. In addition, Bahceci ran Magnolia schools when the lucrative contracts with Accord were signed, and then he later moved back to Accord. Auditors ultimately found nothing illegal in the dealings, however.

Baris Cagdaser helped found Willow Education and BayTech alongside Bahceci and served on BayTech's board until 2012. Cagdaser was also on the Accord board of directors with Bahceci. And Accord's current CEO, Matt Avsaroglu, was a cofounder of BayTech and worked there until 2009.

Like the Magnolia schools in Los Angeles, BayTech also had a relationship with Accord, although it's unclear how much BayTech was paying them. BayTech hasn't posted financial information about its dealings with Accord on the school's website. Additionally, BayTech is missing copies of its board meeting agendas and minutes from years prior to 2009, and hasn't posted minutes for any other board meetings held prior to August of last year.

Hatipoglu alleges that he's a victim of retaliation by BayTech's three Turkish board members because he tried to cut ties with Accord. In his email to the Express, Hatipoglu wrote that last year he moved to have Accord's contract terminated due to the controversy around its dealings with the Los Angeles Magnolia schools. But according to Hatipoglu, Accord's CEO responded by retaliating. "He indicated to me that I made a huge mistake and that I would pay."

Several calls to Accord went unreturned.

At BayTech's board meeting on Monday, two of the school's three remaining directors, Dagdelen and Volkan Ulukoylu, declined to say whether the school is linked in any way to the Gülen movement. In response to Hatipoglu's allegations about a "shady network" trying to control the school, Ulukoylu said he had "no idea" what the former principal was talking about.

Dagdelen said he couldn't comment further about Hatipoglu's alleged fraud, but he added that just three days after BayTech opened its investigation, Hatipoglu appeared to have left the country.

PART II of ongoing investigation

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2018/08/10/oaklands-baytech-charter-school-violated-multiple-state-laws

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• BAY AREA TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL

The Bay Area Technology School violated state education laws when it required students and their families to purchase uniforms, graduation tickets, and caps and gowns, according to the Oakland Unified School District. All students were made to purchase uniforms from the Oakland charter school only, a violation of the education code. 

Graduating 8th and 12th graders were made to purchase caps and gowns from the school, and their family members were required to buy $10 tickets to attend the ceremony. 

These practices went on for several years, according to school staff who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. BayTech even warned parents on its website that students would only be allowed to wear BayTech branded jackets, sweaters, and shirts, and that students could face discipline if they didn't don the clothing.

The proceeds BayTech collected from these illegal activities amounted to thousands of dollars, said several sources. It's unclear what the school's administration did with the money.

OUSD authorities ordered BayTech to put a stop to these practices on June 8, according to a notice of concern sent to the charter school's board and interim co-principals by Leslie Jimenez, OUSD's charter school coordinator.

In a separate notice of concern sent a week earlier, OUSD officials warned BayTech leaders that they repeatedly violated California's Brown Act, which requires that charter schools provide public access to meetings because they receive public funding.

According to OUSD, BayTech's board convened meetings in February that were essentially secret because no notices or agendas were posted to inform the public.

The school board also convened meetings via email without notifying the public. The purpose of one of these online meetings was to recruit a new board member. The potential replacement was a Richmond resident originally from Turkey.

In March, BayTech's school board failed to post agendas for two separate board meetings on BayTech's website. And in May, the board posted an incorrect date for a board meeting and then issued an agenda after a mandatory deadline, thereby hampering the public's ability to participate.

Furthermore, OUSD found that three of the school's board members withheld documents from two board members. The recent notice of concern sent by OUSD to BayTech didn't identify which board members were prevented from accessing the records, or what specifically the records pertained to.

The numerous financial and transparency violations came to light after OUSD announced that it was investigating BayTech for mismanagement.

The district's investigation was initiated after BayTech's principal, Hayri Hatipolgu, suddenly resigned at the end of the past school year. Several other senior staff also quit the school, and two board members, Alretta Tolbert and Gina Miller resigned, as well. The sudden departure of the board members and staff have thrown the school into chaos.

The three remaining board members, Fatih Dagdelen, Kairat Sabyrov, and Volkan Ulukoylu, are now accusing Hatipoglu of defrauding the school by surreptitiously changing his employment contract to give himself a three-year payout worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if he resigned, instead of a six-month payout worth much less.

Hatipoglu has fired back at the three remaining board members by accusing them of being part of a "shady network" that is trying to "take over" BayTech. But since he resigned, the Express has been unable to contact Hatipoglu.

Looming over the school's management crisis is its relationship to a larger network of charter schools that were established by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who has been accused of plotting the 2016 coup against the Turkish government. Gulen resides in Pennsylvania.

BayTech's three current board members are all Turkish. When asked at the school's board meeting earlier this week if the school is linked to the Gulen movement, both Dagdelen and Ulukoylu declined to answer.

According to OUSD records, the district is reviewing BayTech's finances to see if any money was misappropriated. Hatipoglu's employment contract is also being examined to determine if the allegations against him are true.

BayTech's first day of school is August 13 and the school has hired an interim CEO to assist with reconstituting the board and getting the organization's affairs in order. OUSD is also considering appointing a board member to BayTech.

update 10/26/2018
CONNECTION TO CORAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE ON NELLIS AIRFORCE BASE
ERCAN AYDOGDU 

https://gulencharterschoolsusa.blogspot.com/2016/07/coral-academy-of-science-gulenists-get.html

Caprice Young Queen of Gulen Charter School Magnolia Schools rehearsal o...

When a charter school is troubled beyond repair, lies, false advertising nothing will work.

According to Caprice Young, the 5th CEO of the Magnolia Public Schools in less than 15 years of their troubled existance "Magnolia is an award winning school according to US Report and world News"  so what is this US Report and world news?- a mere poll.  Gulenists have slammed these online polls, Magnolia is not the only Gulenists operated charter school to be declared a "top school."

Caprice Young is the 5th CEO in less than 15 years. 

The other troubled Gulenist operated charter school in Oklahoma Dove Science Academy, has also declared they are a US News and World report "top school" despite a brutal rape on campus and a state audit showing they overcharged the taxpayers of Oklahoma over $1 million to rent a building owned by a fellow Gulenist Turk.   Dove Science Academy also had a visit this past week from a member of Congress to give a few students a Congressional award as Magnolia Science Academy has.  

To Caprice Young, if your schools were so great why did you get turned down on 8 applications in 5 districts for an expansion?   Caprice Young continues to tout her Gulen Magnolia Public Schools as something unique and novel when in fact, they are the same as any other Gulenists operated charter school in the USA.   

Yes, we know you managed to get $17 million to build a new facility but more than likely it was done on false pretenses, and the lease, payments and other finances are closely watched .  Here is an updated photo that Mr. Serce took just 3 days ago.  You shouldn't be in such a huge hurry to expand when you have barely 100 students in 3 schools.  The Gulenists operated schools in California called the Magnolia Science Academy were originally DENIED their renewal in Santa Ana, California by the local Santa Ana Unified School District.  The Gulenist (sneaky bastards) then went to the layer above the school district - the Santa Ana COUNTY school district to have the denial overturn.  Without discussing their impending audit and recommendation to be shuttered in LAUSD.  

Not only were the Gulenists able to overturn the denial by bypassing the local governing board they received a $17 million loan/ bond to build a new school .  

https://dgsnewswire.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/office-of-public-school-construction-helps-break-ground-for-new-orange-county-school/comment-page-1/

Gulenist "Hobbit" Yilmaz Ak, Director of Accountability wears many hats at Gulen "inspired" schools

Yilmaz Ak "Hobbit"  former principal of Gulen inspired "Coral Academy of Science" was moved to the Gulen "inspired" Magnolia Science Acadmey- Santa Clara to be the new prinicpal in 2013.  The former principal Tim (Timur) Saka came from the other Gulen "inspired schools in Colorado and Utah - Lotus School of Excellence and Beehive Science Academy.
Yilmaz Ak is currently on the top heavy administrative staff of Magnolia Public Schools as the
(please don't laugh)  Director of Accountability <----hold the laughter please

Students at the Santa Clara Magnolia campus referred to Yilmaz Ak as "Hobbit" because of his 

short stature.  Here is a photo when AK was principal of Magnolia Santa Clara, note that second from Right is the current principal Dr. Michele Ryan who was booted off of the Santa Clara Unified School District.    Ak is even shorter than the women in this photo                                   

Jaya Gautam, Mr. Ak, principal, Mr. Taymaz, Ro Khanna, Sanjeev Gautam, Dr. Ryan, Shobana Ramamurthi

Dr. Michele Ryan their current prinicipal sided with Caprice Young on protecting 
Magnolia's erratic behavior.  When it was pointed out to her that she was putting herself in a conflict of interest by favoring the Magnolia schools, she recused herself.  Now is the current principal.  

Yilmaz Ak named in Magnolia Science Academy audit as floating a "loan" to the troubled organization.  Shouldn't the "Director of Accountability" mention where he got the $40,000.00 

TIMELINE OF TROUBLED MAGNOLIA SCIENCE ACADEMY - SANTA CLARA

TIMELINE
1. March 2009: Santa Clara County Board of Education approves the charter petition for Magnolia Science Academy-Santa Clara, a countywide charter. The charter was approved for a three-year period (July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010). The school did not open as planned in fall 2009. In early 2010, the charter was revised.
2. Fall 2010: Magnolia opens MSA-Santa Clara at a site in Sunnyvale (1095 Dunford Way). This is the first of three charter schools for which a 3-year charter was granted to them by the board of the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE).
3. Fall 2012: MSA-Santa Clara moves into the campus at 2720 Sonoma Place in Santa Clara which belongs to Santa Clara Unified. This site was the longtime home to a historically important Santa Clara school, John Millikin Elementary School. The lease agreement is for three years only: 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 (exp. June).
4. Jan. 2013: SCCOE grants a five-year renewal to Magnolia despite the district finding it has a negative cash flow, poor fiscal accounting and a problem with internal controls. Anna Song is the only trustee who dissented. Also, Magnolia never opened its promised other two charter schools in Santa Clara County.
5. May 2013: SCCOE issues a Notice of Concern to MSA-Santa Clara, citing "failure to meet generally accepted accounting principals." pdf
6. June 2014: With MSA-SC's lease due to expire at the end of 2014-15, Magnolia makes its first request to Santa Clara Unified for a lease extension. It is denied.
7. Oct. 2014: Petition for a totally brand new charter school, the STEM Academy of Silicon Valley (SASV), was submitted to Santa Clara Unified. Seeing the writing on the wall (that MSA-SC will have to close if it cannot get its lease extended or find another site) -- and with the Magnolia organization in turmoil in LAUSD, etc. -- principal Yilmaz Ak and a group of individuals attempt to open a brand new charter school for 2015-16. Supposedly this school would not be operated by Magnolia, but it clearly would be a reconstituted version of MSA-SC that could enroll its soon-to-be-school-siteless student body. Clearly they did this with the hope that the new charter school would qualify for a Santa Clara Unified site under Prop 39. And/or maybe they could have qualified for some start-up grant that would help them lease a space.
8. Jan. 2015: The SCUSD board unanimously votes against the SASV proposal.
  9. Feb 2015: SCCOE hearing on SASV (at some point Yilmaz Ak, et al, submitted the same proposal to the Santa Clara County authorizer)..
10. Mar. 4, 2015: Yilmaz Ak submits letter to SCCOE urging them to call a special meeting to decide on SASV asap. He explains that he has applied for Prop 39 facilities and must have the charter approved by March 15th. He closes the letter with, "I would like to avoid having to turn to the courts to settle this issue."
11. March 6, 2015: For the 3rd time, the Magnolia community comes to a Santa Clara Unified meeting to try to persuade the school board to extend their lease for the campus on Sonoma Place (sometimes called the "Central Park" site).

12. March 11, 2015: SASV was unanimously denied its charter application by the board of SCCOE. 13. March 17, 2015: Magnolia CEO Caprice Young comes up to the Bay Area. Holds a town hall meeting w/MSA-SC families and meets with and/or threatens who knows?

UPDATE-

14. August 2015: moves to current location in East San Jose school district at the Hispanic University sharing space with "Voices". Moving to this location and never properly notifying the school district or the school superintendent of this school district Chris Funk.
15. January 2016: formally notifies Mt. Pleasant School district to move into their school district after school district was informally notified by the SCCSD charter division of their request.  Dr. Caprice Young never reaches out to either school district, receives a letter from attorney for Mt. Pleasant School District of educational codes and laws that were broken.
16. April 2016: Magnolia files for yet another revision plan and is admonished at SCCUSD BOE meeting for not knowing or understanding that they must collaborate with hosting school districts.
17. May 4, 2016- SCCOE cancels meeting citing "further investigations into possible violation(s) postponed to May 18, 2016 meeting.
18. June 2016 Magnolia Science Academy Santa Clara makes formal announcement to SCCOE that they will be closing their school.
19. July 2016 SCCOE is putting together the final debt that that Magnolia has left behind, estimates are as high as $1, million

WATCH board meeting item #10 MAGNOLIA

Gülen-affiliated school in US stirred by teacher's inappropriate relatio...

Larson O'Brien LLP has been retained by Amsterdam & Partners LLP to serve as local counsel concerning Magnolia Public Schools

2016 03:13 PM Eastern Standard Time

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Larson O’Brien LLP has been retained by Amsterdam & Partners LLP to serve as local counsel and assist in an investigation in California of legal and regulatory issues concerning Magnolia Public Schools and its alleged ties to the organization of charter schools and businesses headed by the Imam Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen, a Turkish national who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, was added to Turkey’s most wanted list in October 2015 and is the subject of a pending extradition request. Larson O’Brien LLP will work directly with Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners, an international human rights and anti-corruption law firm based in London
Larson O’Brien LLP is a Los Angeles-based boutique law firm specializing in complex litigation, investigations, appeals, and white collar defense. The firm’s founders include Stephen G. Larson, a former US District Judge and former federal prosecutor, and Robert C. O’Brien, the former California managing partner of a national AMLAW firm and former US Representative to the United Nations General Assembly.

Contacts

Amsterdam & Partners LLP
Robert Amsterdam, +44 20 3617 6640+44 20 3617 6640
amsterdamandpartners.com
or
Larson O’Brien LLP
Stephen Larson, 213-436-4888213-436-4888
press@larsonobrienlaw.com

 Sign PETITION demand investigation on Magnolia Science Academy

Magnolia Petition click here

Magnolia Science Academy "Gulen Inspired" tries for school in Fremont, CA TONIGHT 1/13/2016

Magnolia Science Academy that "Gulen inspired" mess that was to close 1 year ago is on a surge to grow.  In August 2015 they tried to recruit parents and students using the ICF (Islamic Cultural Center of Fremont).  This was targeting the large Afghanistani population that lives in the area and the ex students of CLOSED charter school FAME Charter School. 

Their application is here full of inconsistencies
670 pages.

http://www.boarddocs.com/ca/fremont/Board.nsf/files/A4T6MU148EEE/$file/MSA%20Fremont%20Charter%20Petition.pdf

Plenty of signatures from potential teachers who say they are "meaningfully interested in teaching" at the school -- along with their resumes and a those of a whole lot of other teachers (pg 444-555). Right. The closest lives in Monterey and the rest give addresses in SoCal.

Interestingly, the one from Monterey (Joseph Compagno) had prev. worked for Magnolia and the Gulen charter school in Buffalo, taught English at Fatih U for one year, and also taught at "Milky Way School" in Teaneck in the mid-1990s.
Parent intent to enroll forms start at 222-439.

 

 

Gulen School is REJECTED by Anaheim School District Magnolia Science Academy exposed as part of Hizmet

By mrubio December 18, 2015 at 5:55 PM

The following is a press release from an organization unaffiliated with Voice of OC. The views expressed here are not those of Voice of OC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
________________________
December 18, 2014
Contact: Pat Karlak
Public Information Officer
Phone: (714) 999-5662
Email: Karlak_p@auhsd.us
 

Anaheim Union High School District Calls for a Temporary Moratorium on Approval of Charter Schools

 ANAHEIM—Board members of the Anaheim Union High School District and Superintendent Michael Matsuda on December 18 called for the state of California to implement a temporary moratorium on the approval of charter schools until legislators fix the overly permissive law that enables charters to operate on a business model whose main goal is to make money.
“Although there is nothing wrong with making money, when it comes to public education, our children should be our first priority,” Superintendent Matsuda said. “While charter school proponents may say they care about kids, many charters operate in the shadows with no transparency, no accountability, and no public review.”
The superintendent cited the example of Magnolia Science Academy, one of two charter applications recently submitted to AUHSD. Magnolia Science Academy is one of the largest charter operators in America, with 155 campuses and ambitious expansion plans. According to an expose on 60 Minutes, Magnolia Science Academy is overseen by Fethullah Gulen, a wealthy Turkish national who controls an international chain of Gulen schools.
The 60 Minutes piece exposed the fact that American taxpayer money—hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide—is being funneled into the pockets of Turkish foreign nationals in the form of contracts for building schools and hiring teachers. At the same time, Gulen’s financial health and practices have been called into question and investigated by local and state agencies. Fethullah Gulen, himself a Turkish national, is wanted by the government of Turkey and is in hiding in the United States.
“Because of lax charter laws that favor privatization, we are the only nation where taxpayer money is used to fund schools operated by foreign nationals,” Superintendent Matsuda said. “Although the Gulen officials insist there is no ill intent, enough questions have been raised about Magnolia’s charter school operations that it is a prime example of why we need an immediate temporary moratorium on charter schools until the laws are fixed and accountability is restored.”
Added Trustee Al Jabbar, “We respectfully ask the public to consider that if kids really come first, why are charter schools continuing to hide their funding, ownership, and financial relationships? Why don’t they allow open access to financials, including budgets and salaries, even though they spend taxpayer money, just like public schools do? Why not agree to the same accountability policies as public schools, policies that would build public trust?”
The entire AUHSD Board signed off on an opinion piece calling for the immediate moratorium, which was published December 18 in the Voice of OC. The day before, at a special school board meeting, AUHSD trustees unanimously rejected a petition by Vista Charter Middle School as educationally and financially unsound.
“It’s open season on neighborhood schools in Orange County, because the Orange County Board of Education, which, mind you, was elected to represent the public school children of the region, is now a 3-2 vote in favor of overturning virtually every local school board’s decision against a charter,” Mr. Jabbar noted. “The Orange County Board wants us to assume all the liability for failure. They want us to assume financial authority over charters when we just heard on Thursday night from a charter operator (Vista) who won’t have enough resources to make it through the first year. They want us to take back the special education and English learner students that they routinely ‘disenroll,’ or drop, to game the system and boost their academic reputation. Let the Orange County Board of Education assume that fiscal and moral risk. Don’t put it back on us as our responsibility. We don’t want it.”
The fact that the Orange County school board has the authority to grant charters without the consent of local school boards undermines the concept of local control and makes a mockery of the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), said AUHSD Board President Annemarie Randle-Trejo.
“The 27 school districts in Orange County have to ask themselves if they are OK with the Orange County Board of Education deciding the composition of each of our school systems,” Ms. Randle-Trejo said. “I’m not OK with that and you shouldn’t be, either.”
“If you look at donations to politicians, you will see a lot of money being funneled to them from charter school operators and special interests. These charter people are very smart,” Ms. Randle-Trejo added. “They have wined and dined politicians from the federal level down, providing junkets and campaign contributions. They stage openings of their schools and invite the local politicians. They certainly know how to play the political game.”
The submission of the petitions by Magnolia Science Academy and Vista are part of a coordinated strategy in Los Angeles and Orange counties by charter proponents to establish a stronghold in Southern California.
Here is the 60 Minutes piece on Gulan schools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktl--IDnM7I
Here is the link to the Voice of OC piece:
http://voiceofoc.org/2015/12/auhsd-board-time-for-a-moratorium-on-charter-schools/

 

Magnolia Science Academy riddled with scandals, Teacher arrested for having Sex with Students still trying for NEW campus in Anaheim

http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20150911/carson-teacher-arrested-in-alleged-sexual-relationship-with-underage-girl

A teacher at a Carson school is suspected of having a sexual relationship with an underage girl, sheriff’s deputies said Friday.

Mark Falkowski, 28, a teacher at Magnolia Science Academy No. 3, was arrested Thursday following the discovery of inappropriate email communication and Skype conversations with the girl dating back to early 2014, Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeffrey Hallock said.

Falkowski was booked at the Orange County jail on suspicion of sending harmful matter to a minor.

Sheriff’s Department investigations were “made aware of the inappropriate relationship after discovery of several inappropriate e-mails between Falkowski and the victim” about a week ago, Hallock said.

“Investigators began collecting evidence and obtained information that indicated that Falkowski and the victim were still involved in a sexual relationship, even though the victim now lives out of state,” Hallock said.

The girl’s age was not disclosed, but she is younger than 18, Hallock said.

In addition to his teaching job, Falkowski coaches a female youth hockey team based in Long Beach, but players come from throughout Southern California.

“Investigators believe that based on his perpetual contact with female juveniles in his capacity as a hockey coach, there may be additional victims,” Hallock said.

Falkowski was held on $100,000 bail and scheduled to appear Tuesday for arraignment. More charges are pending.

Deputies asked anyone with information about victims to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Unit at 714-647-7060 or 714-647-7000.

According to the school, Magnolia Science Academy No. 3 is a public charter school that offers a college preparatory education. Students come primarily from the communities of Carson, Gardena, Wilmington, Compton and Torrance. Students are primarily black and Latino and more than 85 percent receive free and reduced-price lunch.

Magnolia Science Academy was to be closed by the LAUD but negotiated to stay open with their expensive attorney despite the scandals and the Gulen Movement affiliation they have applied for a new school in Anaheim, public hearing December 9, 2015

Anaheim School District 

Magnolia Science Academy Caprice Young claims victory over LAUSD for Bond funding

The girl works hard for her money, re spinning the Gulen cult

into a blame on the "recession" but no mention of $6 million in facility grant

obtained July 2014.  Caprice - Where's the money?

 

 

http://www.bondbuyer.com/news/regionalnews/california-charter-school-claims-win-over-la-school-district-1073199-1.html

LOS ANGELES — California charter school chain Magnolia Public Schools will rekindle its growth plans after settling a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, which had tried to shut down Magnolia's schools there.
The charter operator, which has $6 million in debt, is now working closely with underwriter RBC Capital Markets for a market return to price bonds to support its plans, said Caprice Young, the education turnaround expert Magnolia hired as chief executive officer in January.
Magnolia wants to be able to grow enrollment in each of its schools from 200 to 450 or 750, which Young said is a much sounder financial model.
Magnolia, a network of 11 public charter schools in Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara and Orange counties, provides a college preparatory educational program emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math.
Its Los Angeles schools triggered the charter operator's legal battle with the massive Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest with more than 660,000 students.
"About a year ago, it was clear that Magnolia was getting really beat up," Young said.
Magnolia had received conditional approval for two of its charter schools in Los Angeles.
"Then the school district took the very drastic step of not renewing their charters on the last Friday in June - and had them closed as of July 1," Young said.
The schools LAUSD moved to close are in Northridge in the San Fernando Valley and the Palms neighborhood on L.A.'s Westside. In November, LAUSD tried to close a third school located on a LAUSD campus in Bell.
"In all three cases, the courts sided with us to keep the schools open," Young said.
The settlement document between LAUSD and the charter operator allows Magnolia to transfer money between schools, which LAUSD had challenged as a practice, she said.
"It is really important, because our ability to grow is based on our ability to loan money to schools when they are in the early stage and have them repay loans to the larger organization when they grow," she said.
In the settlement, Magnolia agreed to sever ties with a non-profit that had provided educational services to the district at its LA schools, the Accord Institute for Education Research.
The charter school chain brought in a seasoned chief financial officer and contracted its back office work to Ed Tech, a respected back-office charter school provider, Young said.
In the settlement, Magnolia also agreed to restructure its governing board, hire a new auditor, and agreed to fiscal oversight by Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, an organization created by the state's Education Code to provide fiscal advice, management assistance and training to school organizations that need it.
The settlement agreement also notes Magnolia's hiring of Young's new management team.
The conflict between LAUSD and Magnolia led to a state audit of the charter operator, formally requested by state Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-Van Nuys, in July 2014 and approved by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.
The audit was released earlier this month. Magnolia officials trumpeted the result as a vindication, though the auditor's language was more nuanced.
The California state auditor concluded there was no misappropriation of state funds, though it found Magnolia's "financial controls still need to be strengthened."
Magnolia's new leadership says it is already implementing the auditor's recommendations.
"We started to implement changes to strengthen and improve our processes while the audit was taking place to reinforce our ongoing commitment to high educational outcomes," Young said.
She said Magnolia's woes are a microcosm of what happened in California during the recession.
The state, because of budget problems, began deferring scheduled payments to schools starting in 2008, delaying them as much as six months, she said.
Charter schools lacked the access to public markets traditional school districts enjoyed to issue short-term notes while they awaited funding from the state.
Magnolia's inter-school loans were appropriate and necessary given the state's deferral of $10 million in funding to Magnolia, Young said.
The auditor found that it was legal for the foundation to temporarily loan state apportionment funds between schools, so long as the loan does not adversely affect the public school purposes of the charter school that loans the funds.
The state auditor found that LAUSD acted prematurely when it moved to close three of Magnolia's Los Angeles-area schools based on a preliminary audit conducted by the school district's Office of the Inspector General.
The auditing team had just completed the field work and the document was in draft form.
"The school district took the step based on preliminary information that was inaccurate," Young said.
LAUSD "acknowledges the actions on the part of the new leadership of Magnolia Public Schools to address the substantive concerns that the district raised in fulfillment of its oversight responsibilities," said Shannon Haber, an LAUSD spokeswoman.
"The District will follow through on its stated responses to the auditor's recommendations as part of our ongoing commitment to high quality charter school authorizing, as well as monitor Magnolia's implementation of its action steps," Haber said. "As noted in the audit, the District and Magnolia Public Schools were able to reach a settlement that allows both parties to move forward together in the best interest of students and in protection of taxpayers' trust."
The report notes that Magnolia is a high-performing network of schools that generally outperforms other neighborhood schools.
Magnolia sued in Los Angeles Superior Court in July 2014 to keep the schools open.
LAUSD didn't release the inspector general's report until October, which didn't give the charter school the opportunity to see the facts and findings or refute them prior to the release of the report, Young said.
"All of the charter schools that were not renewed are serving very high poverty students," Young said. "I was outraged; and when they asked if I would help. I said, 'yes."
The auditor said Magnolia's expenditures to hire skilled math and science teachers from abroad were "lawful and appropriate."
However, in the LAUSD settlement, Magnolia agreed to cease spending money on immigration fees for employees, other than renewal fees for those already hired, and to consult with LAUSD before embarking on any new foreign recruitment program.
Young said Magnolia has made significant improvements to the key areas of fiscal controls, compliance and accountability since it put in place her new management team.
Magnolia also implemented expenditure controls as well as payroll controls, training and oversight that were previously lacking.
The charter school operator also said it has instituted a new, transparent fiscal structure to ensure accurate accounting of revenues and expenditures in schools as part of a larger effort to strengthen its financial operations.
In addition, the board created a finance committee and an audit committee to involve all stakeholders in the accountability and oversight of Magnolia's finances.
"We are confident the progress we have made and our continuing commitment to improving financial, reporting and other internal controls will be apparent when the California State Auditor reviews our efforts moving forward," Young said. "Our goal is to be recognized as a model charter school leader in California and to continue to provide a high-quality, STEM-focused public education to our students."
Young said the audit is "really vindication of the work that Magnolia has done."
"It shows that when LAUSD was announced in the press that Magnolia was insolvent that it really wasn't true," she said. "This audit shows in July 2014 that Magnolia schools were financially sound."

Magnolia Schools has new leadership Caprice Young a controversial last ditch effort opportunist

Controversial Caprice Young
new CEO of Controversial Magnolia Science Academy
Magnolia Schools has removed Turks from the
front line and added gavurs for an image change.
"Lipstick on a Pig" will not make the court hearings
or Statewide audit of  Magnolia schools go away.

A local charter school group that is battling for survival has turned to a well-known and sometimes controversial education figure to take charge. Magnolia Public Schools, under fire for money management and other issues, has hired former L.A. school board President Caprice Young as its new chief executive.
Magnolia, based in Westminster, operates eight schools within the L.A. Unified School District, but three face closing after district officials decided last year not to renew them. A court injunction is keeping them open.
 Charters are free, publicly funded schools that are exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses.
A recent L.A. school district audit concluded that Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation was $1.66 million in the red, owed $2.8 million to the schools it oversees and met the federal definition of insolvency. In addition, the audit found fiscal mismanagement, including lack of disclosure of debts, weak fiscal controls over the principals' use of debit cards and questionable payments for immigration fees and services, among other issues.

Young said Magnolia is not in financial trouble, but suffers from weak management and a lack of transparency — problems she said would be corrected in an effort to win support from L.A. Unified.
“We will go through all the finances,” she said. “These schools are doing a really great job for kids … and I think they can do an even better job. But none of that matters unless they’re managing taxpayer resources transparently and effectively. That is job one.”
       

Young, 49, served a four-year school board term, which ended in 2003 after the teachers union successfully targeted her for defeat. She then built the California Charters Schools Assn. into a powerful organization as its leader.
In 2010, she took over ICEF Public Schools, a charter group that was on the verge of financial collapse. She recruited donors and slashed costs — and received praise from parents after preventing a merger with another charter organization. She lost that position after a falling-out with former Mayor Richard Riordan, a major ICEF funder, who had pushed for the merger.

More recently, Young has worked with Acton-Agua Dulce Unified to develop a plan for overseeing charter schools. The district, which has four schools, authorized charters to open in other school systems as a way to raise revenue, according to court documents.
L.A. Unified and another school district sued over the practice. An L.A. Superior Court judge ruled recently that Acton-Agua Dulce violated state law in how it granted the charters. But the judge did not entirely bar the district from granting charters outside its boundaries.
Magnolia, meanwhile, has struggled with its image as well as the allegations of mismanagement.
Critics have asserted that the Magnolia campuses are among more than 100 charter schools that have ties to a U.S.-based Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
In an interview, Young said that she is not aware of any direct links with Gulen.
She said the focus of the schools is math and science and that they seek to embrace “all cultures and any culture.” Most of the students, she added, are from low-income Latino families.
The schools have recruited math and science teachers from a university in Istanbul, she said. Eleven teachers, out of 325 total employees, she said, are in the United States on work visas.
Magnolia also operates three schools outside of L.A. Unified — in Costa Mesa, Santa Clara and San Diego. The total enrollment is about 4,000 students.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-magnolia-charters-20150108-story.html

Caprice has spoken for the Gulen Movement Pacifica Institute

http://www.pacificainstitute.org/index.php/activities/item/78-ceo-kc-distance-learning-caprice-young-speaks-at-pi-los-angeles

Long time education reform advocate, Caprice Young, is taking over the troubled Magnolia Public Schools charter network, but it won’t be official until a set of test results come in.

“I’m waiting to get my tuberculouses results,” she said, laughing on a phone call from her office. “Then I can actually set foot on a campus and be around children.”

Young, who is a divisive figure in California education politics for her strong advocacy for charter school expansion, says she’s excited about the opportunity to turn around the controversial charter school organization with 11 public charter schools serving close to 4,000 students in Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Clara and San Diego counties. She is taking the reigns from interim CEO, Murat Biyik, who held the post for less than six months.

“I’ve done this work before,” she explained, referring to her efforts that made Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools, a network of charters she’s credited with saving from imminent closure.

A financial audit by LA Unified last year concluded that Magnolia Public Schools doesn’t have the cash-flow necessary to be solvent, owing more money than it costs to continue operating all eight of its campuses within LAUSD. As a result, two schools had their charter renewal applications denied but are operating under a court injunction, while a third campus will close at the end of the school year.

Young’s response? “It’s not uncommon for charter schools that have grown a little quickly to have financial problems or organizational problems. But those are very fixable. And I’m coming in to fix that.”

Another issue that has dogged the schools’ operator in the past has been its ties to the Gulen Movement, a Turkish Islamist group that has founded schools, think tanks and media outlets around the world.

At an LA Unified board meeting in March, Inspector General Ken Bramlett confirmed claims of the association, “We have done some looking into that allegation and there is some evidence that some members of the Magnolia organization do have ties with the Gulen movement, but we have not found anything currently that would be grounds for denial.”

That’s not an issue for Young, either.

“I haven’t seen a connection but, I’m not in the habit of asking people about their religious beliefs,” she said. She acknowledges that Magnolia has “had Turkish leadership form the start” but says, “my impression of them is that they run great schools.”

And if there is a questionable relationship to Gulen, Young contends she was hired by the board, in part, “because they knew I wouldn’t allow anything to go forward that wasn’t appropriate.”

Young will leave her job as President of the National Charter Resource Center in the spring. “I’ve made several commitments that I have to see through,” she said.

But she did not specify if that included continuing to work with the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District, a tiny rural school district under fire for approving charter schools outside its borders. LA Unified is suing the l district for opening three charter schools within the LAUSD boundaries.

http://laschoolreport.com/new-chief-of-troubled-magnolia-ive-done-this-work-before/

Caprice Young and her many "bios"



Young, Caprice

President, Education Growth Group, LLC

For over two decades, Caprice has been at the forefront of education reform, inside and outside the system. She served as the reform president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board during a time of intense struggle over the future of the city’s schools, and, along with Superintendent Roy Romer, was instrumental in making gains across the district in student achievement and launching an ambitious program of school facilities renewal that continues today.
Following her service to Los Angeles, Caprice founded the California Charter Schools Association, uniting three state and regional charter groups, and grew it to become the nation’s most powerful state association, accelerating the growth of charter schools, encouraging and supporting diverse leadership in the movement, and advocating strongly on behalf of charters and choice. Sensing the transformative power of technology in education, Caprice then took on the post of CEO of KC Distance Learning and Vice President of Business Development and Alliances for Knowledge Universe Education (KUE) U.S. More recently, Caprice took on the job of rescuing the financially troubled Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF) and its portfolio of fifteen high-performing LA Charter schools.
Through all of these experiences, Caprice has kept her eye firmly on the goal of transforming public education so that it serves all children well. Caprice was former Vice President for Education at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

https://www.edreform.com/edreform-university/resource/caprice-young/

Caprice Young, Ed.D., Senior Advisor to the CEO

Caprice is the former Vice President for Education of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. A nationally respected education innovator, she has also served as the Assistant Deputy Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, manager in IBM’s eBusiness consulting practice, founding CEO/President of the California Charter Schools Association, CEO of the Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools and CEO/President of EnCorps, a non-profit organization recruiting and training new STEM teachers. Caprice has served on numerous boards, including the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Education Excellence (California), the Fordham Foundation, and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, She is a recipient of the Coro Foundation Crystal Eagle Award for Achievement in Public Service. High school was a big adventure for this ADHD kid, and included Birmingham High School (Van Nuys, CA), the United States Senate Page School (Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), Valley Alternative School (Van Nuys, CA), and C Leon King High School (Tampa, FL)… where she “finished early” to spend half of her senior year in India and Mexico. Caprice earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University, Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and Doctorate of Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Schools are for profit Caprice Young

When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

"We are told that this 'reform' alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education." — David Sirota

In Los Angeles, nobody has been more adept at stuffing public money into their pockets via charter-voucher sector windfalls than Caprice Young. Her early career showed a trajectory of opportunism and greed that would place her in ever more lucrative positions as time progressed.

As a young Coro Fellow she worked under Republican Mayor Richard Riordan like fellow education privatizer Ben Austin. Deep pocketed interests aligned against public education saw her as the perfect privatization minded candidate and backed her successful campaign for the Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Her mean spirited anti-community and even stronger anti-labor stripes couldn't have been more apparent during her corporate reform oriented tenure. Voters soon saw her true intentions and clear motives, hence she promptly and ignominiously lost her position on the LAUSD Board after a single term.

Young was then approached by the racist, bigoted, anti-immigrant nativist Steve Poizner and the two of them founded the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) in order to grow charter-voucher market share and create more profitable opportunities for their fellow privatizers. She did so at a dizzying pace, boasting of nearly doubling the number of lucrative privately run charter schools in California during her tenure. Poizner and company compensated Young quite handsomely:

"Jed's predecessor, Caprice Young, made over $250,000 for her work at the CCSA. Check out the cast of characters on CCSA's board of directors. Until recently, a Broad COO, Kevin Hall, and Kevin Johnson served on the groups board as well." — Kenneth Libby (Schools Matter)

Shortly after she did a stint working for predatory capitalist and junk bond felon Michael Milken at his highly profitable Knowledge Universe. Young is also closely associated with the Broad Residency Program.

Young's husband, Mark Dierking, is no stranger to making boatloads of cash from the dwindling trough of the public commons either. He's the Director of Real Estate Planning/Strategy at Knowledge Learning Corporation, a firm with revenues of $8.4 Billion. How big is the charter-voucher school real estate bubble? Big enough to attract big names like Goldman Sachs, Andre Agassi, Citibank, and Richard Riordan to the lucrative land grab ventures. Big enough that Gloria Romero was rewarded with a cushy six-figure job as CEO at Democrats for Education Reform in California for her servile gift the privately managed charter industry called SB 592, which hands public school property over to charter corporations. That's a Kids first agenda.

Young went on to found a K-12 equivalent of predatory for-profit colleges like Kaplan, University of Phoenix, and American Career College. Her successful swindle was called KC Distance Learning, which she sold off in the Summer of 2010 to fellow flimflam artists K12 Inc. for an astonishing $63.1 Million. That decision, like every move in her entire calculated career, was for the kids and the kids alone. Young's old buddy Dick Riordan then tapped her to try to save the sinking ICEF ship, but she was replaced by fellow privatizer Parker Hudnut in short order.

Given how busy Young has been, and how wealthy she has gotten over the years, one would think she would take a break. Yet it turns out her insatiable lust for money and power never ceases, nor does her hatred of educators and organized labor. A reader sent me an email about her latest venture, and their analysis says so much about Young and the corporate school privatization putsch's designs on deprofessionalizing teaching altogether.

Robert,

I looked up Caprice's new job.... "CEO" of a newly-formed company... "EnCorps".

I'm trying to piece this together, but it appears that the charters in L.A. and San Francisco are hard up for Math and Science teachers, but the bosses don't want to have to deal with fullly-credentialed teachers, and their accompanying demands for a decent wage, decent benefits, decent job conditions, etc.

They want desperate, compliant, cheap labor that can teach those hard-to-place subjects of Math and Science.

Enter... EnCorps... a sort of Teach for America for career-changers with Math and Science backgrounds in the private sector, and who are desperate for any kind of work.

The FAQ's page seems strikingly familiar to TFA... i.e. the questions being asked of candidates, are almost identical to the TFA application.  Here it is:

http://www.EnCorpsteachers.org/FAQ

What's bothersome is that having a teaching credential... not just in California, but anywhere in the country... ELIMINATES YOU FROM EVEN BEING CONSIDERED TO BE AN EnCorps FELLOW ???!!

WTF???!!!

It's like an organization is out to recruit people to staff hospitals that are desperate for qualified doctors and nurses, but they then say that anyone with an M.D., or a B.S/M.S in nursing is then disqualified from being recruited into that same organization.

Check this out:  (bold highlighting is mine, NAME REDACTED)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Eligibility
How do I know if I am eligible for EnCorps?
EnCorps Educators come to us from a diverse range of backgrounds.  In order to meet basic eligibility requirements, a candidate must meet the following criteria:
·       Must be a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) professional
·       Fully eligible to work in the United States
·       Able to pass a background check
·       Have a Bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 2.50 or higher
·       Not be in possession of a teaching credential (in California or any other state with a reciprocal agreement)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A little farther down, it has the following FAQ's:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If I already have a teaching credential can I apply?
No.  Our program is designed to assist math and science professionals in their transition to teaching careers.  If you are already a credentialed teacher, you are Not eligible to apply.

If I am credentialed in another state can I apply?
No.  California has reciprocal credential agreements with nearly all other states.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And that's a bad thing?  I mean there are thousands of fully-credentialed MATH/SCIENCE teachers without a job right now in California.

I'm at a total loss to come up with a good, defensible reason why an organization whose "mission" —to use their own words—is "focused on closing the achievement gap by recruiting math and science professionals" to teach "in high-need schools in low-income communities as our mission dictates" would then turn away those "professionals" most qualified and able to do so.

When you read on, however, you start to get an idea as to why.  The goal of EnCorps'"Boot Camp" training program is to produce teachers who are "CEO's of their classrooms".

Ay carumba! as Bart Simpson would say.

There's the market-based model at work.

However, if you're a parent in a low-income community—or any community, for that matter—do you want your kids to be taught by:

1) fully-credentialed Math/Science teachers with possibly years/decades of actual teaching experience;

OR

2) totally inexperienced, uncredentialed people just out of a dubious, short "Boot Camp" that trained them into being "CEO's of their classrooms"?

I don't know about you, Robert, but that's not a close call.  Any fully-informed parent would be irate that their principal procured their Math/Science teachers from EnCorps instead of hiring the countless experienced, fully-credentialed teachers who are out there available to work at that parent's school.

Sincerely,

NAME REDACTED

"CEO's of their classrooms" indeed.

No experience required? No, it's required that you have no experience. We wouldn't want the bevy of fully qualified experienced professionals applying for their old jobs back now would we? After all, these days all it takes is five weeks to become a master at anything. Right?

The board of the vile EnCorps, Inc. features the usual suspects, including charlatan Ted Mitchell of NewSchools Venture Fund. None of EnCorps board members or staff are strangers to the profitable school privatization faction. They are all about educating poor kids on the cheap.

Celebrated education professor and author Dr. Diane Ravitch once said:

"The Obama administration is using its unprecedented billions to advance a strategy of deregulation and deprofessionalization."



http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/10/when-capricious-young-says-no.html