Horizon Science Academy expanded investigation announced by Ohio State Auditor

CLEVELAND -- Bombshell allegations made against a charter school company that runs several schools right here in Northeast Ohio. As we reported in June, the FBI raided several Horizon Science Schools in this area -- and WKYC learned that the Ohio Auditor has launched a special audit into Horizon-Concept schools. This comes as former teachers went before the Ohio Board of Education today with allegations of test-tampering, sexual misconduct and racial slurs against African American students. About a month ago, we told you that the FBI raided some of our local schools-- and now more investigations. "School officials were filling in bubbles on standardized tests, they claimed that it was because students didn't fill in circles dark enough," says Matt Blair, a former teacher. The allegations today were limited to the Horizon Science Academy in Dayton. Concept Schools charter chain runs 19 schools in Ohio, all will be part of a special audit by the Ohio Auditor's office. Teachers said they witnessed racial slurs, sexual activity among students that wasn't reported to parents and unsafe building conditions. The Ohio Department of Education has also said it will investigate the complaints. No Cleveland schools were implicated in the testimony today. Horizon Science Schools in Cleveland have had strong academic records even being named Blue Ribbon Sch

Gulen Horizon Science Academys (Concept Schools) under fire for hiring Turkish immigrants to displace American Teachers

A chain of 19 publicly funded Ohio charter schools, founded by Turkish immigrants, is taking the position that the United States lacks a qualified pool of math and science teachers and is importing perhaps hundreds of Turks to fill the void.

The schools are run almost exclusively by persons of Turkish heritage, some of whom are not U.S. citizens — a new twist in Ohio’s controversial charter-school movement.

In addition, the Horizon and Noble academies, run by Chicago-based Concept Schools, are related through membership, fundraisers and political giving to the nonprofit Niagara Foundation, which provides trips to Turkey for state, local and federal lawmakers.

Among those touring Turkey has been State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican on the powerful finance and appropriations committee and considered to be a leading candidate for House speaker next year. He was joined on the trip by at least four other state legislators and local government leaders from his area in southwest Ohio.

There have been other trips from Ohio, and in Illinois, there are allegations that state officials who took trips showed favoritism in disbursing public dollars to Concept schools.

Public records show that since late 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor has allowed 19 of these schools in Ohio to hire 325 educators almost exclusively from Turkey.

However, as early as 2002, state audits found thousands of public dollars “illegally expended” to finance the U.S. citizenship process for Turkish employees — some fresh out of college with no classroom experience and broken English. Help with legal and immigration fees also extended to their children and families, including the spouses of directors.

The auditor also cited suspect wire transfers, totaling $36,000, and checks made out to “cash” to repay personal loans issued by individuals in Istanbul, Turkey.

Seeking answers

Three of the Ohio schools have been visited by the FBI as part of a multistate probe. The agency said it is part of a white-collar criminal investigation.

Federal agents have not disclosed details, only that the investigation originated in Cleveland, has spread to Indiana and Illinois, and may or may not be connected to previous investigations at related schools in Baton Rouge, La., and Philadelphia.

Last school year, these Ohio charter schools, called Horizon and Noble Academies, received nearly $50 million in public funding transferred from local school districts where students otherwise would have attended.

At $50 million, Concept is among the larger players in Ohio’s charter-school movement, totaling $914 million last year. For years, charter schools have come under fire for poor academic performance and questionable finances.

Concept, founded in suburban Chicago by Turkish men, manages the Ohio charter schools and 11 others in five Midwest states. Its status as a for-profit or nonprofit under IRS standards is not clear.

Murat Efe oversees Concept operations in northern Ohio. His boss, Sedat Duman, controls the company from Des Plaines, Ill.

Former CEOs of Concept schools control Breeze Inc., a real estate company that owns many of the school buildings. As landlords, they collect rent from the publicly funded charter schools. Breeze shares office space with Concept in a building northwest of Chicago.

A Beacon Journal interview scheduled for June 27 with Efe and Salim Ucan, vice president of the company, was canceled by Concept less than a half-hour before it was to occur.

The Beacon Journal also requested records June 12 seeking taxpayer-funded contracts, emails discussing recent FBI investigations and visa applications filed by the schools.

The records were requested of three Concept administrators and 18 school board members.

Only three, all board members, acknowledged that they received the request. One forwarded it to a principal. The other two passed it along to Efe, who has not responded to repeated attempts to reschedule an interview.

In addition, The News Outlet, a student journalism lab headquartered at Youngstown State University, conducted a survey this spring of 20 school board members at Horizon and Noble academies in Northeast Ohio. Few answers were received.

Better than average

Last school year, Ohio’s Turkish-run schools — which offer the Turkish language and promote themselves as specialized in math and science — enrolled more than 6,700 students.

In Cleveland alone, $12 million was transferred from the municipal school district to Concept schools. Academies also exist in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Euclid, Toledo and Youngstown.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, the academies’ performance on state tests varies widely from school to school and year to year. In 2013, 12 received D’s, four C’s and three B’s.

Those scores are better than the average Ohio charter school and often higher than most city school districts where they are located, although some have lower graduation rates.

Political connections

In 2012, Secretary of State John Husted visited Horizon Academies in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, then another in Dayton a year later. In the weeks before and after each visit, people who identified themselves as with Horizon, Concept, Noble or Turkish interests donated $5,400 into Husted’s campaign fund.

A spokesman for Husted said the “donations were really received through fundraising events that were publicized and open to the public” and that the secretary “had no conversations” with donors.

Husted, who has been a leading advocate of charter schools for a decade, is pictured on many Concept school websites, smiling with officials and children.

State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, who could be the next Ohio House speaker, also received $1,850 in 2012.

Three months earlier, Rosenberger joined two other House Republicans and two local officials for a trip to Turkey. The trip, focused on economic development, was paid for by the Niagara Foundation, which also has sponsored dinner at the state capital.

Rosenberger’s office did not answer Beacon Journal requests for information.

Long-distance hiring

Between the fall of 2012 and 2013, the latest year for which numbers are available, the 19 Ohio charter schools sought to import 97 Turkish teachers.

In contrast, Ohio’s public school districts (which enroll roughly 270 times more students) looked overseas only 11 times. More than half of the requests, including one filed by Akron Public Schools, sought Mandarin or Chinese teachers — languages that economists say are in high demand.

Concept Schools, however, pursued visas for 13 Turkish language teachers that year.

To put the hiring practice in perspective, records show that Horizon and Noble academies have attempted to import as many teachers in four years as it would take to staff the state’s largest public high school, with more than 100 teachers to spare.

Former employees allege that Turkish employees generally are paid more than U.S.-born teachers, then asked to contribute as much as 40 percent of their pay to an Islam-based religious movement known as Hizmet that supports interfaith dialog.

The movement is led by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

A Beacon Journal review of visa applications indicates that most teachers recruited from Turkey would receive a starting salary of more than $40,000. That’s higher than the salaries of many existing employees whose names do not reflect Middle Eastern heritage, according to pay data kept by the state treasurer’s office.

And, “They’re not qualified,” said Mary Addi, a former teacher at a Horizon middle school in Cleveland.

One state audit supported her contention by finding as many as 20 percent of teachers at one school were not licensed, and nearly half of all treasurers at 19 schools lacked proper credentials.

“American taxpayers are just so ambivalent about all this. Do they know they are paying for all this?” said Addi, whose husband, Mustafa Emanet, has worked for the schools.

“I worked for them. I was one of them,” he said, saying he and his wife were fired then rehired multiple times. Emanet said he was asked to return 40 percent of his salary, which started at $44,000 in 2006.

“They know the system here and they use the system here,” Emanet said.

State audits also show reimbursement to high-level employees for their pursuit of MBA degrees, along with credit card purchases for alcohol, shampoo, Red Bull and other non-school-related goods.

Now, the Ohio Department of Education is probing allegations that grades and attendance records have been tampered. The matter, first investigated in 2012, has been reopened after the department was publicly criticized for taking it easy on the school’s independent sponsor, which in Ohio handles academic and fiscal oversight.

Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.

 

19 Gulen Charter Schools managed by Concept Schools under Federal Investigation in 3 states

Turkish News having field day with American FBI raid on 19 schools, here is Hocaefendi Fetos
superimposed with the ill-fated FBI raided Indiana Math and Science Academy.

The FBI and two other federal agencies conducted raids in Illinois and two other states at charter schools run by Des Plaines-based Concept Schools, FBI officials said Tuesday.

READ MORE about links to Turkish Gulen Movement:

http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/fbi-raids-concept-schools-illinois-2-other-states/tue-06102014-557pm

and here is the article on FBI raid at Quest Charter Academy in Peoria, IL

 PEORIA — Quest Charter Academy was the subject of a multi-state raid last week in an investigation of charter schools run by Des Plaines-based Concept Schools, according to the FBI.

Read more: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140610/News/140619838#ixzz34RvaComB

 



Concept Schools FBI Search and Seizure extends to 19 Schools Horizon Science

FBI, FCC, and DOE search and seizure under the E-Rate technology grants expands to 19 Gulen operated Concept Schools mostly in Ohio.  See below for staff e mails to warn teachers, parents what to say to media.  

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Federal authorities in Cleveland are examining an Illinois company that manages the local Horizon Science Academy schools and several others in the Midwest, and they have seized documents from several locations in the past week, including here in Ohio.

FBI agents in Cleveland, along with the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission, searched 19 locations, including three in Northern Ohio, regarding Concept Schools, according to interviews and published reports.

Vicki Anderson, an FBI agent in Cleveland, said the search warrants involved "a white-collar matter,'' but she would not specify. The search warrants are sealed.

Anderson said the case "did not involve violence or threats against the school, faculty or students.'' She would not identify the places searched.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reported last week that authorities are looking at financial records from schools managed by Concept Schools, an Illinois-based company.

Almost two-thirds of the 30 schools are in Ohio. Most are science and technology-themed schools, including several Horizon science academies in Northeast Ohio.



In addition to a highly regarded campus of an elementary, middle and high school near E. 60th Street and Interstate 90's Marginal Road, there is a Horizon elementary and middle school on Columbus and Denison avenues in Ohio City. 

Concept also runs Noble Academy at 1200 E. 200th St. in Euclid.



The federal education department named Horizon Science Academy in Cleveland a Blue Ribbon School in 2009, one of eight Ohio "Needles in a Haystack" - schools that succeed even in difficult urban areas.

In 2010, it was cited by the Thomas Fordham Institute. In 2011, the Ohio Department of Education made it one of 122 "Schools of Promise.''

Teachers and educators from across Concepts School were just in Cleveland in March for the network's annual STEM conference.

 On May 30, Eric Waldo, executive director of Michelle Obama's Reach Higher initiative, spoke at the school's graduation ceremony.

The Indianapolis Business Journal quoted a spokeswoman from an Indianapolis school, who said agents requested documents that were part of an audit the U.S. Department of Education was conducting of federal "e-rate'' grant programs.

"Earlier this week we were asked to provide information to U.S. Department of Education officials as part of a larger federal audit of e-rate technology grants," the school official said in a statement.

"Those officials indicated they are auditing the funds dispersed to various schools to verify that work paid for with e-rate grants was completed as reported.''

Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O'Donnell contributed reporting for this story.

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2014/06/fbi_agents_in_cleveland_examin.html

 

PLEASE READ CHARTER SCHOOL WATCH DOGS ARTICLE

http://www.charterschoolwatchdog.com/the-starting-point.html

http://www.charterschoolwatchdog.com/

 

Horizon Science Academies part of Gulen Concept Schools are racist against African Americans

In this tweet CEO of Concept Schools Salim Ucan refers to African American Children as "AA Kids"

Here the Concept Schools boasts about the Turkish Olympiads and takes a photo of their rehearsals African American Girls in Turkish Costumes.  Why are they not allowing a show case of African American culture.

STOP Gulen in USA politics and Education STOP CONCEPT SCHOOLS

http://stopconceptinc.tumblr.com/

Learn more how you can be a part of taking down the Gulen Stench in the USA.

Lets send the Gulen Movement packing back on the Orient Express to Istanbul to face charges of

trying to overthrow the secular government of Turkey.

Gulen Chicago corruption exposed by Chicago Sun Times, declined approval for schools at local level Gulenists go to state for favors

House Speaker and state Democratic Party chair Michael Madigan (left) shakes hands with Mustafa Demir, the mayor of Fatih district in Turkey.  Mustafa Demir was picked up on corruption charges in Turkey (one of 50 in the latest Gulen drama) on December 17, 2013

 

 

EXCELLENT article how the Concept Schools (Midwest operation of the Gulen Movement) was rejected by the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) for 2 new charter schools in the Chicago area under the Horizon Science name. The Gulen political bribing machine, then went to State Democratic leader and house speaker Madigan who had previously been a guest of Hizmet on the famous FREE trips to Turkey. MADIGAN overturned this REJECTION at the state level--and the Gulen Movement got the approval for 2 new schools in the Chicago area. One of these schools in going to be at a former factory site and there is serious concern over a toxic waste report. Madigan is an ASS.

When you read how Madigan and his staff got 4 trips to Turkey, not to mention how his son and other family members benefit from the Gulen “Concept Schools”  we really get a grasp of just how corrupt Illinois politics really is. 

 

By writer researcher Dan Mihalopoulos:

 

Updated: December 23, 2013 5:15PM 

When Concept Schools Inc. wanted to open two charter schools in Chicago last year, it sought permission from Chicago Public Schools officials.

The answer was no.

CPS officials have allowed the rapid expansion of charters. But they turned down Concept. They said the charter operator, headquartered in Des Plaines, didn’t merit being allowed to expand based on test scores at its one city school, the Chicago Math and Science Academy in Rogers Park.

Concept Schools appealed to a higher authority: the little-known Illinois State Charter School Commission. The state agency was created in 2011 by lawmakers including House Speaker Michael Madigan, the South Side Democrat who’s a powerful advocate of Concept and the faith-based Gulen movement to which the schools are connected.

This time, the answer was yes.

As the first, and so far only, charter operator to benefit from the decisions of the 2-year-old state agency, Concept is getting 33 percent more funding per pupil for those two new schools than the city school system gives other charters.

Madigan, who’s also the Illinois Democratic Party chairman, visited Concept’s Chicago Math and Science Academy last year. In a video the school posted on YouTube, Madigan praised the school, founded and run by Turkish immigrants.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/24480273-452/cps-s

CHARTER OFFICIAL
MADE $100,000 
ON DEAL

Like most charter schools, Concept Schools’ Chicago Math and Science Academy relies on local taxpayers for more than 92 percent of its $6 million-a-year budget.

CMSA sold its building in Rogers Park two years ago to a related not-for-profit company called New Plan Learning, which went to Wall Street to borrow $33.1 million through a bond issue to buy the North Side campus, add a gym and expand three other Concept schools in Ohio.

CMSA is on the hook to pay about $40 million in rent to New Plan Learning over 30 years to pay its share of the debt. Their only other option, school officials said, was to default on loans they took out in 2009 to buy the school’s current building in Rogers Park.

The school’s current board president, Edip Pektas, was treasurer at the time and recused himself from the bond-deal votes. School records show New Plan Learning paid $100,000 to Pektas as a financial adviser.

Pektas’ role with New Plan Learning was identified in bond documents. But those statements — given to potential bond buyers — did not disclose his CMSA board position.

ays-no-to-charter-schools-but-michael-madigan-says-yes.

Researcher and writer Dan Mihalopoulos connects the dots of Concept School officals with the various Gulen Movement front groups in the USA

The three Concept schools in Chicago are among more than 150 U.S. schools tied to the worldwide Gulen movement, according to Joshua D. Hendrick, a sociology professor at Loyola University Maryland and author of a recent book on the movement.

“They’re absolutely related,” Hendrick said of the charter schools and the other Turkish groups in Chicago.

Among the ties:

◆ The board president for Concept’s Chicago Math and Science Academy, Edip Pektas, is secretary of the Turkic American Federation of Midwest, an umbrella group for the Niagara Foundation and the Turkish chamber. “The Turkish American community is a smaller community in the region, and whenever there’s an activity, my name comes up,” Pektas said to questions about ties between the school and other groups.

 

◆ CMSA’s former treasurer Hasan Ali Yurtsever was president of the Gulen-affiliated Rumi Forum in Washington, D.C. In a 2007 interview at Georgetown University, Yurtsever said Gulen was a close family friend.

◆ Another former CMSA board member, Murat Surucu, was on the board of a Gulen-inspired group in California before moving to Chicago.

◆ Yavuz Burak Canbolat was the Turkish chamber’s treasurer at the same time he was CMSA president, from 2009 to 2011.

◆ Concept vice president Salim Ucan was principal of the Science Academy of Chicago, now located in Mount Prospect. That private school was started by Niagara Educational Services, which created the Niagara Foundation.

Niagara Foundation officials say they broke with Niagara Educational Services in 2009. But records show the Niagara Foundation’s president and another current board member were on the Niagara Educational Services board while it was owed loan payments by Concept’s real estate arm and while it leased a building to a Concept school in Ohio.

Despite the connections with Gulenists, Ucan said, “Concept Schools is not affiliated with, nor does it promote, any political or religious agendas.”

 

http://www.suntimes.com/photos/galleries/24562205-417/concept-schools-linked-to-turkish-cleric.html

GULEN POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD WILL GO TO MADIGAN,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gulen Charter Schools in trouble Cook County, Illinois CHICAGO

Concept Schools expansion of CMSA stopped by community opposed to Gulenists managed charter schools

Gulenist operated charter schools in the midwest are under the Concept Schools management, headed by liar Salim Ucan.  Salim aka Salim the Slime has had many problems with paying back h1-b Visa fees and other schools being denied.

 

 

 

A charter school company has pulled out of a possible Lincoln Square location after residents protested the school at a neighborhood meeting.

A Concept Schools representative said community resistance and poor timing led officials to withdraw their request for the charter school’s location. The charter school management company applied for a zoning change at 2050 W. Balmoral Ave. with Ward 40 Ald. Patrick O’Connor earlier in March.

Residents and members of the Chicago Teachers Union objected the proposal at a Bowmanville Community Organization meeting March 21. A 70-person crowd convened outside of the North Community Bank on Western Avenue, and BCO representatives had to limit the number of residents inside the bank due to fire code restrictions.

The meeting was the same night CPS announced nearby Trumbull Elementary School was on a list of 54 schools to close in the fall of 2013, when the proposed charter school would open.

“It was probably the worst timing for us to be there that night,” Concept Schools Vice President Salim Ucan told Patch. “We kind of expected that. Alderman O’Connor had given us a head’s up on what the issues might be, so we knew going in that we may face some challenges."

Ucan said he understood the community’s perspective on the new charter school because of its close proximity to Trumbull.

“It doesn’t make sense to shut down the facility and have an empty building and build another facility two blocks from it,” he said.

 

Read Entire Article here

http://lincolnsquare.patch.com/articles/charter-school-pulls-out-of-lincoln-square-location

 



Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA), under Concept Schools takes Trip to Turkey

Over Spring Break, some members of our CMSA family went to Turkey as part of the annual Spring Break International trips organized by Concept Schools.
A group of 42 CMSA students, parents, teachers and chaperons had a chance to visit Turkey’s major cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, and Kayseri where they explored the country’s major touristic attractions. They had the opportunity to experience the culture and traditions first hand and taste the various flavors of Turkish cuisine. All participants admitted to having enjoyed the trip and many of them are eager to visit Turkey once again.
We would like to thank all of our participants for making our trip so enjoyable. We also appreciate the effort Concept Schools put into creating such a well organized trip for us.
http://www.cmsaonline.net/?p=5660


posing in front of the former Church St. Hagia Sophia, converted to the Grand Mosque now a museum with no mention of the original builders of the one - time church.
isn't there something creepy about a church converted to a mosque?

Concepts School Teacher Reports Gulen Charter Schools.