American teachers continue to come forward, exposing the inadequacies and fraudulent activities associated with the Gulenists running American tax-funded charter schools.
In most recent events, two more teachers from Horizon Science Academy Dayton wrote letters detailing the suspect goings-on in the schools that they were employed at. In both letters written by teachers Melissa Randolph and Tim Neary (in addition to the one previously written by teacher Matt Blair), the teachers speak of receiving lower wages than their Turkish colleagues (who are far less qualified and experienced and receiving at least 30% higher wages dues to H1-B visa prevailing wages), questionable handling and possible manipulation of state educational tests, high staff turn-over, nepotism and favoritism related to Turkish employees and businesses associated with the schools, inaccuracies in reporting attendance to state officials (which is how schools are funded), poorly maintained facilities, inconsistent pay periods in which paychecks were late and insurance premiums cancelled or not paid on time, blatant discrimination against American educators (and in particular American women), lack of teacher development or support, inadequate student disciplinary plans and implementation, and misappropriation of Title1 funding.
The Gulenists administrators like to bend the rules with federal Title 1 funds. In particular, and as listed below from the Title 1 website, the funds are supposed to be used for very specific educational improvement programs, targeting students who are struggling academically – to be used as a means to assist and improve academic performance. However, in Randolph’s particular case, she was hired as Title-1 teacher and then was instead told that she would be teaching English classes, which is not the purpose of Title 1 funds which are supposed to be used for tutoring purposes and not for whatever the Gulenists feel is appropriate for their needs.
Since the Gulenists are playing footloose and fancy-free with federal tax dollars, let’s hope that the feds add this transgression to the long list of criminal activities that they are investigating.
Below is a partial explanation of Title 1 funds:
“LEAs target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a schoolwide program, the school must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet State academic standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of children from low-income families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs designed to upgrade their entire educational programs to improve achievement for all students, particularly the lowest-achieving students.
“Title I is designed to help students served by the program to achieve proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards. Title I schools with percentages of students from low-income families of at least 40 percent may use Title I funds, along with other Federal, State, and local funds, to operate a "schoolwide program" to upgrade the instructional program for the whole school. Title I schools with less than the 40 percent schoolwide threshold or that choose not to operate a schoolwide program offer a "targeted assistance program" in which the school identifies students who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging academic achievement standards. Targeted assistance schools design, in consultation with parents, staff, and district staff, an instructional program to meet the needs of those students. Both schoolwide and targeted assistance programs must use instructional strategies based on scientifically based research and implement parental involvement activities” (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html).
Another former Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school teacher speaks out -- Tim Neary's letter:
When will state officials enact state policies that demand transparency of the secret world of the charter school industry?
Scores of former charter school teachers are privately talking about the reckless fiscal and educational practices they experienced in charter schools. Some are speaking out publicly. Matt Blair, a former Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school teacher has spoken out. He has twice taken his concerns to the State Superintendent and State Board of Education.
Tim Neary, another former Gulen charter school teacher, reveals some horrific irregularities that beg for a full scale investigation by various state and federal agencies. Mr. Neary states:
I worked for the Gulen-owned Horizon Science Academy in Dayton from 2009-2011. Teaching jobs were very hard to get during that time and I was happy to get hired after one brief interview - even though I was making just $25,000/year and teaching six classes.
Early on, there were lots of red flags: It was a "science academy" with no science labs. Turkish teachers didn't do much teaching but made a lot more than the American teachers. Racism and sexism were common. There was no professionalism toward women. It was almost gross how they'd talk to women. They'd tell them to not talk or cut them off in midpoint. Over time, some teachers had their insurance cancelled for no reason and occasionally there were lapses in pay. School officials blamed the state for the paycheck problems. Asking questions could get you fired, especially if you were a woman. The majority of the people fired were women.
Racism was an issue, too. Black kids would be disciplined more severely than Turkish kids for the same or similar infractions. If there was a fight in school, they'd take out the black kids but the Turks got to stay.
School administrators clearly lied about attendance. I never had a full class and they'd say the school had 97% attendance rate. I guess that was an easy one to fudge. There was no oversight at all.
Even though standardized tests are supposed to be taken, then locked in a secure place, that did not always occur - if ever. All of the tests would go into one room, with an administrator behind a locked door. Nobody else got to see what was going on.
I was well liked and left on my accord, and I had a good relationship with both the Turkish and American employees. That wasn't the case with all of the teachers.
The American teachers worked very hard. We liked what we did and we cared about the students. One of the Turkish teachers could barely speak English, but some of the worst Turkish teachers got promoted. Ali Ozer was one of them. They made him the director. His wife, Derha, was hired as a guidance counselor. I don't know how much counseling she did but she brought her kids to work and ran a sort of day care at the school. The American teachers would be frustrated because they were paying for child care on $28,000 a year and she was making more than $40,000 and getting free daycare service.
We were especially frustrated during testing week. They promised the kids all sort of things - including laptops - if they passed all five parts of the test. There were posters on the walls telling the students what prizes they'd receive if they succeeded. We showed them research saying that kind of inducement wasn't effective but that didn't matter. What mattered was appearances. Even worse, they didn't come through with half of the promises they made.
Second email below:
Still another teacher, Melissa Randolph, speaks out about irregular and suspicious activities in a Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school
Various state officials, including the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent, have been requested to investigate various allegations about the Gulen charter schools.
Will state officials in Ohio make an objective investigation or will they whitewash the matter? Just recently the Ohio Department of Education issued subpoenas to 61 current and former employees of the Columbus City Schools regarding data scrubbing. Will ODE be as aggressive toward the Horizon Science Academy officials as the Columbus school personnel?
A couple of weeks ago, the FBI raided 19 Gulen schools, three of which are in Ohio. It is past time for Ohio officials to take action on the Gulen charter schools.
Melissa Randolph letter:
I taught at the Horizon Science Academy in Dayton for two years. It was pretty horrendous. There was lots of turnover and lots of firings.
I was hired in as a Title I reading instructor making $27,000 a year. I expected to be helping students who struggled with reading. I thought I would be doing assessments, helping with data collecting and filling out reports on student progress, working with small groups. None of that happened.
The first day of school, the principal, Mr. Ugur Zengince - he goes by Mr. Zen. - pulled me into his office and said, "You can teach English, right? You are going to teach freshman and sophomore English'' instead of being a Title I teacher. They still were collecting federal Title I money but had nobody performing Title I services.
I was a brand new teacher in her first job. I did not feel as if I was in a position to say 'no'. That first year, I was next door to a math classroom that was in constant chaos. The class went through six teachers in one year, and it was clear that the kids had far more autonomy than should have been allowed. There was no support for teachers in terms of classroom management.
Some of the issues were cultural. It was a Turkish organization, all building construction was done by Turkish companies, the building owner was in Turkey. The Turkish teachers always made more money than the Americans, and many of the Turks did not have teaching licenses or background checks. Some of us went to the ODE website where you can search for basic information on all teachers in Ohio and these teachers didn't exist, according to the state. I would guess that 80-90 percent of the Turkish teachers were here on H1B work visas.
I can't say for sure if I witnessed any tampering with test scores but I can tell you what I did see. There was a person who ran the testing and after the tests were collected and supposed to be locked up I did see he and some others writing over the bubbles in the tests. I asked what they were doing because I was proctoring and I was part of the group administering the tests. He said they were going over them in pencil to make sure they were dark enough.
This was at least a violation of the testing protocol. Tests are to be collected, locked up and transferred to the location where they were to be graded.
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
Ohio E & A | 100 S. 3rd Street | Columbus | OH | 43215
In most recent events, two more teachers from Horizon Science Academy Dayton wrote letters detailing the suspect goings-on in the schools that they were employed at. In both letters written by teachers Melissa Randolph and Tim Neary (in addition to the one previously written by teacher Matt Blair), the teachers speak of receiving lower wages than their Turkish colleagues (who are far less qualified and experienced and receiving at least 30% higher wages dues to H1-B visa prevailing wages), questionable handling and possible manipulation of state educational tests, high staff turn-over, nepotism and favoritism related to Turkish employees and businesses associated with the schools, inaccuracies in reporting attendance to state officials (which is how schools are funded), poorly maintained facilities, inconsistent pay periods in which paychecks were late and insurance premiums cancelled or not paid on time, blatant discrimination against American educators (and in particular American women), lack of teacher development or support, inadequate student disciplinary plans and implementation, and misappropriation of Title1 funding.
The Gulenists administrators like to bend the rules with federal Title 1 funds. In particular, and as listed below from the Title 1 website, the funds are supposed to be used for very specific educational improvement programs, targeting students who are struggling academically – to be used as a means to assist and improve academic performance. However, in Randolph’s particular case, she was hired as Title-1 teacher and then was instead told that she would be teaching English classes, which is not the purpose of Title 1 funds which are supposed to be used for tutoring purposes and not for whatever the Gulenists feel is appropriate for their needs.
Since the Gulenists are playing footloose and fancy-free with federal tax dollars, let’s hope that the feds add this transgression to the long list of criminal activities that they are investigating.
Below is a partial explanation of Title 1 funds:
“LEAs target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a schoolwide program, the school must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet State academic standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of children from low-income families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs designed to upgrade their entire educational programs to improve achievement for all students, particularly the lowest-achieving students.
“Title I is designed to help students served by the program to achieve proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards. Title I schools with percentages of students from low-income families of at least 40 percent may use Title I funds, along with other Federal, State, and local funds, to operate a "schoolwide program" to upgrade the instructional program for the whole school. Title I schools with less than the 40 percent schoolwide threshold or that choose not to operate a schoolwide program offer a "targeted assistance program" in which the school identifies students who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging academic achievement standards. Targeted assistance schools design, in consultation with parents, staff, and district staff, an instructional program to meet the needs of those students. Both schoolwide and targeted assistance programs must use instructional strategies based on scientifically based research and implement parental involvement activities” (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html).
Another former Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school teacher speaks out -- Tim Neary's letter:
When will state officials enact state policies that demand transparency of the secret world of the charter school industry?
Scores of former charter school teachers are privately talking about the reckless fiscal and educational practices they experienced in charter schools. Some are speaking out publicly. Matt Blair, a former Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school teacher has spoken out. He has twice taken his concerns to the State Superintendent and State Board of Education.
Tim Neary, another former Gulen charter school teacher, reveals some horrific irregularities that beg for a full scale investigation by various state and federal agencies. Mr. Neary states:
I worked for the Gulen-owned Horizon Science Academy in Dayton from 2009-2011. Teaching jobs were very hard to get during that time and I was happy to get hired after one brief interview - even though I was making just $25,000/year and teaching six classes.
Early on, there were lots of red flags: It was a "science academy" with no science labs. Turkish teachers didn't do much teaching but made a lot more than the American teachers. Racism and sexism were common. There was no professionalism toward women. It was almost gross how they'd talk to women. They'd tell them to not talk or cut them off in midpoint. Over time, some teachers had their insurance cancelled for no reason and occasionally there were lapses in pay. School officials blamed the state for the paycheck problems. Asking questions could get you fired, especially if you were a woman. The majority of the people fired were women.
Racism was an issue, too. Black kids would be disciplined more severely than Turkish kids for the same or similar infractions. If there was a fight in school, they'd take out the black kids but the Turks got to stay.
School administrators clearly lied about attendance. I never had a full class and they'd say the school had 97% attendance rate. I guess that was an easy one to fudge. There was no oversight at all.
Even though standardized tests are supposed to be taken, then locked in a secure place, that did not always occur - if ever. All of the tests would go into one room, with an administrator behind a locked door. Nobody else got to see what was going on.
I was well liked and left on my accord, and I had a good relationship with both the Turkish and American employees. That wasn't the case with all of the teachers.
The American teachers worked very hard. We liked what we did and we cared about the students. One of the Turkish teachers could barely speak English, but some of the worst Turkish teachers got promoted. Ali Ozer was one of them. They made him the director. His wife, Derha, was hired as a guidance counselor. I don't know how much counseling she did but she brought her kids to work and ran a sort of day care at the school. The American teachers would be frustrated because they were paying for child care on $28,000 a year and she was making more than $40,000 and getting free daycare service.
We were especially frustrated during testing week. They promised the kids all sort of things - including laptops - if they passed all five parts of the test. There were posters on the walls telling the students what prizes they'd receive if they succeeded. We showed them research saying that kind of inducement wasn't effective but that didn't matter. What mattered was appearances. Even worse, they didn't come through with half of the promises they made.
Second email below:
Still another teacher, Melissa Randolph, speaks out about irregular and suspicious activities in a Gulen Horizon Science Academy charter school
Various state officials, including the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent, have been requested to investigate various allegations about the Gulen charter schools.
Will state officials in Ohio make an objective investigation or will they whitewash the matter? Just recently the Ohio Department of Education issued subpoenas to 61 current and former employees of the Columbus City Schools regarding data scrubbing. Will ODE be as aggressive toward the Horizon Science Academy officials as the Columbus school personnel?
A couple of weeks ago, the FBI raided 19 Gulen schools, three of which are in Ohio. It is past time for Ohio officials to take action on the Gulen charter schools.
Melissa Randolph letter:
I taught at the Horizon Science Academy in Dayton for two years. It was pretty horrendous. There was lots of turnover and lots of firings.
I was hired in as a Title I reading instructor making $27,000 a year. I expected to be helping students who struggled with reading. I thought I would be doing assessments, helping with data collecting and filling out reports on student progress, working with small groups. None of that happened.
The first day of school, the principal, Mr. Ugur Zengince - he goes by Mr. Zen. - pulled me into his office and said, "You can teach English, right? You are going to teach freshman and sophomore English'' instead of being a Title I teacher. They still were collecting federal Title I money but had nobody performing Title I services.
I was a brand new teacher in her first job. I did not feel as if I was in a position to say 'no'. That first year, I was next door to a math classroom that was in constant chaos. The class went through six teachers in one year, and it was clear that the kids had far more autonomy than should have been allowed. There was no support for teachers in terms of classroom management.
Some of the issues were cultural. It was a Turkish organization, all building construction was done by Turkish companies, the building owner was in Turkey. The Turkish teachers always made more money than the Americans, and many of the Turks did not have teaching licenses or background checks. Some of us went to the ODE website where you can search for basic information on all teachers in Ohio and these teachers didn't exist, according to the state. I would guess that 80-90 percent of the Turkish teachers were here on H1B work visas.
I can't say for sure if I witnessed any tampering with test scores but I can tell you what I did see. There was a person who ran the testing and after the tests were collected and supposed to be locked up I did see he and some others writing over the bubbles in the tests. I asked what they were doing because I was proctoring and I was part of the group administering the tests. He said they were going over them in pencil to make sure they were dark enough.
This was at least a violation of the testing protocol. Tests are to be collected, locked up and transferred to the location where they were to be graded.
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
Ohio E & A | 100 S. 3rd Street | Columbus | OH | 43215
