Ummm, it looks like some former Ohio Educators and current members of the Ohio Education Association are getting a bit miffed over the Ohio Education Department’s lack of enthusiasm when it comes to investigating the Ohio based Gulen Schools. Likewise, the educators are baffled as to why one of Ohio's leading newspapers, The Columbus Dispatch is equally apathetic with its new coverage and investigation into these schools.
This symbiotic indifference to the overt and illegal activities going on in these schools was personally brought to the Ohio Department of Education and The Columbus Dispatch (evidence included) in 2008. Yet, neither the ODE or Dispatch gave a flying “monkey” about the evidence handed to them.
Granted, I can give the benefit of doubt to the ODE and presume that perhaps – just perhaps – they are letting the feds take over their investigation. But more than likely – that’s not the case. It’s been my experience that government employees pretty much sit on their collective asses until they are literally forced to do something – or have some kind of incentive to actually do their jobs – like losing their jobs.
Hey, I’ve been crying “wolf” for over six years, having posted tons of evidence of illegal activities and discriminatory practices on this website, and yet – Gulen and his cubs continue to rake in our tax dollars, usurp our jobs, and forage around our education system like they own it – or the very least –invented it. As a side note, did anyone read the latest rankings on the worst education ranking in the world – Turkey ranked number 5 (as in lowest –not highest)? And these are the guys that our government is allowing to educate our children because according to their H1-B visa applications (which we pay for) there simply are not any qualified American educators to fill those positions.
Back to the subject at hand, so the two guys, Denis Smith and Bill Phillis wrote a rather pointed letter to editor at The Dispatch, which they actually published. I sure hope that the Governor and his Department of Education staff actually read the letter instead of lining the cat box with it.
It’s a funny thing about politics – sooner or later every politician comes up for reelection… and people tend to have very long memories when it comes to politicians letting their hard earned tax dollars slip into the bank accounts of hooligans instead of where they are intended – which in this case -- is the education of America’s children.
Post Script to the Gulenists – it appears that you are needed back in Turkey, someone needs to bring your education ranking up (manipulate the test scores like you guys do here),
….and can you take Gulen with you?
Follow the link to see a recent interview that I made with the Ohio Education Association:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj1aEPvX1Lk
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOJwzYvf5DU&feature=youtu.be
Below is the letter written by Denis Smith and Bill Phillis and published in The Columbus Dispatch:
Mr. Marrison:
This message is sent to you and your education reporters on a background basis and with the intent that there will be no attribution to me in the event of any subsequent story development. I hope you accept this important qualification as I provide you the following.
Your coverage of the unrest in Turkey as featured in the December 26 print edition did mention that part of the protests directed at the Turkish government are generated from followers of a Turkish national named Fethullah Gulen. There was no mention that Gulen is an exile who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania and who directs operations in a number of countries that support his business network.
Let me get right to the point. Do you intend to inform your readers that this same Gulen Movement, with deep ties in the Middle East, has established a network of charter schools around this nation and maintains about 20 affiliated charter schools here in Ohio? I believe that your readers need to know this important connection as we all cover the unfolding developments in Turkey which may end up destabilizing the current government in a volatile part of our world.
The New York Times has provided coverage of Gulen's involvement in American public education through publicly funded charter schools in a series of articles going back to 2011, mostly written by Stephanie Saul. If you or staff are not fully informed about the Gulen Movement, I provide you this query for some of these links: http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/stephanie+saul+charter+schools
As a retired school administrator and as someone who has monitored the growth of this foreign network for the last six years, I am concerned at the lack of coverage by your newspaper of a foreign organization that has used public funds to set up a chain of 135 charter schools in 25 states, with some of those schools operating here in Ohio.http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/gulen-school-characteristics.html
Could it be that your newspaper is so obsessed with beating up the Columbus City Schools over data-rigging that you have chosen to ignore what many of my colleagues feel is an even bigger story, viz., how public funds are supporting an organization which hires Turkish and other foreign nationals over Americans to staff its system of charter schools and where taxpayer funds may be transferred to other countries?
In case you are interested in pursuing this story, here are some questions that a good investigation of these schools might raise as you might work to tell this story in the public interest.
1. As the auditor's office or the AG might say, what is the proper public purpose in allowing a foreign-based organization to use public funds to establish a chain of charter schools in this country, knowing that they are exempt from about 200 sections of the Ohio Revised Code?
2. Is there an insufficient pool of trained and qualified American administrative and teaching staff that can justify the importation of charter school staff through one-year visas, knowing that these individuals will be paid with public funds? Obviously, this program would involve the U. S. Department of State. Previous investigative work has been done in this area, but it is dated by several years and needs to be reexamined.
3. Charter schools are supposedly public schools. If that is the case, why do the governing board members of these schools appear to be mostly male? (At least they were several years ago, when I had the opportunity to observe this state of affairs.) Do the parents of children enrolled in Gulen-affiliated schools even know the identity of these individuals or how to contact them? Are board meetings publicized and accessible to the parents of the schools? Do all-male boards containing some foreign-born individuals truly represent the public interest?
4. How are these governing board members chosen? Are they hand-picked for their allegiance to Gulen and his beliefs? With such a uniform profile, how can these board members represent the students, parents, and the larger community?
5. Is there a requirement that these board members need to be American citizens, knowing that some of the teachers in the schools are in this country on the basis of one-year visas? Has anyone, including the Ohio Department of Education and the school authorizers, examined the reason for a large number of foreign-born individuals on the boards of these schools?
6. It is my understanding that the Office of the Secretary of State maintains records of the names of governing board members from public school districts and educational service centers inasmuch as these individuals are elected public officials. Is there a similar requirement or practice to collect and maintain the names of charter school governing board members, even though they are not elected? Also, are charter school board members also considered public officials due to their membership on a public body? If not, why not? Is corrective legislation needed here?
7. Many of these schools advertise themselves as having a science focus and as high-performing institutions. Yet in some locations around the country, there have been allegations of "cherry-picking" students through recruitment as well as "counseling-out" practices to get favorable results. If these practices are found to be true, isn't that a form of data-rigging as well, and wouldn't Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper be interested in pursuing an appropriate line of inquiry consistent with its past interest in data-rigging?
8. Several years ago, there was evidence of cronyism in one of the schools through the use of no-bid contracts that engaged Turkish friends of the school director as contractors in providing school repair and remodeling. Has the state auditor found anything about such tendencies or pursued a thorough auditing process in light of past charter school treasurer scandals that have been reported?
9. What kind of review does a charter school sponsor (authorizer) perform before agreeing to engage with Gulen-affiliated schools? Has the sponsor ever met the governing board members of these schools and determined their backgrounds in performing its due diligence?
10. Could it be that profits from these schools are being funneled back to Turkey or other places in the Middle East to help foment the current unrest against Turkey or other governments which may not be compatible with Gulen's religious or global viewpoints? Since we already know that David Brennan and William Lager funnel part of their charter school profits back to the Ohio Republican Party, surely such a revelation wouldn't come as a shock to your readers - or would it?
11. Is there any evidence that Ohio public funds have been used as campaign donations from Gulen schools to maintain the current lax state of charter school oversight and exemption from nearly 200 laws, as we have seen by the actions of Brennan and Lager?
12. Are there other Ohio charter schools besides the Gulen network that also have operations and interests in the Middle East? If so, is it good public policy for these schools to have such lax oversight from the state and from school sponsors/authorizers?
These concerns should get your reporters started in looking at these questions - assuming that the news and editorial functions are interested in a review of these and similar questions.
With regard to your interest in pursuing these questions or even providing more adequate coverage of charter schools scandals and widespread conflicts-of-interest, it is my understanding that starting tomorrow, Dr. Diane Ravitch, former U. S. Assistant Secretary of Education, former Fordham Foundation board member, noted educational historian and researcher, and now critic of charter schools, will address some of the Gulen controversy on her blog. Dr. Ravitch, author of Reign of Error, a new bestseller critical of charter schools and school privatization efforts, addressed a conference here last year, an event that, unless I am mistaken, did not capture the interest of your newspaper to cover or otherwise assign reporters to hear her point of view and the critical review of failing Ohio charter schools that she provided.
In addition to Dr. Ravitch, I was informed today that a staff writer on the Washington Post is also examining these troubling connections with Gulen and their access to public funds to operate "public" charter schools, and I hope that you and staff will also pursue an appropriate investigation related to the concerns expressed here.
The Dispatch surprised me on September 15 by publishing a piece that I submitted that was critical of Ohio charter schools, and that article focused on lax laws and oversight. If you and others would review what I had to say then, I hope you will take me up on what needs to be done in your reporting because we are back again to the issues of charter school transparency and accountability.
In closing, my colleagues and I will know soon enough if you are serious in pursuing these and other charter school issues. Now that you've played out data-rigging, isn't it time to examine the role of a foreign organization that is the recipient of scarce tax dollars and is now engaged in fomenting unrest in Turkey? What are the real motives of Gulen in setting up schools in America? Are we patsies in providing public funds to fuel geopolitical activity in one of the most unstable regions of the world?
Sooner or later, the Times, Washington Post and other organizations will need to address these questions. Would you like to do some due diligence in behalf of your Ohio readers who expect more from their tax dollars?
The question I initially raised more than six years ago now needs to be answered more than ever: Why are public funds in this country being diverted from traditional public schools and apparently going to support a movement with extensive foreign ties? Why are we providing public funds to fuel a movement with international - and secretive - ties? Why?
It's now up to you to act in the public interest, convenience and necessity.
After all, to sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of us all.
Thanks
Denis Smith
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
This symbiotic indifference to the overt and illegal activities going on in these schools was personally brought to the Ohio Department of Education and The Columbus Dispatch (evidence included) in 2008. Yet, neither the ODE or Dispatch gave a flying “monkey” about the evidence handed to them.
Granted, I can give the benefit of doubt to the ODE and presume that perhaps – just perhaps – they are letting the feds take over their investigation. But more than likely – that’s not the case. It’s been my experience that government employees pretty much sit on their collective asses until they are literally forced to do something – or have some kind of incentive to actually do their jobs – like losing their jobs.
Hey, I’ve been crying “wolf” for over six years, having posted tons of evidence of illegal activities and discriminatory practices on this website, and yet – Gulen and his cubs continue to rake in our tax dollars, usurp our jobs, and forage around our education system like they own it – or the very least –invented it. As a side note, did anyone read the latest rankings on the worst education ranking in the world – Turkey ranked number 5 (as in lowest –not highest)? And these are the guys that our government is allowing to educate our children because according to their H1-B visa applications (which we pay for) there simply are not any qualified American educators to fill those positions.
Back to the subject at hand, so the two guys, Denis Smith and Bill Phillis wrote a rather pointed letter to editor at The Dispatch, which they actually published. I sure hope that the Governor and his Department of Education staff actually read the letter instead of lining the cat box with it.
It’s a funny thing about politics – sooner or later every politician comes up for reelection… and people tend to have very long memories when it comes to politicians letting their hard earned tax dollars slip into the bank accounts of hooligans instead of where they are intended – which in this case -- is the education of America’s children.
Post Script to the Gulenists – it appears that you are needed back in Turkey, someone needs to bring your education ranking up (manipulate the test scores like you guys do here),
….and can you take Gulen with you?
Follow the link to see a recent interview that I made with the Ohio Education Association:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj1aEPvX1Lk
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOJwzYvf5DU&feature=youtu.be
Below is the letter written by Denis Smith and Bill Phillis and published in The Columbus Dispatch:
Mr. Marrison:
This message is sent to you and your education reporters on a background basis and with the intent that there will be no attribution to me in the event of any subsequent story development. I hope you accept this important qualification as I provide you the following.
Your coverage of the unrest in Turkey as featured in the December 26 print edition did mention that part of the protests directed at the Turkish government are generated from followers of a Turkish national named Fethullah Gulen. There was no mention that Gulen is an exile who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania and who directs operations in a number of countries that support his business network.
Let me get right to the point. Do you intend to inform your readers that this same Gulen Movement, with deep ties in the Middle East, has established a network of charter schools around this nation and maintains about 20 affiliated charter schools here in Ohio? I believe that your readers need to know this important connection as we all cover the unfolding developments in Turkey which may end up destabilizing the current government in a volatile part of our world.
The New York Times has provided coverage of Gulen's involvement in American public education through publicly funded charter schools in a series of articles going back to 2011, mostly written by Stephanie Saul. If you or staff are not fully informed about the Gulen Movement, I provide you this query for some of these links: http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/stephanie+saul+charter+schools
As a retired school administrator and as someone who has monitored the growth of this foreign network for the last six years, I am concerned at the lack of coverage by your newspaper of a foreign organization that has used public funds to set up a chain of 135 charter schools in 25 states, with some of those schools operating here in Ohio.http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/gulen-school-characteristics.html
Could it be that your newspaper is so obsessed with beating up the Columbus City Schools over data-rigging that you have chosen to ignore what many of my colleagues feel is an even bigger story, viz., how public funds are supporting an organization which hires Turkish and other foreign nationals over Americans to staff its system of charter schools and where taxpayer funds may be transferred to other countries?
In case you are interested in pursuing this story, here are some questions that a good investigation of these schools might raise as you might work to tell this story in the public interest.
1. As the auditor's office or the AG might say, what is the proper public purpose in allowing a foreign-based organization to use public funds to establish a chain of charter schools in this country, knowing that they are exempt from about 200 sections of the Ohio Revised Code?
2. Is there an insufficient pool of trained and qualified American administrative and teaching staff that can justify the importation of charter school staff through one-year visas, knowing that these individuals will be paid with public funds? Obviously, this program would involve the U. S. Department of State. Previous investigative work has been done in this area, but it is dated by several years and needs to be reexamined.
3. Charter schools are supposedly public schools. If that is the case, why do the governing board members of these schools appear to be mostly male? (At least they were several years ago, when I had the opportunity to observe this state of affairs.) Do the parents of children enrolled in Gulen-affiliated schools even know the identity of these individuals or how to contact them? Are board meetings publicized and accessible to the parents of the schools? Do all-male boards containing some foreign-born individuals truly represent the public interest?
4. How are these governing board members chosen? Are they hand-picked for their allegiance to Gulen and his beliefs? With such a uniform profile, how can these board members represent the students, parents, and the larger community?
5. Is there a requirement that these board members need to be American citizens, knowing that some of the teachers in the schools are in this country on the basis of one-year visas? Has anyone, including the Ohio Department of Education and the school authorizers, examined the reason for a large number of foreign-born individuals on the boards of these schools?
6. It is my understanding that the Office of the Secretary of State maintains records of the names of governing board members from public school districts and educational service centers inasmuch as these individuals are elected public officials. Is there a similar requirement or practice to collect and maintain the names of charter school governing board members, even though they are not elected? Also, are charter school board members also considered public officials due to their membership on a public body? If not, why not? Is corrective legislation needed here?
7. Many of these schools advertise themselves as having a science focus and as high-performing institutions. Yet in some locations around the country, there have been allegations of "cherry-picking" students through recruitment as well as "counseling-out" practices to get favorable results. If these practices are found to be true, isn't that a form of data-rigging as well, and wouldn't Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper be interested in pursuing an appropriate line of inquiry consistent with its past interest in data-rigging?
8. Several years ago, there was evidence of cronyism in one of the schools through the use of no-bid contracts that engaged Turkish friends of the school director as contractors in providing school repair and remodeling. Has the state auditor found anything about such tendencies or pursued a thorough auditing process in light of past charter school treasurer scandals that have been reported?
9. What kind of review does a charter school sponsor (authorizer) perform before agreeing to engage with Gulen-affiliated schools? Has the sponsor ever met the governing board members of these schools and determined their backgrounds in performing its due diligence?
10. Could it be that profits from these schools are being funneled back to Turkey or other places in the Middle East to help foment the current unrest against Turkey or other governments which may not be compatible with Gulen's religious or global viewpoints? Since we already know that David Brennan and William Lager funnel part of their charter school profits back to the Ohio Republican Party, surely such a revelation wouldn't come as a shock to your readers - or would it?
11. Is there any evidence that Ohio public funds have been used as campaign donations from Gulen schools to maintain the current lax state of charter school oversight and exemption from nearly 200 laws, as we have seen by the actions of Brennan and Lager?
12. Are there other Ohio charter schools besides the Gulen network that also have operations and interests in the Middle East? If so, is it good public policy for these schools to have such lax oversight from the state and from school sponsors/authorizers?
These concerns should get your reporters started in looking at these questions - assuming that the news and editorial functions are interested in a review of these and similar questions.
With regard to your interest in pursuing these questions or even providing more adequate coverage of charter schools scandals and widespread conflicts-of-interest, it is my understanding that starting tomorrow, Dr. Diane Ravitch, former U. S. Assistant Secretary of Education, former Fordham Foundation board member, noted educational historian and researcher, and now critic of charter schools, will address some of the Gulen controversy on her blog. Dr. Ravitch, author of Reign of Error, a new bestseller critical of charter schools and school privatization efforts, addressed a conference here last year, an event that, unless I am mistaken, did not capture the interest of your newspaper to cover or otherwise assign reporters to hear her point of view and the critical review of failing Ohio charter schools that she provided.
In addition to Dr. Ravitch, I was informed today that a staff writer on the Washington Post is also examining these troubling connections with Gulen and their access to public funds to operate "public" charter schools, and I hope that you and staff will also pursue an appropriate investigation related to the concerns expressed here.
The Dispatch surprised me on September 15 by publishing a piece that I submitted that was critical of Ohio charter schools, and that article focused on lax laws and oversight. If you and others would review what I had to say then, I hope you will take me up on what needs to be done in your reporting because we are back again to the issues of charter school transparency and accountability.
In closing, my colleagues and I will know soon enough if you are serious in pursuing these and other charter school issues. Now that you've played out data-rigging, isn't it time to examine the role of a foreign organization that is the recipient of scarce tax dollars and is now engaged in fomenting unrest in Turkey? What are the real motives of Gulen in setting up schools in America? Are we patsies in providing public funds to fuel geopolitical activity in one of the most unstable regions of the world?
Sooner or later, the Times, Washington Post and other organizations will need to address these questions. Would you like to do some due diligence in behalf of your Ohio readers who expect more from their tax dollars?
The question I initially raised more than six years ago now needs to be answered more than ever: Why are public funds in this country being diverted from traditional public schools and apparently going to support a movement with extensive foreign ties? Why are we providing public funds to fuel a movement with international - and secretive - ties? Why?
It's now up to you to act in the public interest, convenience and necessity.
After all, to sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of us all.
Thanks
Denis Smith
William Phillis
Ohio E & A