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
Caprice Young has her attorneys Dan Wood and Jerry Simmons on speed dial. Caprice is a public figure (or so she has paid expensive publicists to spin her as such) she is fair game open for criticism. Caprice Young would never win a defamation case because the burden of proof is on her to prove that all facts stated here or anywhere else are not true.
100% The Magnolia Science Academy aka Magnolia Public Schools are affiliated with members of the Gulen Movement (Hizmet) They have also taught at other Gulen affiliated schools in the USA. Caprice Young is either smoking too much Turkish hashish or she is delusional with maniac dreams of grandeur she doesn't get it.
It's rumored by many of the people that have worked at Magnolia Public Schools A GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL, that Caprice Young has a yearly salary of $600K to turn around this trouble organization of liars. It would be great if Charter schools were held to the same standard of transparency as traditional public schools which reveals School superintendent salaries. How about Capricious Caprice you want to share your salary? While you are at it, explain and give an accounting of:
Excessive amount of administrators at Magnolia Public Schools A GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL, there are 23 of which 9 are Turkic National (GULENISTS, there is barely 4,000 students enrolled at 11 campuses, it's been stagnant between 3,800 to 4,000 since 2012-2013. Although your pathetic presentation says only 3,400 students but you claim to have waiting lists despite 3 schools are grossly unsustainable under 200 students.
What is the expenses paid to your publicist Larson Communications who is spinning you as some sort of Educational trailblazer and whitewashing Magnolia Public Schools A GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL - please give the breakdown and justify this money spent to market, advertise and public relations of having Congressman Brad Sherman give a Congressional award to a few Magnolia students (same as what the troubled Gulen School in Oklahoma did) Dove Science Academy your sister Gulen school.
What is the legal expenses paid to have Dan Woods send threatening letters to silence your critics? or the expenses for Jerry Simmons to show up at school districts and clean your mess up?
Your reputation proceeds you, 5 counties denied your 8 charter school applications, School Superintendents do not want your schools and your trouble in their districts. You are a failed system of what goes wrong in charter schools when there is no accountability. Should you follow through with your lawfare, I am sure that the media would love it and more school districts would be eager to do business with a troubled charter school known for suing everyone and spending their time sidestepping, whitewashing and not assuming accountability.
May 4th was suppose to be the answer to the above Materials Revision request, but this is the
message on the SCCOE Agenda. Sounds like you are in hot water again.
Exactly what are these "violations" SCCOE is investigating?
I doubt if Jerry Simmons will be able to get you out of this mess.
Trailer for KILLING ED from Visual Truth Projects on Vimeo.
http://killinged.com/
KILLING ED is a new documentary feature film that exposes a shocking truth: that one of the largest networks of taxpayer-funded charter schools in the U.S. are a worst-case-scenario—operated with questionable academic, labor, and H1-B visa standards by members of the “Gülen Movement” – a rapidly expanding, global Islamic group whose leader, Fethullah Gülen, lives in seclusion in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.
KILLING ED enlightens its audiences everywhere with a shocking, first-hand look inside the schools while revealing the corruption of those attempting to privatize our public schools through education ‘reform’ in America.
SIGN Petition to demand investigation of Magnolia Schools
The LA Unified school board is expected on Tuesday to deny more applications for new charter schools and charter renewals than they may approve. This is the first time the recommended denials exceed approvals since the new configuration of the school board was seated last July.
Already, the board has denied as many charters in the past half year than in the previous two school years combined.
On Tuesday’s agenda, three denials have been recommended by LA Unified’s Charter School Division and two approvals. The board is not bound to follow the recommendations but usually does.
Three additional charter proposals, from Magnolia Public Schools, were pulled in advance of the school board meeting because they had been recommended for denial. CEO and Superintendent Caprice Young said she withdrew the three new charter applications last week rather than face the likely rejection by the board. In 2014 LA Unified denied renewals for two of its charters based on what it said were questionable practices. A judge ordered the schools change some of its practices but allowed them to stay open. In May, the board voted to renew the charters and the district settled a lawsuit with Magnolia that the charter organization had filed.
Two of the three schools recommended for denial Tuesday are from the Partnership to Uplift Communities (PUC), which was co-founded by one of the newest school board members, Ref Rodriguez.
It would be the first time in 17 years of operating schools in the district that PUC would be denied, said Jacqueline Elliot, co-founder of PUC, which operates 14 schools in the district. “I haven’t experienced this level of challenge and scrutiny in my two decades as a charter leader in the city,” Elliot said in an email to LA School Report. “But I believe the school board will recognize the tremendous value PUC adds to the school district and will demonstrate leadership by continuing to support our program for the thousands of families hungry for excellent educational opportunities in these neighborhoods.”
Since July, six of 11 applications for new charters in LA Unified have been denied, according to an LA School Report analysis. This represents a 45 percent approval rate, compared with a 77 percent approval rate for the 2014-2015 school year, when 10 were approved and three denied. In 2013-2014, 17 were approved and three denied, for an approval rate of 85 percent.
The reasons for Tuesday’s three recommended denials include low test scores, which the staff report says is “well below the performance of the public schools that the charter school pupils would otherwise have been required to attend.”
The staff found that the charter schools present “an unsound educational program” and that PUC is “demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program.”
Recommended for denial is a renewal for PUC’s Excel Charter Academy and a new charter for PUC’s International Preparatory Academy as well as a new charter for WISH (Westside Innovative School House) Academy High School.
PUC’s 14 schools show mixed results when compared to LA Unified schools in performance on the recent Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced standardized tests. The number of PUC students on average who met or exceeded the standards in the English Language Arts test was 40 percent, compared to 33 percent for the district. However, on the math test, PUC students averaged 23.85 percent, compared to 25 percent for the district.
PUC Excel’s average was below the district average in both math and English, with Excel averaging 28 percent in English and 15 percent in math.
The staff recommended that the board on Tuesday approve new charters for Arts in Action Community Middle School and El Camino Real K-8 Charter School, but the latter is at the former Highlander campus which may have another public school planned for the site and therefore could be denied by the board. The board is also being asked to renew the charter for the Gifted Academy of Mathematics and Entrepreneurial Studies.
Meanwhile, also on the agenda for Tuesday are three violations at charter schools, for Clemente Charter School, Ingenium Charter Middle School and Ingenium Charter Elementary School. The violations include fiscal mismanagement, violations of law and other concerns that the LAUSD staff found.
Independent charter schools are publicly funded but privately managed schools. Most employ non-union teachers, and the school board’s oversight of them is limited. The board can approve or deny new charter applications, and every five years existing charters must be re-approved. The board’s decisions by state law are to be based essentially on if a charter school has a sound educational plan, sound management and its financial situation is in order.
Already, LA Unified has 221 independent charter schools, which is the most of any school district in the country. And many more may be on the way through a new private group, Greater Public Schools Now (GPS Now), which plans a major expansion of school funding.
The school board meeting has a closed session beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday and a later meeting at 1 p.m. * Updated to reflect that Magnolia now says it does not plan to resubmit its applications, and to include information about its settlement with LAUSD. Craig Clough contributed to this story
FREMONT -- A Southern California charter school wants to expand into Fremont, despite a history of financial problems and accusations of it being linked to a controversial Turkish cleric, which its leaders emphatically deny.
In a bizarre twist, an attorney representing the Turkish government spoke against the Magnolia Public Schools charter application at a recent Fremont school board public hearing, saying it has ties to Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. John Martin of Amsterdam & Partners in Washington, D.C., also alleged that Magnolia was not factual in its application.
Magnolia's chief executive officer called the accusations strange and baffling.
FILE In this March 15, 2014 file photo, Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, sits at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, United States. A U.S.-based Muslim cleric, who has become Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s chief foe, went on trial in absentia in Istanbul on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 accused of attempting to overthrow the government by instigating corruption probes in 2013 that targeted people close to the Turkish leader. Gulen and 68 other people, including former police chiefs, have been charged with attempting to overthrow the Turkish republic through the use of violence, leading a terrorist organization and "political espionage." Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Gulen and others. (AP Photo/Selahattin Sevi, File) ( Selahattin Sevi )
"He seems to believe that we are associated with a religious group, which we are not," Magnolia CEO Caprice Young said at the Jan. 13 school board meeting.
"We're not affiliated with anything but educating public school students in California," Young said Friday. The school has straightened out its finances, she said.
The Fremont school board on Wednesday will consider Magnolia Public Schools' request to open a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school. District staff is recommending the petition be denied.
Fremont Unified did not investigate possible connections between Magnolia and the Gulen movement, Superintendent James Morris said.
"We did our analysis of the charter based on the merits of the petition that (was) submitted," he said.
Martin said his law firm was hired by the Turkish government to investigate Gulen and his movement. That investigation led him to Magnolia schools, he said.
Followers of Gulen, a Muslim imam, have U.S. charter schools that emphasize math and science. Martin and others, including the American magazine the New Republic, allege those include Magnolia. There have been accusations of improper use of public funds and importing Turkish teachers in other states, but Magnolia has not been linked to those investigations.
Gulen's followers are believed to operate schools, universities, corporations, nonprofits and publications around the world, according to articles in the New Republic.
Young said she was mystified by the Gulen accusations. Magnolia's founders did include Turkish immigrants who are progressive Muslims who "believe in peace and interfaith dialogue and who see education as a priority, and Gulen is not the only world leader who is professing these things," Young told the Orange County Register.
In 1999, while in the United States, Gulen was charged in Turkey with trying to create an Islamic government. Since then, he has lived in Pennsylvania.
District stance
The school district's staff report lists three reasons it is recommending the charter petition be denied: Magnolia is unlikely to be successful; the petition does not have enough valid signatures; and it does not have comprehensive descriptions of everything required in a charter petition.
The staff report noted that, at a recent public hearing, no parents, students, teachers, district staff members or residents spoke in support of the petition. Several speakers raised concerns about the petitioners and the petition, according to the staff report.
Charter schools are public schools, funded with taxpayer dollars.
Magnolia emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math, and reports high student achievement and test scores.
"We were approached by a group of parents who saw success of our Santa Clara school," Young told the board regarding Magnolia's interest in Fremont.
In Santa Clara County, Magnolia Science Academy won a five-year renewal of its school's charter in 2013 despite concerns about its finances. But the board did compliment the school on its academics.
Enrollment at Magnolia's San Jose school has declined for several years, dropping to 25 percent of projected students in 2015, when it moved from Santa Clara.
Los Angeles Unified School District tried to close three of the eight Magnolia schools because of financial problems, according to the Los Angeles Times. A 2015 state audit confirmed problems with spending controls, but also found that Los Angeles Unified did not give the schools time to get their finances in order before revoking the charters.
Magnolia has addressed the concerns mentioned in the state audit, said Young, a former Los Angeles school board member who was named Magnolia CEO last year.
"We've made some big changes. I contracted out all our accounting to a professional firm. I hired a new chief financial officer," she said.
During the period the state audited, Magnolia hired a number of employees who were not U.S. citizens, primarily from Turkey, according to the state.
"As you know, there's a tremendous shortage of math and science teachers," Young said.
Magnolia submitted charter school applications in several Southern California school districts late last year and many of the teacher signatures on Magnolia's Fremont application also appear on those petitions, according to the staff report. Eight of the teachers live in Los Angeles County and work at other Magnolia schools. Magnolia is aware of the problems with teacher signatures and has withdrawn its petition in other districts, the staff report said.
"What we want to do is make sure our top teachers become seed teachers in our new schools so that what's good about one Magnolia school becomes good about other Magnolia schools," she said.
Martin, the attorney, questioned why Magnolia has only had one local meeting, with parents at the Islamic Center of Fremont. The staff report also noted the single gathering.
"Despite asserting the intent to target Latino students, its single outreach effort did not result in signatures reflecting meaningful interest in enrolling Latino students," the report said.
Young said if the charter was approved, there would be outreach enrollment meetings throughout Fremont.
"We're a public school; we're secular," she said. "We make a point of welcoming all students and all families." http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29430451/turkey-wants-fremont-school-board-reject-charter-school
Gulen-Linked Charter Called Out At California Board Meeting
Forwarded by Tim Furman
So, this just happened out in Fremont, California. The Gulen node out there, Magnolia "Public" Schools, is applying for a charter at Fremont Unified, a respected school district there run by elected people.
And now they have the Gulenists trying to move in. Here's a short clip. The first speaker is Caprice Young, who has been hired to be the head of Magnolia by the actual Gulenists -- the chain itself was on the rocks in LA and they needed to shore up their image; she is almost certainly not in the Movement herself and may indeed not know what is going on, but it is far more likely that she knows exactly what is going on but is choosing to look away in exchange for a fat paycheck. She certainly has a long history with them and a generally terrible reputation. The guy speaking after her is a lawyer from Robert Amsterdam's firm; he is indeed representing the government of Turkey.
