And take your test scores with you
It looks like the boys have been caught with their hands in the test scores – so to speak. In particular, the Minneapolis Science Charter School – whose claim to fame is to “produce future doctors,” is losing its lease for a number of shady dealings, including suspicious test scores – that were thrown out. The school district is yanking the lease leaving the boys scurrying for new digs.
Hasan Kose, the school’s Director and former Principal at Noble Academy in Cleveland – has a history of producing” high” test scores, repeatedly giving his former school an Excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education. It looks like the Minneapolis Board of Education isn’t as easily swayed as the ODE. We’ve been saying for over 5 years that these guys are manipulating test scores, but to date our claims have fallen on deaf ears – at least until now. It seems that the students at MSS were allowed to visit the restrooms in groups during testing as well as having teachers speak to them during the testing period (both actions are huge testing no-no’s).
Another “minor” issue is the fact that the school is behind in its payments to the District to the tune of $530,000. Now that might seem like chump change to the Gulenists, but it’s a relatively big deal to the Minneapolis Public School District; and a half a million bucks is a significant shortfall, especially when the MSS school administrators blamed the shoddy accounting on a “new accountant.” Gee, we wonder if the accountant that they are referring to is the school’s business manager and if he was too busy working on that second set of Tuzuk books to be concerned about actually paying the lease payments.
According to the MSS Board’s vice-chair, Dr. Rosilyn Carroll, “It’s not about money.” “Don’t let them fool you, it’s not about money. It’s about egos, it’s about adults, and it’s definitely not about children.” Is she kidding? What does she have a PhD in – stupidity? Of course it’s about the money – in all aspects. The boys are collecting state and federal tax dollars and obviously not doing what they are supposed to be doing with tax dollars, which is paying the bills in order that the children can continue to go to school – that’s pretty basic stuff that the vice-chair might want to study up on.
Gene Scapanski, one of the founding board members told the local CBS news affiliate that “We want to stay in this building and we want to stay serving these families.” Hey, Gene, that’s okay, but again – the basic premise behind state and federal funding of charter schools or any schools for that matter is that you take the funds allocated for education and pay the bills – including the rent. And if you don’t pay the rent and follow the rules (like that of testing mandates), then the taxpayers stop funding your folly and kick you out.
We warned them – time and time again, that the Gulenists are only out to make Gulen richer through our taxdollars. Silly little tasks like paying the rent on time are simply not on their agenda. But manipulating test scores for the benefit of the media is – it’s all about priorities – theirs.
As for the claim that the MSS mission is to produce future doctors, we sure hope that none of those future doctors participated in the test cheating scam, because we would hate to be under the knife of one of the school’s future surgeons when he says, “Excuse me nurse but I have to use the restroom, hold the scalpel while I call Kose and Icel and ask them what arteries I need to clamp.”
And by the way, the boys produced some pretty nice signs for their organized protest against the school closing, perhaps they should have taken some of the money that they spent on the signs and actually paid their rent.
Below are some links to stories on the school’s closing:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/06/17/n-mpls-charter-school-closing-amid-allegations/
N. Mpls Charter School Closing Amid Allegations
June 17, 2013 7:15 PM
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A few months ago, it seemed to be a great success story, but now a charter school in north Minneapolis is closing amid bitter feelings and allegations.
Back in January, we told you about big honors for the Minnesota School of Science.
Its robotics class finished second in the state and school-wide test scores were up dramatically.
But now MSS has lost its lease after two years of operation and the Minneapolis Public School District is looking to open a different school in the same building.
The district is suspicious of those high test scores, and whether they may have been inflated.
At the same time, the school fell $530,000 short in payments to the district.
But parents and school leaders say there’s more to the story.
“It’s not about money,” said Dr. Rosilyn Carroll, vice chair of the MSS board. “Don’t let them fool you, it’s not about money. It’s about egos, it’s about adults, and it’s definitely not about children.”
Carroll was among dozens of protesters who gathered outside the school as the district held an informational meeting.
It was designed to let parents know about their options, now that MSS is being forced out of its home of the past two years on North 4th Street.
“We want to stay in this building,” said Gene Scapanski, one of the original members of the founding board, “and we want to stay serving these families.”
The charter school opened in 2011, vowing to prepare “tomorrow’s doctors , scientists and engineers” from a low-income section of the city.
Maile Vue has two daughters who attended the school.
“We want the quality education our children are getting right now.” she said. “And we know that MSS is working for our children.”
In two years, the school boasted significant achievement gains in math and science scores.
Zephaniah Roberts, 12, said he liked the fact that staff members were strict and kept students focused on their studies.
“Other schools, they’re sort of OK,” he said. “Seemed like they don’t really care, but this school really cares about my education.”
Stan Alleyne, chief communications officer for Minneapolis Public Schools, said there have been “irregularities” in some of the school’s testing.
“There’s an investigation,” he said, “and I really can’t get into all of the details, but any time there’s a question about that, it’s just another red flag.”
The bigger red flag for the district was the shortfall of more than a half million dollars.
“It impacts our district, it impacts taxpayers,” he said. “When we’re not receiving those funds , those funds could be going to other places in the city.”
The funds were supposed to come from the state, and then get passed along to the Minneapolis Public School district, but the state stopped paying because of the way the school’s lease was structured.
The fact that the Minneapolis Public School District not only held the lease but also authorized it was considered a conflict of interest.
The two sides were not able to reach agreement on setting up a different authorizer.
The district won’t give specifics about the testing irregularities being investigated, but Scapanski said there were just a few isolated incidents.
He said a teacher was disciplined after improperly talking to a student during testing, which meant the school threw out the scores for the entire class.
He also said there were also reports of students leaving together during a test to go to the bathroom.
Hasan Kose, the school’s Director and former Principal at Noble Academy in Cleveland – has a history of producing” high” test scores, repeatedly giving his former school an Excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education. It looks like the Minneapolis Board of Education isn’t as easily swayed as the ODE. We’ve been saying for over 5 years that these guys are manipulating test scores, but to date our claims have fallen on deaf ears – at least until now. It seems that the students at MSS were allowed to visit the restrooms in groups during testing as well as having teachers speak to them during the testing period (both actions are huge testing no-no’s).
Another “minor” issue is the fact that the school is behind in its payments to the District to the tune of $530,000. Now that might seem like chump change to the Gulenists, but it’s a relatively big deal to the Minneapolis Public School District; and a half a million bucks is a significant shortfall, especially when the MSS school administrators blamed the shoddy accounting on a “new accountant.” Gee, we wonder if the accountant that they are referring to is the school’s business manager and if he was too busy working on that second set of Tuzuk books to be concerned about actually paying the lease payments.
According to the MSS Board’s vice-chair, Dr. Rosilyn Carroll, “It’s not about money.” “Don’t let them fool you, it’s not about money. It’s about egos, it’s about adults, and it’s definitely not about children.” Is she kidding? What does she have a PhD in – stupidity? Of course it’s about the money – in all aspects. The boys are collecting state and federal tax dollars and obviously not doing what they are supposed to be doing with tax dollars, which is paying the bills in order that the children can continue to go to school – that’s pretty basic stuff that the vice-chair might want to study up on.
Gene Scapanski, one of the founding board members told the local CBS news affiliate that “We want to stay in this building and we want to stay serving these families.” Hey, Gene, that’s okay, but again – the basic premise behind state and federal funding of charter schools or any schools for that matter is that you take the funds allocated for education and pay the bills – including the rent. And if you don’t pay the rent and follow the rules (like that of testing mandates), then the taxpayers stop funding your folly and kick you out.
We warned them – time and time again, that the Gulenists are only out to make Gulen richer through our taxdollars. Silly little tasks like paying the rent on time are simply not on their agenda. But manipulating test scores for the benefit of the media is – it’s all about priorities – theirs.
As for the claim that the MSS mission is to produce future doctors, we sure hope that none of those future doctors participated in the test cheating scam, because we would hate to be under the knife of one of the school’s future surgeons when he says, “Excuse me nurse but I have to use the restroom, hold the scalpel while I call Kose and Icel and ask them what arteries I need to clamp.”
And by the way, the boys produced some pretty nice signs for their organized protest against the school closing, perhaps they should have taken some of the money that they spent on the signs and actually paid their rent.
Below are some links to stories on the school’s closing:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/06/17/n-mpls-charter-school-closing-amid-allegations/
N. Mpls Charter School Closing Amid Allegations
June 17, 2013 7:15 PM
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A few months ago, it seemed to be a great success story, but now a charter school in north Minneapolis is closing amid bitter feelings and allegations.
Back in January, we told you about big honors for the Minnesota School of Science.
Its robotics class finished second in the state and school-wide test scores were up dramatically.
But now MSS has lost its lease after two years of operation and the Minneapolis Public School District is looking to open a different school in the same building.
The district is suspicious of those high test scores, and whether they may have been inflated.
At the same time, the school fell $530,000 short in payments to the district.
But parents and school leaders say there’s more to the story.
“It’s not about money,” said Dr. Rosilyn Carroll, vice chair of the MSS board. “Don’t let them fool you, it’s not about money. It’s about egos, it’s about adults, and it’s definitely not about children.”
Carroll was among dozens of protesters who gathered outside the school as the district held an informational meeting.
It was designed to let parents know about their options, now that MSS is being forced out of its home of the past two years on North 4th Street.
“We want to stay in this building,” said Gene Scapanski, one of the original members of the founding board, “and we want to stay serving these families.”
The charter school opened in 2011, vowing to prepare “tomorrow’s doctors , scientists and engineers” from a low-income section of the city.
Maile Vue has two daughters who attended the school.
“We want the quality education our children are getting right now.” she said. “And we know that MSS is working for our children.”
In two years, the school boasted significant achievement gains in math and science scores.
Zephaniah Roberts, 12, said he liked the fact that staff members were strict and kept students focused on their studies.
“Other schools, they’re sort of OK,” he said. “Seemed like they don’t really care, but this school really cares about my education.”
Stan Alleyne, chief communications officer for Minneapolis Public Schools, said there have been “irregularities” in some of the school’s testing.
“There’s an investigation,” he said, “and I really can’t get into all of the details, but any time there’s a question about that, it’s just another red flag.”
The bigger red flag for the district was the shortfall of more than a half million dollars.
“It impacts our district, it impacts taxpayers,” he said. “When we’re not receiving those funds , those funds could be going to other places in the city.”
The funds were supposed to come from the state, and then get passed along to the Minneapolis Public School district, but the state stopped paying because of the way the school’s lease was structured.
The fact that the Minneapolis Public School District not only held the lease but also authorized it was considered a conflict of interest.
The two sides were not able to reach agreement on setting up a different authorizer.
The district won’t give specifics about the testing irregularities being investigated, but Scapanski said there were just a few isolated incidents.
He said a teacher was disciplined after improperly talking to a student during testing, which meant the school threw out the scores for the entire class.
He also said there were also reports of students leaving together during a test to go to the bathroom.
