The Centre Daily out of Pennsylvania published a story on the federal investigation into the “Gulen-inspired” schools, presumably as a follow-up to the Philadelphia Inquirer story.

We found a few things of interest, one of them being a  particular quote from a parent who used to have her children enrolled at one of the Gulen schools, the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania (she has since removed all four of them --ouch in the boys' collective pocket books).

Ruth Hocker was quoted as saying, "Our greatest concern was the secrecy of the administration, the unwillingness to communicate with parents,” she said, “and then, most of all, the obvious preference they were giving to hiring Turkish teachers who were uncertified over American teachers who were more qualified” (Mahon).

Another notable quote from the story, and according to the  State College Area District School Board (the sponsoring school district) , YSCP, “Had fallen short of its previous charter in four areas: teacher certification, experience of lead teachers, certification of administrators and compliance with the transparency requirements of the federal Sunshine Act” (Mahon).

Okay, let’s examine that – teacher certification, that’s a no-brainer. If a school district is going to hand over 1.3 million bucks to YSCP, or any school for that matter, why aren’t the teachers certified and qualified to teach? Likewise, they were tagged for having “lead teachers,” that lacked experience.

Gee, could that possibly be some of the guys that can barely speak English or have teaching credentials  acting as department heads or administrators in order to get their green cards?

But then again, you get what you pay for. According to the article, YSCP ranked 129 out of 134 schools in teacher pay, which means they really don’t care to get qualified teachers, they just want to pay as little as possible in order to pay their Turkish administrators and other H1-B visa holders more money than their American counterparts.

And then there’s the part about their lack of “transparency requirements of the federal Sunshine Act.” We’ve heard this complaint voiced – often – way too often when it comes to parents and other people trying to get information from the boys about their schools. The boys simply do not want to “disclose” information, even though it is illegal for them not to. So we have decided that maybe the boys need to learn more about the Sunshine Act so that they can be better stewards of it.

According to Wikipedia, the “Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records or (especially in the United States) sunshine laws, governments are also typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness." (Wikipedia).

And just to make it crystal clear – what this means is that a public entity, like a state –funded charter school must make their records available for examination by anyone that requests them.  In other words boys, open up the filing cabinets and share the news…or get shut down.

Below is the story, and make sure to visit the webpage and read the comments.

Young Scholars charter school faces scrutiny over ties with Islamic leader

Federal authorities examining possible employee kickbacks, according to report

Ed Mahon

- emahon@centredaily.com

March 22, 2011 5:13am EDT

The Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School in Ferguson Township is one of more than 100 charter schools across the country that are the part of a federal investigation, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday.

A spokeswoman from the U.S. Attorney’s Office would not confirm the report Monday, saying the office does not comment on anything that is or may be under investigation.

The newspaper cited unidentified knowledgeable sources to say that “federal agencies — including the FBI and the departments of Labor and Education — are investigating whether some charter school employees are kicking back part of their salaries to a Muslim movement founded by (Fethullah) Gulen,” a major Islamic political figure in Turkey.

Attorneys for Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the Poconos, argued that he had “overseen the establishment of a conglomeration of schools throughout the world” when he successfully argued to be granted a green card in the United States.

The investigation is not linked to terrorism, according to the article, reported by a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer and by a New York-based correspondent of Il Sole 24 Ore, the leading daily financial newspaper in Italy.

On Monday, Levent Kaya, the CEO of Young Scholars, said in an email that he was not aware of a federal investigation into the school.

Ruth Hocker, the former head of a Young Scholars parents group, said federal authorities interviewed her in early 2010. She said they identified her because she had filed several Right-to-Know requests with the school.

Hocker’s son was one of the students who enrolled in the first class of Young Scholars when it opened in 2005 with an emphasis on language immersion, with lessons in Chinese and Spanish. The school later added Turkish as one of its languages.

“We thought ... that having children learn languages at the elementary level was a definite positive,” Hocker said. “We liked the multicultural approach.”

Hocker also enrolled her two daughters in the school, but by the start of this school year, she had transferred all of them out.

“Our greatest concern was the secrecy of the administration, the unwillingness to communicate with parents,” she said, “and then, most of all, the obvious preference they were giving to hiring Turkish teachers who were uncertified over American teachers who were more qualified.”

The percentage of certified staff members at Young Scholars has fluctuated in recent years. It was 83 percent in the 2007-08 school year, 93 percent in 2008-09, and 80 percent in 2009-10, according to an annual report the charter school filed with the state.

Young Scholars, like other charter schools, is a self-managed public school that’s approved by a local school district. It receives funding from the school districts from which its students come.

Julie Miller, a spokeswoman for the State College Area School District, which is home to Young Scholars, said federal authorities have not contacted the district.

During the 2009-10 school year, the State College Area School District paid $1.3 million to Young Scholars for 128 students.

The school has 174 students this year, including 132 students from State College, 12 from Bellefonte, nine from Penns Valley, eight from Philipsburg- Osceola and four from Bald Eagle area school districts, according to information Young Scholars officials provided earlier this month.

On the annual state standardized tests, the school has met adequate yearly progress every year since its founding.

The average classroom teacher at Young Scholars earns $31,286 a year. Among teachers at charter schools — which generally pay less than school districts — Young Scholars ranked 129th out of 134 in 2009-10, according to the latest state data. The one administrator earned $96,000.

In July 2010, the State College Area school board members agreed to renew Young Scholars’ charter, but said the school had fallen short of its previous charter in four areas: teacher certification, experience of lead teachers, certification of administrators and compliance with the transparency requirements of the federal Sunshine Act.

At the time, district solicitor Scott Etter said the percentage of certified teachers and administrators at the school was higher than the state required, but less than Young Scholars officials stated they would have when they drafted the charter in 2005.

Leaders from Young Scholars promised to comply with those four areas in the future.

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/03/22/2597590/charter-school-faces-scrutiny.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1INiqNjSR