Horizon Science Academy attempts to sue State of Ohio for loss of educational grant money #Gulen #MoneyFraud #SalimUcan #ConceptSchools

Horizon Science Academy sues Ohio for loss of educational grants from Gulen Cemaat

By Emily Bamforth, cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A dozen Horizon Science Academies, part of a series of charter schools in Ohio, are suing over denied Ohio Department of Education grant money, claiming the rules for the grant were changed after the application process. Three Horizon Science Academy Schools are in the Northeast Ohio area, including the Horizon Science Academy of Lorain and Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Middle and High schools. Twelve schools throughout the state are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which names the Ohio Department of Education, Gov. Mike DeWine, the state school superintendent and the director of community schools as respondents. Read the full lawsuit in the document viewer at the bottom of this post. Mobile viewers, click here. The lawsuit, filed in the Ohio Supreme Court, refers to the “Quality Community Schools Support Grant” created through House Bill 166, a state budget bill. Community schools are commonly referred to as charter schools, which are operated as public schools but not controlled by a school district. Horizon Science Academies are open admission. If applications exceed the number of spots, students are chosen through a lottery. Under the grant, qualified charter schools are eligible to receive up to $1,750 each fiscal year for each pupil identified as economically disadvantaged and up to $1,000 each fiscal year for all other students, according to the Ohio Department of Education website. Horizon Science Academies officials applied for the grant, believing the schools met criteria. But, according to the lawsuit, the application was denied because of an additional restriction allegedly not part of the state bill or the application form. The independent school boards running Horizon Science Academies contract with Illinois-based Concept Schools NFP. The lawsuit claims funding was denied because Concept is not registered with the state of Ohio as a foreign corporation. An attached letter in the lawsuit from Office of Community Schools Director Karl Koenig describing the denial reads: “Specifically, Concept Schools NFP is not registered as a foreign corporation with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office and, therefore, is not in good standing in Ohio.” Horizon officials claim that information was not stated as a requirement on the application form and when the schools followed up with the state on the application, that issue did not come up as a concern. Horizon also claims that Concept is registered with the state already. The schools are asking that the state approve the grant applications. Ohio Department of Education officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The Ohio Department of Education also rejected other schools, including the for-profit Accel Schools chain, because of issues with corporate registrations. In Accel’s case, some schools that failed to meet academic criteria may have qualified for money because other Accel-run schools received a federal grant, according to previous Plain Dealer reporting. The state claimed that the company’s registration did not link operations in Ohio to other Accel-run schools. Some other Concept-run schools qualified for the money by meeting academic criteria. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/06/dozen-ohio-horizon-science-academies-sue-ohio-department-of-education-over-denied-grant-funding.html A dozen charter schools, Horizon Science Academies, including the Horizon Science Academy of Youngstown, are suing the Ohio Department of Education over denied grant money, claiming the rules for the grant were changed after the application process. The funds were to be awarded as part of a two-year Quality Community Schools Support Grant (QSF) which recognizes schools that provide quality education to underserved populations. According to the release from Horizon Science Academies, the lawsuit comes as a last-resort effort after the ODE refused to reconsider its improper decision. The twelve schools are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which names the Ohio Department of Education, Gov. Mike DeWine, the state school superintendent and the director of community schools as respondents. Horizon Science's press release said the lack of funding is negatively affecting nearly 4,500 students of the academy. On average, 83 percent of Horizon Science's students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Tim Clements, an attorney with Nicola, Gudbranson & Cooper, said that the Horizon schools met all the criteria of the grant as it was originally intentioned. "The new criterion retroactively used by the ODE, after the HSAs had already applied for the QSF, was not in HB 166 which the Ohio legislature passed when creating the funding," said Clements. "That's why we're claiming that the ODE exceeded its authority under Ohio law when it inappropriately used an undisclosed requirement for HSA's operator to be registered with Ohio's secretary of state to justify denying funding to these 12 schools." The schools’ lawsuit points out that the requirement was never intended by Ohio’s legislature and has nothing to do with the quality education that the HSAs provide to their students. Ohio Department of Education officials has not publicly commented on the lawsuit. https://www.wfmj.com/story/42255343/horizon-science-academy-of-youngstown-suing-ohio-department-of-education

Buckeye Hope Community Foundation dba Concept Schools HORIZON SCIENCE ACADEMY financial transparency

The main sponsor of Concept Schools dba Horizon Science Academy is Buckeye Hope Community Foundation.  There has been countless requests by the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding www.ohiocoalition.org Asking for transparency of finances.   Buckeye Hope Community Foundation which receives public money for housing and charter schools is under the impression they don't fall under transparency laws.  
Lets hope out the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding,  Below the last 990 tax returns filed by Buckeye Hope Community Foundation, 2015.  Review the salaries of the board members and note that Margeret Young who handles "School Services" has a listed salary in excess of $200K a year. 
Why the cloak of darkness? Shame on Buckeye Community Hope Foundation stealing from the most vulnerable of society and not being accountable to tax payers.   

Public has a right to know – except in charter school business

To the editor:

On June 8, the Columbus Dispatch published a column by Denis Smith, a former consultant in the Ohio Department of Education's charter school office, about the Ohio Public Records Law and a May 2 request sent to two charter school sponsors by Ohio E&A and the state education agency for records pertaining to the Gulen charter school chain operating in Ohio. 

After five weeks, there has been no response from ODE and one of the sponsors, the ESC of Lake Erie West. 

The second sponsor, the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, did reply on June 4 and said that it is "not a public entity subject to public records requests."

The state education agency of the State of Ohio ignores a request for public records dealing with publicly funded schools. 

A public school entity, an educational service center, ignores a request for public records dealing with publicly funded schools. 

A charter school sponsor, who receives millions in public funds, says it is a private, not public entity and does not have to comply with a public records request. 

All three were asked about information regarding the operation of 17 schools funded by the public.

What is wrong with this picture?

(• Note: Since the publication of the article, ESC of Lake Erie West submitted the information requested.)

Sincerely,
William L. Phillis
Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding
www.ohiocoalition.org

https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/Opinions/Opinion/Article/Public-has-a-right-to-know-except-in-charter-school-business/4/22/44776

Buckeye Community Hope Foundation dba Concept Schools from Gulen Cemaat

Horizon Science Academy Gulen Charter School Sexual contact with Teacher

http://wgntv.com/2017/11/08/chicago-charter-school-teacher-accused-of-sexual-relationship-with-underage-student/

CHICAGO --  A criminal investigation by two separate agencies is underway after a female teacher was accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage male student.

The investigation centers on Horizon Science Academy Southwest, a Chicago Charter School at 54th and Western in the city's Gage Park community centered on STEM.

A school spokesman said administrators became aware of the allegations earlier this week and that the individual in question has been an instructor at the school since 2014 which is the same year Horizon opened with a kindergarten through 8th grade enrollment and has added one grade per year since eventually hoping to achieve a K-12 campus.

Dr. Christoper Murphy from Horizon issued a statement:

"Following allegations of gross misconduct by a staff member on Monday November 6, school administration began conducting an internal investigation.  As the allegations involved a minor, the school contacted the IL Department of Child and Family Services and Chicago police.  Pending the outcome of the investigation, the staff member has been placed on unpaid administrative leave."

Chicago police told the minor told his parents who then approached school officials.

The Department of Child and Family Services confirmed that an official inquiry by that agency is taking place. A spokesman could not elaborate.

"DCFS is investigating the case involving a teacher at Horizon Science Academy. The investigation is pending. No further details are available at this time."

Typically, investigations like this between teacher and student, among other aspects, try to identify any texting or emails as well as interviewing other teachers and staff.

If found guilty the teacher could face prison time and would have to register as a sex offender.

NAACP calls for investigation of all Gulen charter schools

Did you know that Muhammed Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi (pictured), an Imam who exited Turkey and is sequestered in rural Pennsylvania, is operating the second largest affiliated network of charter schools in the United States? (Yes, this is the same Gülen that Michael Flynn allegedly was trying to have extradited from the United States)

In the past I have blogged about the Gülen-affiliated charter schools in the posts Bad Charters, Bad Charters, “Whatcha gonna do when they come for you” and Gulen-affiliated charter schools are bad apples? and Empire of Deceit says charters squandering taxes and violating immigration laws.

When I watched the film Killing Ed, I was skeptical, as I am paid to be. So when I was in Houston to give a talk at Rice University, I ran into a former Gülen Harmony student and asked a few questions.

Q: Was it true that the Gülen schools were populated with many teachers from Turkey who had difficulty speaking English

A: Yes

Q: Was it true that some students didn’t actually do their own science projects as alleged in the film Killing Ed.

A: Yes

I spent more time confirming with the student some of the other allegations about lack of playgrounds, self-dealing, and aberrant behavior from administrators. I was shocked their behavior was being allowed in Texas.

So, I am announcing today, in addition to getting the negative attention they deserve from law enforcement and the media, the California NAACP has now stepped up to the plate with a resolution to call for an investigation of ALL the Gülen charter schools.

RESOLUTION #16 CONCERNING THE IMPACT OF GÜLEN CHARTER SCHOOLS

WHEREAS, there exists over 200 schools in the United States operated by the Gülen Organization, teaching over 80,000 American students. This organization operates under the names Magnolia Science Academy (CA), Horizon Science Academy (OH , IL), Harmony Science Academy (TX), Sonoran Science Academy (AR), Coral Academy of Science (NV), Dove Science Academy (OK), as well as others.

WHEREAS, audits having been conducted in LAUSD, the State of Oklahoma, the State of Georgia (resulting in their closure), the State of New York, have resulted in a pattern of massive accounting irregularities involving without limitation the use of Gülen related landlords such as Terra (NY, NJ), the Sky Foundation (OK), Harmony Public Schools (TX), Concept Schools (IL, OH), the use of Gülen Related Management Companies such as Accord (CA), Concept Education Services (OH), Apple Education (NJ), Terra Science and Education (NY), as well as others.

WHEREAS, Gülen schools; such as Magnolia (CA) have targeted the African American and Hispanic communities as shown in the documentary film Killing Ed.

WHEREAS, all 200 Gülen schools recruit teachers from Turkey under the H – 1B Visa program thereby replacing fully qualified American teachers.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the California NAACP urges federal, state and local authorities to conduct forensic audits of both the schools, and the management organizations operating them.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the California NAACP further urges that these investigations be conducted by state and federal auditors as opposed to state boards of education, as well as other relevant investigations necessary to evaluate fully the apparent, suspect financial dealings, visa misuse, and highly suspicious conduct.

If you want to understand depth, breadth and shocking nature of the alleged malfeasance against Gülen-affiliated charter schools, I highly recommend you check out the film Killing Ed. (Also, check out the Empire of Deceit website) As shown in the film, the Gülen-affiliated charter schools are some of the worst proverbial bad apples in the charter sector.

What is really disconcerting about charter schools is that they stick together like glue no matter the malfeasance shown to them. They use their charter lobbying associations in California, Texas and elsewhere to fervently protect these bad apples regardless of alleged illegal activity. While charter schools, their leaders, and supporters say vehemently in public that they support transparency and accountability, the $$$$$$$ that they spend in legislatures says loudly otherwise.

Incidentally, one of the Gülen-affiliated Magnolia schools petitioning for re-authorization was rejected recently by the LA school board. Although, the LAUSD board did broker a political deal to allow many, many other charters through. However, in the past the LA County board has overruled LAUSD’s local-control to keep the “embattled” Magnolia.

Please stay tuned to Cloaking Inequity for the other education resolutions passed by the California NAACP. Also, here is another controversial resolution we passed at the convention— but right and important. California NAACP seeks to remove ‘Banner’ as anthem, supports Kaepernick

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Robert Amsterdam Presents "Empire of Deceit: An Investigation into the Gulen Schools

EMPIRE OF DECEIT book can be downloaded from website

http://www.empireofdeceit.com 

EMPIRE OF DECEIT book can be downloaded from website

http://www.empireofdeceit.com 

Horizon Science Academies - Charter Schools still abuse American money

When I worked in the Ohio Department of Education’s charter school office, I was able to observe charter school abuses up close. Since my retirement in 2011, I’ve watched from the outside as the pace of abuse has increased. Consider these:

· The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, which leads the state in the number of student dropouts, recently received state approval to remake itself as a school that promises to help dropouts. Why? The rules for dropout recovery schools are even more lax than the already weak ones that govern other charter schools.

· The Columbus Primary Academy, part of the Imagine Schools charter chain, is saddled with a lease that requires exorbitant rent to Imagine’s for-profit real estate subsidiary. In two other states, federal courts deemed the leases “self-dealing’’ and ordered Imagine to pay $1 million fines. The latest state audit shows the academy’s current lease extends to 2033, while the latest state report cards shows the school continues to fail our kids.

· Ohio charters affiliated with the Gulen movement received mostly Fs on their report cards — a pattern too common in Ohio where charter schools have been sold as a better alternative to traditional public schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded but privately managed. Ohio has some very good charter schools, but it has more very bad ones. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence that the worst performing ones need to be closed, Ohio legislators and other policymakers have been slow to embrace comprehensive charter reform and downplay the steady parade of scandals.

A new book, Empire of Deceit, provides a look at charter schools in Ohio and 27 other states run by followers of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Gulen schools in Ohio took center stage more than three years ago when a panel of teachers who worked for the Horizon Science Academy of Dayton testified before the State Board of Education about problems they personally witnessed: widespread test-tampering; a teacher who encouraged an in-class groping game; teachers who openly referred to African-American students as “dogs;’’ a “Science Academy’’ with no working labs.

The state school board launched a supposed investigation into the teachers’ allegations that found no wrongdoing. Those of us who support comprehensive reform were not surprised by the lack of action by the board in what other Gulen critics thought was a cover-up.

The new book shows how these Ohio charter school scandals, which have been well documented by Ohio journalists, are part of a national trend.

It shows there have been 833 “special occupation” visas filed by the Ohio Gulen network alone. Instead of hiring qualified Ohioans, the schools obtained visas to hire Turkish nationals to fill positions such as assistant principal, art director and even English teacher.

These statistics follow news reports showing that the U.S. State Department raised serious and repeated concerns about the schools, sending cables to the CIA, secretary of defense and the president’s National Security Council. Special attention was paid to the large number of Turkish nationals with questionable credentials seeking visas to teach at U.S. charter schools. 

The book details a property lease signed by a board member of an Ohio-based school that resulted in the school paying him in rent three times the purchase price of the property. These lease payments are similar to some found in Imagine schools.

Should we mention that the board member of this school was also the landlord?

It’s time for parents, teachers, school district officials, lawmakers, charter school proponents and other concerned citizens to demand immediate reforms for a system that sends more than $1 billion annually in taxpayer funds to mostly low-performing charter schools that abuse public money.

Last year, Ohio passed a new law that improved accountability, made it easier to close some chronically failing schools and banned some conflict-of-interest business relationships. The continued scandals, poor academic performance and abusive leases show we have more work to do.

Let’s find a way to close the bad charter schools and invest in the good ones to ensure a better return on investment of our tax dollars and a quality education for all of our children. We can’t do anything less for our future.

Smith is a retired school administrator and a former consultant in the Ohio Department of Education’s charter school office.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/editorial/commentary/denis-smith-charters-schools-still-abusing-public-money

Gulen Charter Schools under US scrutiny- Horizon Science Academy

FETO, a designated terror group in Turkey, has established itself abroad through companies, foundations, media outlets and charter schools.

The leader of the network, Fethullah Gulen is accused by Turkey of being behind a bloody coup attempt which left 249 people dead and more than 2,000 injured in the country last July. 

Gulen, currently living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denied the charge and continues to fight against  Ankara's extradition demands.  

His movement controls 163 schools across the country, teaching around 70,000 students. Now some schools linked to his network have come under investigation in the US over allegations of financial misconduct.

"In the state of New Jersey alone, a chain of charter schools is linked to the Gulen Movement, also known as FETO. The organisation's attempt to launch a fifth school in this state was denied, after the board of education said it had used "forged and fraudulent" petitions to show community support for its initiative,"  Ersin Konkur, a former maths teacher in a Gulen-linked school, told TRT World. 

Gulen Schools in Ohio Complaint Filed, Concept Schools

Gulen Schools in Ohio Filed complaint HORIZON SCHOOLS et al from Gulen Cemaat

Attorney for Republic of Turkey assists Ohio Americans with justice against Gulen charter schools.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A lawyer for the Turkish government hired to investigate publicly funded U.S. charter schools started by the followers of a reclusive Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania is filing a formal complaint with Ohio's auditor.

Attorney Robert Amsterdam announced the complaint Tuesday, alleging that a network of Ohio charter schools has engaged in improper relationships with its management company and landlord, with their business subsidiaries and with each other.

The complaint also asserts that Horizon Science Academies and Noble Academies have ties to Fethullah Gulen (feh-TOO'-lah goo-LEHN'), a political foe of Turkish President Recep Erdogan (REH'-jehp UR'-doh-wahn). Erdogan's government alleges Gulen was the mastermind of a July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.

A message seeking comment from the Chicago-based Concept Schools, which manage the Horizon and Noble academies, was not immediately returned.

The complaint asks Republican Auditor Dave Yost to investigate alleged "abusive property deals and leasing arrangements" made possible by close affiliations between Concept Schools and its affiliated vendors.

https://apnews.com/79108a6029e844959e1a063daea70913

US Educational Tax Dollars Used To Fund Turkish Coup-Horizon Science Academy

Senator speaks out on Gulen Concept Schools and Teachers testimonies of racism, bigotry and test cheating

Gulen operated Schools State Senator concerns of racism and other illegal issues from Gulen Cemaat

Concept Schools raided by the FBI freeze on Government bonds and grants ongoing investigation

Weeks after being raided by federal authorities, Concept Schools asked the U.S. Department of Education for about $340,000 for its 

Horizon Science Academy-Southwest Chicago Charter School, 5401 S. Western Ave. It got the money. Leslie Adkins / Sun-Times

Dan Mihalopoulos

@dmihalopoulos | email

Des Plaines-based Concept Schools applied for and was awarded a nearly $340,000
 federal grant for a new school on the Southwest Side despite being under investigation 
over allegations the clout-heavy charter-school operator was involved in defrauding a
 federal grant program, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.

Concept — whose privately run, publicly financed schools include four campuses in
 Chicago — applied to the U.S. Department of Education for the money five weeks 
after the FBI and other federal agencies raided Concept locations across the Midwest 
on June 4, 2014.

Those 19 locations included its headquarters and Chicago Math and Science Academy
 in Rogers Park, the Sun-Times has reported.

The Department of Education approved the grant last year for Concept’s Horizon Science Academy-Southwest Chicago Charter School, 5401 S. Western Ave., awarding nearly all the money Concept asked for — $337,138 over three years. Concept had asked for more than $343,000 over two years, noting that most of the students at the school come from low-income families.

They were to receive about $200,000 of that last year, though an Education Department spokeswoman said Friday the money is now on hold.

In its grant application, Concept said the money would cover expenses including textbooks for 450 students, furniture, laptops and printers for administrators, supplies and travel to conferences.

Concept didn’t mention the raids — carried out as part of what an FBI spokeswoman told the Sun-Times remains an ongoing investigation. But the charter operator did mention its board of directors included a Cook County circuit judge, Dominique Ross, and that its advisory board included G.A. Finch, former chief of staff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Finch, a lawyer in private practice, said Concept vice president Salim Ucan offered him a spot on the advisory panel four or five years ago.

“I was asked to be on it and never heard anything further,” Finch said Friday.

The Department of Education awarded the money even though the agency’s own inspector general’s office was involved in the investigation.

Geoffrey Wood, a special agent with that office, filed the “application for a search warrant” that convinced a federal judge in Chicago to approve the June 2014 raids, which sought records concerning Concept’s involvement in the government’s “E-Rate” program. That program provides money to extend Internet access to schools serving low-income students.

According to a sworn statement from Wood, Concept violated government open-bidding rules by steering more than $5 million in grant money to companies with insider ties to the charter operator. Those “related vendors” did work for Concept under the E-Rate program, according to Wood.

Catherine Grant, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General, said Friday, “Our investigation is ongoing, and, per our policy, we do not discuss our ongoing work.”

Asked whether the inspector general’s office let other agency officials know it was looking into Concept, Grant said, “It is our normal practice to inform the department when we open an investigation.”

Dorie Nolt, the Department of Education’s press secretary, said Friday: “We are monitoring this situation, and we have restricted Concept charter schools’ access to federal grant funds. As we learn more details about this matter, we will take additional steps, as necessary.”

She would not say when the agency moved to freeze the grant to Concept.

All that Concept officials would say was that they were “gratified” and “proud” to win the grant, “awarded to only five schools in 2015,” according to a company spokesman.

Founded in 1999 by Turkish immigrants, Concept is one of several charter chains nationwide with ties to Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric from Turkey who has lived for years in Pennsylvania. After falling out with Turkey’s leader, he faces charges of trying to overthrow the government.

From Des Plaines, Concept oversees more than 30 campuses in seven states, including four schools in Chicago with a total of about 2,200 students.

Its Chicago Math and Science Academy and Horizon Science Academy-Southwest Chicago Charter School were awarded their charters by the Chicago Board of Education, which provides most of their funding.

Two other Concept campuses in Chicago were granted charters by the Illinois State Charter School Commission, which ordered CPS to fund them over Chicago school officials’ objections.

Concept has close ties with political figures including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who visited the Rogers Park campus and filmed a video testimonial.

Horizon Science Academy a Gulen operated school former teacher speaks up

Gulen Charter Schools, Terrorism and Fraud on the American People by ex ...

Supreme court looks at tax-exempt status of firm attached to lease of Horizon Science Academy

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/04/19/court-to-decide-if-company-that-leases-property-to-charter-schools-is-subject-to-taxes.html

The Ohio Supreme Court will decide if a company that owns and leases property to publicly funded charter schools should have to pay taxes.

Ohio Tax Commissioner Joseph Testa and the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ruled that a company, 250 Shoup Mill LLC, owes local taxes on property it leases to Horizon Science Academy, a public charter school in Dayton.

Before the high court today, an attorney for 250 Shoup Mill countered that it is a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity and should not have to pay taxes. The company is a subsidiary of New Plan Learning, which owns properties it leases to 11 New Horizon schools in Ohio, including two in Columbus.

The Dayton charter school pays 250 Shoup Mill $33,000 a month, or $396,000 a year, to lease its property. The lease money comes from Ohio taxpayers through the Ohio Department of Education, which funds both public and charter schools.

Testa's office concluded that while the charter school was exempt from taxation in 2010, 250 Shoup Mill was not. Testa's office denied the group's application for a tax exemption, a decision affirmed by the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals.

"This has all the hallmarks of a commercial lease, including annual increases in those payments that happen by the virtue of the passage of time and penalties for default," said Melissa Baldwin, an assistant attorney general representing Testa's office.

M. Charles Collins, an attorney representing 250 Shoup Mill, said the company qualifies for the tax exemption as a charitable and educational entity even though it collects rent but does not operate the school and has no "expectation, intent or desire to profit from this."

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor questioned Collins about how it would be appropriate for taxpayers to pay $33,000-a-month lease for a charter school building valued at about $3 million that at the end of the lease would still be owned by a private company.

However the decision goes, it won't matter going forward because in 2011 the General Assembly slipped a provision into the state budget expanding the tax exemption to cover charter school property owners like 250 Shoup Mill, in addition to school operators.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

Watch Ohio Supreme Court Case on this

Turkic Alliance FBI raided Gulen Concept Schools and Rahm Emanuel's Soiree Friend's Find FBI Probe - 93

Horizon Science Academies dba Concept Schools another lawsuit

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/investigations/lawsuit-alleging-discrimination-called-not-true-by-cleveland-charter-school-operator

Ohio Turkish Schools raided by FBI - Sponsor Buckeye Community Hope still stands by their racism, sexism and poor performance?

Buckeye Community Hope Foundation sponsors the Concept Schools (Horizon Science Academies)
in Ohio the same schools that were raided by the FBI, have sexism, racism and low report cards.
Yet Buckeye doesn't see any reason to pull back support from the schools after urging from
several groups.  Maybe they would miss that government MONEY

Send Peggy Young an email at http://buckeyehope.org/contact/
Tell her how you feel as a tax payer

        44357         

Ohio Foundation Faces Pressure to Shutter Charters Under FBI, State Scrutiny

By Arianna Prothero on January 28, 2015                             

Updated
A group of activists are calling for a chain of Ohio charter schools that have been under both FBI and state investigations to be shut down.
February 1 is the deadline for all state sponsors—the entities that authorize and oversee charter schools—to decide whether to renew charter contracts for the independently run but publicly funded schools.
Representatives from the Cleveland Teachers' Union; the Ohio Parent Teachers Association; and Policy Matters Ohio, a research and advocacy organization; are pressuring the Columbus-based Buckeye Community Hope Foundation not to renew nine charter contracts for Concept Schools, a charter management company.
Concept Schools, which runs campuses in Illinois and Indiana as well as Ohio, has been at the center of its fair share of controversy since last summer. Details from a July Cincinnati Enquirer story:

"[Nineteen] Ohio charter schools managed by Chicago-based Concept Schools are under investigation by state officials. Both the Department of Education and Ohio Auditor Dave Yost launched investigations after former teachers and a student at the Horizon Dayton school made complaints to the State Board of Education about alleged sexual misconduct and tampering with test and attendance records."

And the Akron Beacon Journal reported in June that Concept Schools had also been previously investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor for hiring foreign workers:

"Ohio audits found that public money for the schools had been used improperly for visas. Concept received more visas for immigrant workers than Google in 2009, and many of the school's employees are of Turkish descent. Most of the nonprofit schools' board members in Northeast Ohio are male and of Turkish descent."

"I think this represents the first time we've seen a trifecta of bad behavior from a charter school operator," Amy Hanauer of Policy Matters Ohio said during a call with reporters. "Clearly, these ... schools should not be renewed."
Policy Matters, along with its coalition partners, sent a letter to Buckeye Community Hope Foundation saying just that.
"Buckeye Community Hope Foundation does not base its sponsorship decisions on unproven allegations - that would be grossly inappropriate and unfair to countless students who attend the schools managed by Concept Schools," Peggy Young, the director of Buckeye's education division, said in an email. "We implement a comprehensive performance accountability and compliance monitoring system that provides the information necessary to make these rigorous and standards based renewal, and intervention decisions."
This situation in Ohio represents a bigger shift in the state and nationally.
Charter schools have long endured criticism from skeptics who say they misuse taxpayer dollars. But the laws and sponsors, often called authorizers, that govern charter schools are facing more and more scrutiny.
It's a trend that's even welcomed by some in the charter school movement in Ohio and beyond who fear sensational headlines, like those generated by the Concept Schools investigations, will undermine the sector at large.
The Fordham Institute, a Washington-based education reform think tank and advocacy organization, recently commissioned a well-known third party research group, the Stanford University Center for Research on Education Outcomes, to examine the Ohio's charters. (The Fordham Institute's Ohio-based sister-organization, the Fordham Foundation, sponsors some schools in the state.)
CREDO researchers found that Ohio charter school students, on average, learn less in a year than their peers in regular, district schools. Following the release of those results, Ohio governor John Kasich has called for a rewrite of the state's charter law.
"I think it's pretty clear unless you've been living under a rock, Ohio has had its fair share of troubles for a long time," said David Quolke with the Cleveland Teachers' Union on the call with reporters. "Even the stories of the successful charter schools tend to get drowned out by stories of FBI raids and corruption."
This post has been updated to include a statement from Peggy Young and, following a corrected statement from Policy Matters Ohio, to change the number of charter school contract renewals the coalition is seeking to have denied from 11 to nine.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2015/01/foundation_overseeing_charter_schools_under_fbi_scrutiny_faces_pressure.html

Concept Schools Quest Academy must cut ties with Concept

 

By Pam Adams of the Journal Star
Posted Jan. 22, 2015 @ 10:15 pm

PEORIA — The board of Quest Charter Academy will cut ties with Concept Schools, the not-for-profit charter-school management company that has run Peoria’s public charter school since it opened in 2010.

Board members disclosed the decision during a regular board meeting Thursday in which they also announced they’ve reached a tentative agreement with Peoria School District 150 to extend the school’s charter for another five years.

Tom Fliege, vice president of the charter school board, said the two actions were not related.

Concept’s contract with Quest’s governing board, the Peoria Charter School Initiative, expires July 30. The decision not to renew the contract was not motivated by finances or the FBI investigation of the Des Plaines-based company’s handling of federal money for school technology improvements, according to Fliege.

Instead, the charter school board has always planned to eventually take over school operations, he said.

“There’s no acrimony, this was mutually agreed upon. We’ll continue to work together as the contract comes to a close.”

Concept staff, which includes Quest Principal Ali Kuran, will help with the transition. The board has tentatively selected an interim executive director, who also will help with the transition, until an executive director is hired.

Details of the tentative agreement to extend the charter school contract will be released at District 150’s board meeting Jan. 26. District 150 board members are scheduled to vote on the contract Feb. 9. Quest board members will take a vote at a special meeting that has yet to be announced. Both boards must approve the final agreement.

“As is true with any agreement, they’re not totally happy, we’re not totally happy,” Fliege said.

The charter school board wanted more money from District 150, while the district maintained it was not fair for Quest to expect more money because the school district’s revenues are declining.

The charter school board had refused District 150’s last counterproposal. Apparent delays in negotiations prompted Quest board members to discuss the administrative process for closing the school.

But negotiations started moving, according to Fliege, when he and Quest board member Will Ball began meeting with Debbie Wolfmeyer and Linda Butler, the District 150 board’s president and vice president, respectively.

Initially, board members were not fully aware that the charter school board had to have negotiations completed within a specific time frame, according to Fliege. He complimented Wolfmeyer and Butler for “having the courage” to resolve the issue.

Also, for the second time, the charter school board tabled a proposal to partner with Peoria Heights High School to offer football for Quest High School students.

Read more: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150122/News/150129639#ixzz3PtHLeY4M


Concept Schools aka GULEN INSPIRED schools PORN on website?

By Josh Sweigart

Staff Writer

Vice and publicly funded charter schools don’t mix, officials advise. That means what happens in Vegas does not always stay in Vegas. And people shouldn’t be looking for love on a charter school management nonprofit’s website.

A Las Vegas trip was made in 2013 by two employees of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, an e-school with students across the state of Ohio. The staffers were there for a school safety conference, but when the conference ended on a Friday they stayed through the weekend.

Since the hotels and meals were on the school’s credit card, a state audit said the cost of the weekend stay must be repaid. Each employee repaid the $196 in findings in the audit.

More recently, officials from Concept Schools — a charter school management nonprofit that runs the Horizon chain of schools here and across the state — removed a lascivious link from their company’s website when asked about it by the I-Team.

The web page, brought to our attention by a reader, offered to help people “find a new sex partner.”

“We already have 2 million members registered on our website. This is YOUR chance to find a new sex partner easily (as well as discreetly),” it proffered. “Hundreds of people join our website every day, who have the same wish like you do: a sex date!”

Concept schools officials offered this explanation:

“The mentioned link is a result of one of our departmental web sites being affected by some malware/adware. The link has been removed and additional precautions put in place to prevent future attacks. Moreover, we are in the process of screening individual school sites to ensure that they have not been exposed to such malware/adware attacks recently either.”

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/gov-watch-e-school-employees-charged-school-for-we/njmbH/