tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79013965915157331102024-03-13T22:18:43.041-05:00RPNPS VoicesRogers Park Neighbors For Public SchoolsLearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-70420836519665553902014-07-24T21:22:00.001-05:002014-07-24T21:22:07.368-05:00I've Moved!<a href="http://www.tbfurman.us/">I'm over here now. </a>Change your feed, all.Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-39816034234157165802014-06-13T15:44:00.002-05:002014-06-13T15:44:44.960-05:00And That's A Wrap!And that's that. I'm done blogging for the season, at least here.<br />
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I'm headed up to moose country for the summer. My family loves this time of the year; the wi-fi frees up and the dog is out of the house for a whole month and a half.<br />
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I'm moving all my posts over to a new blog now that RPNPS is in full hiatus. That space isn't ready yet, so simmer down. I'll let you know in a week or so. As an extra special treat, I'm also going to port my old School TechConnect posts so that they're preserved for generations to come. Snark for the ages.<br />
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The fall is going to bring all kinds of changes, so we'll just see where this thing goes. I have a feeling you're going to see a whole new kind of writing in the fall. But I'm sticking with the Gulen investigations, you can count on that.<br />
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Thanks for reading, all. If you need to get in touch, @tbfurman is still the best way. See you in a couple of weeks.Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-44727508929848874802014-06-12T21:08:00.003-05:002014-06-13T06:18:52.565-05:00Message Control In The Gulen Movement <b>Here's a little demonstration of the message control </b>that characterizes the Gulen Movement. It's really quite fascinating.<br />
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<b>In the United States, one of the central themes of GM message control</b> is that the charter schools aren't connected to the transnational religious/political/social movement. At best, according to the heavily managed theme, there are only loose, vague instances of various unnamed people possibly being "influenced" at one time or another by the teachings of Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Almost random chance, in other words.<br />
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It's been a successful effort. Even in the recent media coverage of the FBI raids throughout the Concept charter system, journalists are very, very guarded about using the G-word.<br />
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<b>But take a look at <a href="http://www.ebrunews.com/audio/first-documentary-on-the-hizmet-movement">this fresh piec</a>e from the Gulenist media outlet, Ebru TV</b> (English language version.) It's a puff piece about <i>Love Is A Verb,</i> the recent "documentary" (i.e., propaganda film) about the Gulen Movement. [The documentary is a story in itself. Even I wanted to join the Gulen Movement after watching clips from the documentary. It doesn't touch on the hardball political intrigue, the infiltration of the Turkish judiciary, the wiretap montages, or the whole "move silently through the arteries of the system" thing.]<br />
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<b>I'm going to embed the <u>current</u> version (the one I linked to, above) </b>of the Ebru puff piece here. Note the nice Latino gentleman at the 1:50 mark. He's the guy I'm focusing on.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzzRwJoMBpmoPmHHm_aNlv-zNqj5w4upPX9_xV-EfkF166731XHuwpBtwfDX1Wxup72CRu2tt9WPOLvjjnWAA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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<b>There's nothing particularly remarkable about the Latino gentleman at 1:50,</b> except that he didn't appear in the <i>original version </i>of the puff piece. He's a <u>substitute</u>. The producers clipped out someone else and substituted this unremarkable (here, at least) person into the slot where the original figure had been.<br />
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<b>So who did they cut out</b> of the original puff piece?<br />
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<b>Why, one of the central characters in the whole charter school connection, of course!</b> Check her out; she's at 2:02 <a href="http://youtu.be/mF_1XqOC3wk?t=2m">in this early capture</a> of the television broadcast of the original puff piece. [<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mF_1XqOC3wk" width="560"></iframe>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>'s Lynne Emily Webb Ozgur</b>, and she works at <a href="http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/central-jersey-college-prep.html">Central Jersey College Prep</a>, which has many, many Gulen-linked connections, including one to Ebru TV, which has studios about a mile and half from the charter school in New Jersey. Lynne Ozgur is married to Kemal Ozgur, who, <a href="http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100418/NEWS/4180350">according to reports</a>, is the person who invited Fethullah Gulen to come stay at the Golden Generation compound in Pennsylvania.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Golden Generation had already been established in Saylorsburg on the grounds of a former summer camp. Kemal Ozgur, a microbiologist and Gülenist, met Gülen in Minnesota and invited him to stay in Pennsylvania. The cleric has remained there ever since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>On any given day, if you wanted to visit Mr. Gulen at the compound</b>, you'd probably run into Mr. Ozgur.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Anyway, I've isolated Ms. Ozgur's appearance in the puff piece here.</b> It's brief. Note that the (Ebru TV) interviewer precedes Ms. Ozgur's appearance with: "<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">including </span><span style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold;">Lynne Ozgur, an American-Muslim, who teaches at a Gulen-based charter school in New Jersey.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">”</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyPKtO1HGXwPgVLb1DF0XkyAHebn0W4jZLqsbLVp05MVgbd_IvoEX-8EiMNq40PoIVKixZSteYXFoFCBgAxPw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Lynne Ozgur herself says hardly anything at all, </b>but the Ebru people must have figured out that her presence in the video (as well as the interviewer's description of her) violated what must be some kind of prime directive: thou shalt not reveal the charter school connection. Or something like that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The Ozgurs (and I imagine many of the other Gulenists) are property owners</b> near the compound in Saylorsburg. Someone in Turkey (and I have no idea who this is) has been watching them very closely and<a href="https://twitter.com/YesilOperasyon/status/451373656648589313/photo/1"> tracking them on Twitter.</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0A4wn_tZxo/U5pT48dEHwI/AAAAAAAAEeU/9Djo_UKKrjo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.28.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0A4wn_tZxo/U5pT48dEHwI/AAAAAAAAEeU/9Djo_UKKrjo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.28.45+PM.png" height="640" width="466" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>When you start looking into this subject,</b> you find that a lot of people in Turkey are tracking the leadership of the Gulen Movement with surprising precision. I have no idea what the agenda of this Tweeter is; it doesn't interest me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Ebru TV even thought to remove any mention</b> of Ms. Ozgur from the web-print version of their story. Clearly someone higher up got involved. The charter school connection had to go. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.ebrunews.com/audio/first-documentary-on-the-hizmet-movement">Here's the current web-print story</a> on Ebru's website.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-erk0rhGNUak/U5pW94iTJRI/AAAAAAAAEfA/daio6_EK4jU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.41.50+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-erk0rhGNUak/U5pW94iTJRI/AAAAAAAAEfA/daio6_EK4jU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.41.50+PM.png" height="112" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:j7AWmfdRdXUJ:www.ebrunews.com/audio/first-documentary-on-the-hizmet-movement+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us">And here's the version that got scrubbed</a> (it wasn't up for very long).</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfFLOdydURA/U5pWxCEHBeI/AAAAAAAAEe4/TRYo_v6QvSU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.40.58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfFLOdydURA/U5pWxCEHBeI/AAAAAAAAEe4/TRYo_v6QvSU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.40.58+PM.png" height="136" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Isn't Google amazing? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Anyway, they clipped any mention of Ms. Ozgur</b> because of the prime directive, obviously. The phrase "Gulen-based charter school in New Jersey" must have set off some kind of alarm throughout the system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>One of the interesting things about </b>the Gulen Movement, in my mind, is the weird behavior that grows out of a conflict between two of Fethullah Gulen's <i>Pearls of Wisdom</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the one hand, there's the <i>Pearl </i>about deception..</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GsrTEhSErhA/U5pZv8GD7BI/AAAAAAAAEfM/nnqmTcZmwAM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.53.51+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GsrTEhSErhA/U5pZv8GD7BI/AAAAAAAAEfM/nnqmTcZmwAM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.53.51+PM.png" height="134" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And on the other hand, there are many <i>Pearls</i> related to keeping secrets. This one, for example:</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eID3fot90hc/U5pa1zGXt2I/AAAAAAAAEfU/9GRg7UQoZSU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.58.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eID3fot90hc/U5pa1zGXt2I/AAAAAAAAEfU/9GRg7UQoZSU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.58.21+PM.png" height="172" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Or this one:</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jBSNzz66bRs/U5pbF27838I/AAAAAAAAEfc/_Ly5j5K1NsE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.59.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jBSNzz66bRs/U5pbF27838I/AAAAAAAAEfc/_Ly5j5K1NsE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-12+at+8.59.13+PM.png" height="112" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not a religion scholar. But from a layman's point of view, the focus on keeping secrets is probably the thing that's at the root of the deceptive behavior about the charter connection, and certainly this must create some kind of cognitive dissonance. It's also possible that the entire enterprise is based on deception<i> </i>and secrecy, and the <i>Pearls</i> are more of an ancillary set of suggestions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's not important. What is important is that people realize that message control is highly managed within the Gulen Movement, and the desire to keep the charter school secret in the vault seems to be one of the very highest priorities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/">Research by Sharon Higgins.</a></span><br />
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Note: The Youtube version of the original Ebru TV broadcast (the one still containing Ms. Ozgur) was posted by a Youtube account named<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDfIDhRLl7M32qylaRImQtQ"> GulenMovement.</a> I have no idea who it actually is, but there are quite a few videos on the account. I would imagine that the Youtube version of this particular broadcast is going to be scrubbed. When it is, would someone alert me? I'll replace it with a backup version.<br />
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<b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b><br />
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/dragnet-peoria-concept-school-raided-by.html">Dragnet! Peoria Concept School Raided By FBI</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/it-seems-like-good-time-to-ask.html">It Seems Like A Good Time To Ask</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/fbi-raids-concept-charter-schools-and.html">FBI Raids, Concept Charter Schools, and Rahm</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-fbi-looking-at-chicago-charter.html">Is the FBI Looking At Chicago Charter Schools?</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/your-international-intrigue-update.html">Your International Intrigue Update</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/here-have-school.html">Here, Have A School</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/dispatch-from-parallel-state.html">Dispatch From The Parallel State</a><br />
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-more-resolutions-for-gulen.html">Two More Resolutions For Gulen</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-new-to-twitter.html">I Am New To Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-51522698031983457452014-06-11T10:38:00.001-05:002014-06-11T18:01:40.985-05:00Dragnet! Peoria Concept School Raided By FBI<b>Glen Barton, CEO of Concept's charter school</b> in Peoria, <a href="http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140610/NEWS/140619838">confirms that FBI agents with search warrants came on June 4.</a><br />
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<b>Barton also served</b> on the state charter school commission, which in my opinion, was a conflict of interest throughout his tenure. He's still attached to the Concept school in Peoria. He does a good job here of trying to diffuse the focus on Concept:<br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Read more: <a href="http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140610/News/140619838#ixzz34LLKiuBc" style="border: 0px; color: #003399; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140610/News/140619838#ixzz34LLKiuBc</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Barton said the raid was “in response to a federal program that provides funding to schools —<b> all schools, not just charter schools</b> — to upgrade infrastructure and requires a certain level (of) low-income students to qualify.” The school explored that program, but did not apply for it, according to Barton.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">“I think it’s sort of an issue why were singled out,” said Barton, who believed the search was unnecessary.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<b>Yes, the E-rate program is for all schools. </b>But as far as I can tell, warrants were only served on Concept charter schools. And no, Quest wasn't singled out. The entire Concept system is being investigated.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Concept's spokesperson apparently also let it out that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">FBI officials also inquired about “certain external individuals/entities” that had performed computer server upgrades and personnel development. None of those services were paid by Quest using grant funds, according to the statement.</span></blockquote>
<b>Interesting.</b> The whole idea of "external individuals" is interesting in the Gulen-linked world. There's so much interconnectedness; it's very likely that the Cleveland FBI office is looking at people who worked throughout the Concept system and possibly even at other branches (non-Concept) of the Gulen-linked system. Once you start looking at actual names, those very same names turn up over and over and over. "External" is very much esoteric designation in the <a href="http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/fantastically-disorganized.html">"fantastically disorganized"</a> universe in which these schools exist.<br />
<br />
I<b>n other words,</b> it seems highly unlikely to me that whatever the FBI is looking will be confined to the Concept charters.<br />
<br />
<b>The idea that they're looking at the system </b>through a technology angle is a bit disturbing. More on that later. When you look at the modern history of the Movement, at least as it exists overseas, I think it's fair to say that technology does not bring out the best in them.<br />
<br />
I'm refraining from more speculation at this time, but it isn't easy. If we could get a clearer picture of all of the facilities raided, that would help clarify exactly what the FBI is really looking at.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
And kudos to Thomas Bruch of the PJ Star. He made a call, got a statement, and now we know a little more than we did before. </div>
</div>
Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-83225364358220091582014-06-10T21:58:00.001-05:002014-07-22T10:52:48.507-05:00It Seems Like A Good Time To Ask<span style="color: blue;"><b>July 22, 2014, Update: </b>The individual referred to in this post has been identified; her name is misspelled in the Commission minutes. She appears to me to be a highly qualified attorney who was indeed simply working pro bono on this Commission while it worked on approving the Concept appeal. It appears to me that this individual had no prior experience in the charter sector, would have had no reason to look into Concept's history, connections, or practices; and is seems highly unlikely she would have had an inkling about a grand jury or an FBI investigation. </span><br />
<br />
One very little detail here. Can you help?<br />
<br />
I'm boxing up my notes from the last year, including all the transcripts from the state charter school commission meetings, as well as dozens of other documents, FOIA'd and otherwise. In all the hundreds of pages, there's just one person I can't actually identify.<br />
<br />
Someone has to write the history of this thing; it's probably going to be me. But I need help with this one name.<br />
<br />
Chicago's a small town; surely someone will know this person and clue me in. She's an attorney, so that should narrow it down.<br />
<br />
The name appears in the March 19, 2013, transcript of the Illinois State Charter Commission.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
It's during the meeting where they approved the controversial Concept appeal for the Horizon Science Academy Belmont and Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park.<br />
<br />
In the transcript section below (from P. 78), the executive director of the commission is starting to talk to the commission about the appeals process and all of the people who participated in the analysis of the appeals. It's pretty dull; there are lots of names, and you can (if you're like me) Google all of the names and figure out who's who.<br />
<br />
Except this one name.<br />
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<br />
It's probably nothing. It's just that this one individual appeared at an obscure commission's door one day during the pending Concept appeal, and was so helpful, with the appeals and all.<br />
<br />
Ten out of ten people living in Chicago couldn't tell you where this commission's offices are or when they meet. But this person with no digital footprint found it and got right to work.<br />
<br />
I'm just keeping track of names here. It's probably just a misspelling. But still, for future reference..... does anyone know her? I'd hate for my book to be incomplete.<br />
<br />
You should see my office walls. Flowcharts, timelines, biographies... The devil's in the details, as they say.Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-42982484917354740562014-06-10T16:52:00.001-05:002014-06-10T18:33:14.742-05:00Confirmed By (Ohio) Reporter: There's an FBI Investigation of Concept<b>6PM Update:</b> The intrepid Dan Mihalopoulos has gone there. <a href="http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/fbi-raids-concept-schools-illinois-2-other-states/tue-06102014-557pm">Oh yes he has.</a> This should be interesting when Concept finally answers the phone. Remind me to do a post about the<i> </i>whole "keeping secrets" thing.<br />
<br />
Let's just hope people recognize the difference between an "audit" and a criminal investigation. Because I'm thinking we're going to be hearing the word "audit" tomorrow. Hint: audits don't come with search warrants.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/fbi-raids-concept-schools-illinois-2-other-states/tue-06102014-557pm">Looks like Dan's anticipating the "audit" response, too:</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">But the FBI’s Anderson said Tuesday, “What we did was not part of any audit.”</span></blockquote>
<u>Original Post</u><br />
<br />
Remember, back in the day, when if the FBI raided your schools as part of a criminal investigation, someone would report it? In the press?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/fbi-investigates-charter-school-chain-with-turkish-ties-1.494782">Doug Livingston of the Ohio Beacon:</a><br />
<br />
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px !important; line-height: 17px !important; outline: none; padding: 0px 10px 5px 3px;">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">Federal agents have raided 19 charter schools, including three in Ohio, where an FBI criminal investigation in Cleveland has led to search warrants in Indiana and Illinois over the past week.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">The 19 schools are managed by Concept Schools, a charter school operator headquartered near Chicago.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Concept Schools has been investigated previously by the U.S. Department of Labor for its use of 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.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">The company manages 19 charter schools in Ohio, second only to Texas with 44 such schools. There are nearly 140 charter schools, spread across 26 states, associated with Turkish Cleric Fetullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric exiled from Turkey, living in Pennsylvania.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">The raid began last week as unmarked vans and agents seized documents. The search warrants have been sealed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">“Last Wednesday afternoon we executed some search warrants in conjunction with the (U.S.) Department of Education and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission),” said Vicki Anderson, a special agent with the FBI Cleveland office.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">“It is in regards to an ongoing white-collar crime investigation,” Anderson said, declining to divulge further details. “It’s a criminal ongoing investigation.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Anderson confirmed that raids on Concept Schools in Indiana </span><span style="background-color: magenta;">and Illinois</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"> were “all based on the investigation in the Cleveland Field Division.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>So, let's review the key terms:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">FBI, search warrants, vans, agents, Concept charter schools, Illinois, boxes of documents, criminal investigation, Chicago. </span></span></div>
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<div style="border: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 10px 5px 3px;">
<b style="line-height: 17px !important;">These are the key ingredients of a </b><span style="line-height: 17px;"><b>successful news story. </b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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Update:<br />
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Thank God for the Sun Times! (This has been my motto for years.)</div>
Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-88814985444153891142014-06-08T21:42:00.004-05:002014-06-09T06:30:03.074-05:00FBI Raids, Concept Charter Schools, and RahmIt's weird how the feds are always looking at charter school guys that Rahm Emanuel hangs out with.<br />
<br />
Earlier today, I reported on a Sharon Higgins alert that<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-fbi-looking-at-chicago-charter.html"> one of the Concept schools in Indiana has been raided by the FBI </a>in connection with "a white collar crime" investigation, as the FBI put it.<br />
<br />
The FBI also indicated to the Indy Times reporter that they were looking at "19 charter schools in various states."<br />
<br />
It's my guess that those schools are in the Concept system, and I'm sure hoping some local journos start sniffing around. The FBI did, after all, raid a Concept school, and Concept does operate (over) 19 schools in various states. And they're certainly an intriguing bunch of fellows when you start looking at the whole picture.<br />
<br />
The founder <a href="http://north.imsaindy.org/board-of-directors/">(and current board member)</a> of the FBI-targeted Indiana charter school is a man named <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Bilal Eksili. How long do you think it took Sharon to find a picture of Mr. Eksili with Rahm Emanuel?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The answer would be five minutes. So here it is, <a href="https://twitter.com/BilalEksili/status/378521504612225024/photo/1">a picture of Rahm Emanuel </a>and the man who founded and basically runs the school that the FBI just raided, in what appears to be a much larger-scale investigation into the Concept schools. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a5w179fzAeg/U5UTT4mRZaI/AAAAAAAAEc0/DdCIOByzrSY/s1600/rahm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a5w179fzAeg/U5UTT4mRZaI/AAAAAAAAEc0/DdCIOByzrSY/s1600/rahm.png" height="640" width="612" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Don't you love Twitter? The love goes back and forth.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> Anyway, here's who's who in the above tweet, to the best of my knowledge:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">1. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Suleyman Turhanogullari, president of the Turkish American Federation of the Midwest. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Salim Ucan of Concept Schools</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. F*ck You, Lewis!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">4. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Bilal Eksili, of the FBI-raided charter in Indianapolis. Also associated with Niagara. Leader of many, many junkets for policymakers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">5. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Tamer Copuroglu, president Turkish American Chamber of Commerce.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I find it useful to think of all of these organizations, with their frequent re-namings, and their revolving cast of characters, to be just subsidiary groups of one big organization. And you know what organization I'm talking about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, Mr. Eksili is huge on Twitter. Here's one of him and a certain Turkish autocrat, back in the day when they could be in the same room together (in 2013).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P9RDSrU_Jhs/U5UWa7YPb9I/AAAAAAAAEdA/xFyOSxU9KXo/s1600/erdogan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P9RDSrU_Jhs/U5UWa7YPb9I/AAAAAAAAEdA/xFyOSxU9KXo/s1600/erdogan.png" height="640" width="502" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
Again, for the record:<br />
<br />
1. Bilal Eskili, of the FBI-raided Concept school. Friend of Rahm? Who knows.<br />
2.<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime minister of Turkey.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">3. No clue. [Update: We're guessing that's </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">Faruk Taban, who runs the entire Gulenist umbrella organization, the Turkic American Alliance. And yes, he was also running a charter school in Reno (the Coral Academy of Science) back in 2007. He's also listed as a director of the EMO that services the Gulen-linked schools out West (the Accord Institute). ]</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whenever you see a picture of someone in the US posing with the Turkish prime minister, prior to 2014, the odds are you're looking at someone who runs a charter school, or who formerly did so. After 2014? Not so much. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Here's Eskili with the Republican Adam Kinzinger; these guys are entrenched out in Rockford.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
The guy gets around. The odds are that if you are in a political office in Illinois, and it's during office hours, then there's a guy from one of the Gulen Movement nodes out in your waiting room, with a camera, getting ready to invite you to one thing or another, possibly a junket to Turkey. Or write a check.<br />
<br />
One example, and then I'll stop. Do you remember that I mentioned that <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">Tammy Duckworth wrote a letter of support to the Gulen-linked Turquoise festival in Rosemont?</a> The one where the charter kids competed in a chance to go to Turkey? Well, <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/celal-evliyaoglu.asp?cycle=12">Tammy Duckworth got $2,000 from one of the Rockford guys </a>(Celal Evliyaoglu--I'm not sure if he's pictured in any of these Eskili tweets) in 2012--- the guy who is listed as the accountant for the Turkish American Society in Chicago. So, for two grand, they got to read a letter from a Congresswoman at the Gulen-linked talent show in Rosemont.<br />
(Confusing, I admit. The man lives in Rockford, apparently, and is the accountant for the Chicago organization. You really do need a whiteboard to write these posts.)<br />
<br />
You have to admit, the political outreach arm of these charter schools--- and the larger Movement of which they are a part--- is amazing. They make UNO look like a train station dice game. Which it sort of is.<br />
<br />
Someone really needs to start calling the Concept schools to get statements from them about whether or not the FBI has taken records from them, whether search warrants were involved, and the details of all of those things. If they're raiding the Indianapolis school, and if they're investigating 18 other schools, then it's almost a certainty that they're looking at the schools here in Illinois.<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-fbi-looking-at-chicago-charter.html">Is the FBI Looking At Chicago Charter Schools?</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/06/your-international-intrigue-update.html">Your International Intrigue Update</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/here-have-school.html">Here, Have A School</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/dispatch-from-parallel-state.html">Dispatch From The Parallel State</a><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-more-resolutions-for-gulen.html">Two More Resolutions For Gulen</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-new-to-twitter.html">I Am New To Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span></div>
Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-49142646042590400992014-06-08T01:06:00.002-05:002014-06-08T10:33:03.469-05:00Is The FBI Looking At Chicago Charter Schools?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A Concept charter school in Indianapolis<a href="https://twitter.com/sharonoak/status/474968704388567042"> has been raided by the FBI</a>, and it looks like the feds might be looking hard at the whole chain.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NEdm95JPLuU/U5PxvObmupI/AAAAAAAAEcA/XyEm50vRUPM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-08+at+12.16.24+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NEdm95JPLuU/U5PxvObmupI/AAAAAAAAEcA/XyEm50vRUPM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-08+at+12.16.24+AM.png" height="52" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/06/06/fbi-agents-search-northside-charter-school/10076495/">Here's what the Indy Star had to say.</a><br />
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">Three federal agencies are investigating the Indiana Math and Science Academy North as part of a broader probe involving 18 schools in the Midwest.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Armed with a warrant, officials representing the FBI, Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Education entered the school Wednesday afternoon to gather documents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">An FBI spokeswoman would say little Friday other than confirm the investigation is underway.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ead1dc;"><b>“These (searches of 19 total schools in various states) were related to investigating a white-collar crime matter,”</b></span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><b> </b>agent Vicki Anderson said. </span><span style="background-color: yellow;">“It does not involve violence or threats to students or faculty. No arrests were made.”</span></div>
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I'll leave it to a local media person to try to figure out if any of the Concept outfits in Chicago were also raided. It seems entirely within the realm of reason that they have all been raided.<br />
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<a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/fbi-investigates-local-charter-school">This tv station</a> seems to have run with the Concept PR person's story that the investigation <a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/fbi-investigates-local-charter-school">is related to federal e-rate transactions.</a><br />
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There are times when I know more about a situation than I can comfortably post here. I obviously have no idea what this particular raid was about, but I would just point out that when the feds finally got Al Capone, they did it through the tax laws, not the vice laws.<br />
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The<a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/fbi-investigates-local-charter-school"> tv story's reporter is typically vague</a>. He refers to talking to a "school board" member who didn't even know about the raid. Is he talking about one of the Concept "board members" or someone in an actual public office? Hard to say. There's a huge, huge difference. And I love how the thing is reduced to an "audit."<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xeuyjnaviH4/U5P24Ul2F_I/AAAAAAAAEcQ/2sIXxzZKRyo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-08+at+12.38.19+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xeuyjnaviH4/U5P24Ul2F_I/AAAAAAAAEcQ/2sIXxzZKRyo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-08+at+12.38.19+AM.png" height="187" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yeah. An audit. I got news for you: when the FBI shows up to cart away your files, it's not an audit.<br />
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Anyway, I'll confess this much: for a long time we used to keep our eyes on one of the local Concept schools for signs of a quiet raid--- anything that looked like boxes of documents being carted out by guys in FBI jackets. I still scan the parking lot every time I go by the campus on the bus. <a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/fbi-investigates-local-charter-school"> From the video</a>, it looks like the feds are using your basic Chevy vans.<br />
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Anyone seen one of these over at CMSA?<br />
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<a href="http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/list-of-us-schools.html">Concept runs these schools in Illinois</a>:<br />
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<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Chicago Math and Science Academy <a href="http://cmsaonline.net/" style="color: #0081cd; text-decoration: none;" title="">http://cmsaonline.net</a></li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Horizon Science Academy Belmont <a href="http://www.hsabelmont.org/" style="color: #0081cd; text-decoration: none;" title="">http://www.hsabelmont.org</a></li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park <a href="http://www.hsamckinley.org/" style="color: #0081cd; text-decoration: none;" title="">http://www.hsamckinley.org</a></li>
<li style="list-style: disc outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Quest Charter Academy <a href="http://www.questpeoria.org/" style="color: #0081cd; text-decoration: none;" title="">http://www.questpeoria.org</a> </li>
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The Belmont and Mckinley Park schools have an interesting connection to the now-under-investigation Indiana Math and Science Academy, in addition to simply being run by the same firm. Part of why CPS turned down the Belmont and McKinley Park charter proposals (which were later overruled by the state charter commission) is that the Concept people initially submitted some boilerplate language to CPS that actually came from their earlier Indiana proposal.<br />
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In other words, in filling out the CPS paperwork for the two charters that CPS denied, Concept appears to have simply copied and pasted some bullsh*t that they used back in Indiana, without even changing the names in the paperwork. Their explanation was basically, "oopsie."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; letter-spacing: 0px;">As it was explained before, we initially had submitted a draft version of the proposal narrative by mistake, which included references from other proposals such as the Indiana Math and Science Academy proposal. </span></blockquote>
(The above is from a communication from Concept to the Illinois State Charter Commission.) I have another really funny example of boilerplate substitution in the Concept application to CPS, but it will have to wait.<br />
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One last thing: what hasn't come out in the press is that the Chicago Concept schools (approved by the state commission) named "Belmont" and "McKinley Park" are, legally speaking, a whole different kettle of fish from, say, CMSA.<br />
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This is also from a communication from Concept to the state commission:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; letter-spacing: 0px;">Concept Schools is an Illinois-based, not-for-profit management organization. Concept currently manages 27 successful charter schools across the Midwest. Each of the Concept-managed schools has their own board of directors who signs a management agreement with Concept. Concept manages the schools on behalf of their board of directors. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; letter-spacing: 0px;">However, Concept <u>intends to be the charter holder for the proposed Horizon Science Academy-McKinley Park and Horizon Science Academy-Belmont. </u>This structure is explained in detail in Section 2.3 Governance Model of the Concept Proposal Narrative (page 58 through 73). </span></blockquote>
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In other words, Concept is an EMO in some cases, and a charter-holder in others, and possibly also a charter-holder + EMO in these latter examples, and I'm not sure how that squares with some of the new charter legislation in Illinois.</div>
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It's all very, very slippery. But the odds are pretty good that the FBI has already paid a little visit. If you're a journalist, would you mind having a look into it? </div>
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Thanks.<br />
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PS: I'd also like to point out that we've entered the era when and FBI investigation into a charter school is basically just part of the background noise. It's expected. </div>
<br />Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-59801870960845112922014-06-03T21:09:00.000-05:002014-06-03T21:13:02.542-05:00Your International Intrigue Update<b>Just a quick update on the Turkish Olympiad</b>, which I have <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">written about at length.</a> In short, this event is an annual, international festival of primarily Turkish language and folk arts that in the past has been attended by students from Gulen-linked schools all over the world, including the United States.<br />
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<b>I have previously described the religious nature of the event</b>, which needs to be understood in its full context: the Gulen Movement in Turkey is a former partner in a now-dissolved archly conservative political alliance, and the Movement's religious basis is deeply connected to a strain of Turkish national identity politics as well as larger conception of a transnational "Turkic" cultural identity.<br />
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<b>Recently, students at the local Gulen-linked charter schools</b>, as well as from Gulen-linked charter schools and private religious schools around the region, <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html"> participated in an event in Rosemont</a> that functioned as a sort of qualifying contest for kids hoping to attend the Turkish Olympiad in Turkey. The organizers of the event were careful not to mention the names of any of the schools, although it isn't difficult to figure out which groups were from which schools. I even wrote about one of <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">our local charter school contestants.</a><br />
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<b>At the time of the Rosemont event</b>, the Turkish Olympiad was already a much-reduced prospect, scheduled for May 30 - June 1 in Istanbul.<br />
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<b>The very hot cold war between Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan</b> and his former ally, Fethullah Gulen, appeared at that time to have taken a toll on the scale of the Turkish Olympiad, formerly an event that stretched over two weeks in multiple state-controlled locations. It was quite the spectacle in the past, as we reported: a glittering stage for the confluence of interests between a secretive social movement and its authoritarian political allies.<br />
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Then I lost track because I work in a school, and May is crazy.<br />
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<b>Hadn't heard a word about the big event in Turkey</b>, until<a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/news-349334-turkish-festival-brings-students-from-27-countries-to-ethiopia.html"> this piece</a> came out in the Gulen Movement's own <i>Today's Zaman. </i>Evidently they didn't even make it into Turkey.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The International Turkish Education Association's (TÜRKÇEDER) Language and Culture Festival, which brought together 95 students from 27 countries under the motto “Hearts United,” was held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa over the weekend.</span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The festival was an updated version of the Turkish Olympiads and it took place outside Turkey for the first time, after Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government refused to allow the event to occur in Turkey.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><b>I haven't heard if any of the Chicago charter students participated</b> in the event in Addis Ababa, but I'll report back when I learn more. I don't think that was every any doubt among basically sentient people that the event has always been a Gulen Movement production; however, it is still probably largely not understood by the public that the local charter schools are active participants in the event, or that the schools themselves serve as an American adaptation of the Gulen-linked schools all over the globe: schools that to one extent or another, further the interests of the Movement. Again, the kids pretty much have no idea about any of this, nor do the American staff, in most cases.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 21px;">According to the </span><i style="line-height: 21px;">Today's Zaman </i></b><span style="line-height: 21px;"><b>article</b> (so, take that for what it's worth), the Turkish diplomatic corps was forbidden by the government from attending the qualifying events, which would include the Rosemont event.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In March, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu sent a message to Turkish ambassadors and diplomats serving abroad ordering them not to attend the overseas selections phase of the 12th Turkish Olympiads.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 21px;">This would confirm my </span><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html" style="line-height: 21px;">previously reported observation</a></b><span style="line-height: 21px;"> that the Turkish Consul in Chicago was not present at the Rosemont event, as he had been in similar past events. To sum up: the Turkish government appears to have forbidden its representative from attending an event organized by the local Gulen Movement organization for (mostly) charter school kids because in the eyes of the Turkish government, the leaders of that very same movement have pretty much tried to overthrow the government.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">We've come a long way from bake sales and </span><span style="line-height: 21px;">bobby socks.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><b>So yeah.</b> Let's not talk about that. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<b>Disclaimer:</b> I have openly identified the media source as being part of the Gulen Movement, and this is a widely accepted characterization of <i>Today's Zaman</i>. It is a source I do not trust, obviously. But I think this article is pretty much telling it the way they see it.<br />
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<b><i>My</i> point is that it's strange, to say the least,</b> in America, for 150 publicly funded schools to be so closely (yet opaquely) connected to a foreign drama, and that we really don't have any understanding of how it went from a few Movement-linked private religious schools to the nation's largest public charter school network. <i>And</i> we don't have any credible prediction of what it will eventually mean in, as they say, the fullness of time. And also that it's probably a bad idea for this set of circumstances to exist without the public's knowledge.<br />
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<b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/here-have-school.html"><br /></a>
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/here-have-school.html">Here, Have A School</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/dispatch-from-parallel-state.html">Dispatch From The Parallel State</a><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-more-resolutions-for-gulen.html">Two More Resolutions For Gulen</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-new-to-twitter.html">I Am New To Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">And yes, I "bake sales and bobby socks" is a bit of a non sequitur. I just liked the sound of it. </span>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-65274489915509761262014-05-31T14:42:00.001-05:002014-05-31T14:42:59.816-05:00Charter Bill UpdateLooks like I called the Charter Commission bill too early, as well as the Charter Accountability Act. <div><br></div><div>That's what I get for doing policy updates via Twitter on the bus. </div><div><br></div><div>I'll do an official update when I hear from someone who was there, but I'm hearing that the charter commission bill died in the concurrence vote--possibly not a bad thing long term. Also, a watered down version of the Charter Accountability Act appears to have passed. </div><div><br></div><div>Details when I get them. I hate to be wrong twice. </div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile--- the May meeting of the State Charter Commission was canceled, but if anyone is going to the June one, please get in touch. I'll be away for that meeting, but we definitely need for someone to be at the June meeting. </div><div><br></div><div>There's something that needs looking into; if you can help, send me a note. @tbfurman</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-82016335580848742132014-05-29T16:21:00.004-05:002014-05-29T16:23:40.881-05:00Here, Have A School<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In case you missed it, <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141464/erik-meyersson-and-dani-rodrik/erdogans-coup#cid=soc-twitter-at-response-erdogan_s_coup-000000">here's a pretty comprehensive backgrounder</a> on what's going on in Turkey. Here in Chicago, and in places around the nation, we've opened up publicly funded charter schools that are tied directly to the people running the Gulen Movement from Pennsylvania.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Again, let me repeat: <i>tied directly</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We're not talking about hypothetical vague influences that might or might not exist.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's a phenomenon for which there is no analogy in the United States. There simply is no other transnational social/political/religious movement operating inside the US while simultaneously struggling for authoritarian dominance of a foreign land, while also running a fast-growing network of publicly funded charter schools. It's <i>sui generis</i>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the fall, I will start proposing measures that can help us come to terms with the phenomenon, but a lot of policy-makers are going to have to take a good, long look in the mirror first.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We can all enjoy a nice, guided tour of an ancient land, but that doesn't relieve us from the duty of understanding. And what is the history?</span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">To begin with, Turkey's </span><a href="http://erikmeyersson.com/2014/05/03/turkeys-institutions-problem/" style="color: #004276; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">institutional deterioration</a><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;"> is not a recent matter. It started long before Erdogan’s manifestly heavy-handed and polarizing responses to the Gezi protests of the summer of 2013 and to the corruption probe in winter 2013. The harsh crackdown on the media over the last year is but the latest phase in an ongoing process of repression of independent press. And Erdogan and the Gülenists have long manipulated the judiciary, using it to harass and jail opponents on charges ranging from the flimsy to the fabricated.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">and</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">So Erdogan relied on the Gülen movement, which was all too willing to cooperate, having pursued a long-term strategy of placing its sympathizers in the state apparatus. The Gülenist police and judiciary, which in the later part of last decade, ran the </span><a href="http://www.gloria-center.org/2011/08/ergenekon-sledgehammer-and-the-politics-of-turkish-justice-conspiracies-and-coincidences/" style="color: #004276; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">notorious</a><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;"> anti-military (Ergenekon and Balyoz) and anti-Kurdish (KCK) court cases, had a free hand until Erdogan decided to part ways with the movement. Anyone who took a close look at these political trials, even </span><a href="http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/silkroadpapers/0908Ergenekon.pdf" style="color: #004276; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">early on</a><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">, would have been under no illusion that they had any relation to the rule of law. Between 2007 and 2011, Turkey’s </span><a href="http://reports.weforum.org/the-global-competitiveness-report-2013-2014/" style="color: #004276; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">global ranking</a><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText; font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;"> in judicial independence fell from 56 to 83 of around 140 countries, and would fall an additional two places by 2014.</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;">So you have to factor these things in. Don't you? Am I wrong about that? Or should we just open the doors to every partisan in every struggle in every foreign land and say, "Here, have a school. Give us a junket; it's all we ask." </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;">Getting rid of the inept, ill-advised, badly-used-by-Concept State Charter School Commission is a good first step, but it's not enough. We need a lot more transparency across the charter sector, and possibly some new basic rules. It will be good for everyone. This looking-away that everyone's doing, I understand it, but it can't go on forever. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #231f20; font-family: WilliamsCaslonText;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/sharonoak/status/472023554255364096">H/t Sharon Higgins</a></span></span></div>
Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-33001557055453169772014-05-26T12:44:00.000-05:002014-05-26T12:50:54.492-05:00Sunlight On The Charter Commission<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Reaching the end of blogging season here; I'll be decamping for moose country soon, and our group is looking at what form we're going to take in the fall. We'll see.<br />
<br />
<b>Meanwhile, we've had a small committee looking at the State Charter School Commission's approval of the two new Concept charters in 2013.</b> We're going over the slim-pickings returned by the Commission in response to a FOIA request. There's some interesting stuff in there. Not much, but some. As the Commission itself circles the drain, we're trying to preserve a record of some of what it did.<br />
<br />
<b>One thing I'm going to post before it escapes my memory</b> is just a small detail in an email sent from Concept to the Commission in response to a Commission meeting or Commission staff + Concept meeting that evidently took place on March 12, 2013.<br />
<br />
At some point in the timeline, Concept found a new location at 2050 W. Balmoral, and they started to move on the zoning and other matters. It's a tiny little thing, but here it is:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GxFLRgYdWko/U4Nu7aGZktI/AAAAAAAAEaY/LXuBEK9yqQ4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-26+at+11.41.57+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GxFLRgYdWko/U4Nu7aGZktI/AAAAAAAAEaY/LXuBEK9yqQ4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-26+at+11.41.57+AM.png" height="80" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>So for the historical record, Concept informed the Commission</b> that they had a <u>series</u> of meetings with Alderman O'Connor, and that the he was <u>supportive</u> of the zoning change for the facility. I have no reason to doubt that this representation is true; however, I didn't get this sense of it at the time. Jay Rehak, who attended the meeting and <a href="http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4096">reported on it over at <i>Substance</i></a> at the time, noted this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; color: #191919; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">After Mr. Ucan, Chris Hill (the property advisor to the project) and Ms. Barnes exited, the community continued to ask incisive questions in search of clarity. Ms. Shingler then read a statement from Alderman Pat O'Connor (who did not attend but had a staff member present) indicating that neither he nor Mayor Emmanuel was in favor of the Concept Charter application.</span></blockquote>
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Obviously, I don' know. It's not my ward, and I wasn't in the series of meetings between the alderman and Concept. But something's not right. Someone misunderstood something, someone changed his mind, or someone's making stuff up.<br />
<br />
<b>On a less interesting note, Concept -- in its original proposal narrative-- also informed the Commission of these other things:</b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E9CaYMOfO1w/U4NzfCYipmI/AAAAAAAAEac/5Qls_UpdG8s/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-26+at+11.59.19+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E9CaYMOfO1w/U4NzfCYipmI/AAAAAAAAEac/5Qls_UpdG8s/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-26+at+11.59.19+AM.png" height="372" width="640" /></a></div>
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It gets confusing--- the above was written when the proposed "Belmont" location was still 4257 W. Drummond, in Ray Suarez's ward. The school was eventually built at 5035 W. North Avenue, in the 37th Ward (Alderman Emma Mitts). Anyway, Cardenas, Suarez, and Joe Moore, were all on board with the application and/or the appeal. I never saw the letter from Joe Moore; it evidently wasn't submitted to the Commission, so I don't know the nature of it. It seems doubtful that Alderman Moore would be writing a letter of support for a Commission override of a CPS decision, but then again, we do live in strange times. The letter was probably a letter of support for the original CPS application. I wonder if Joe green lighted its use in the appeal.<br />
<br />
It's all so tedious, isn't it?<br />
<br />
<b>One more thing. In the transcript of the March 19, 2013, meeting of the Commission</b>, the executive director talks a bit about how overworked the staff (she) is and how it's in the works to have another person on board by April (P. 57) but in the meantime:<br />
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I just post this nugget because it's just another example of how public policy is impacted/paid for by the efforts of <a href="http://www.educationpioneers.org/becoming-an-investor/current-investors">the Gates Foundation, Eli Broad, and the Walmart heirs.</a> You need an analyst for your charter commission? They'll send you one.<br />
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<b>More later.</b> Our analysis of the FOIA response is going to take a while.<br />
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<br />Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-31814168268031904842014-05-25T10:36:00.003-05:002014-05-25T10:55:06.225-05:00The FBI And The Gulen Movement In Chicago<span style="color: purple;">*Before I start this post, let me record for the record that Dupage County Sheriff John Zaruba's email person has responded to me, and I quote:</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">The answer is no. He has not. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;">That was in response to the question: <i>"Has Sheriff Zaruba ever traveled to Turkey as part of a group activity in coordination with the Niagara Foundation and/or the Chicago Turkish American Chamber of Commerce? If so, during what years?" </i></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;">That's a much clearer answer than ISBE's Gery Chico's office provided, I'll say that. Nevertheless, the Gulen Movement is clearly reaching out to Sheriff Zaruba; he'll certainly be getting an award or a junket offer sometime soon. He was already <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-more-resolutions-for-gulen.html">a judge at the talent show</a>, along with the Consuls of Venezuela and Pakistan. </span><br />
<br />
Which brings us to this. I've posted many, many times about my concern about the connection between a large network of US public charter schools and the Gulen Movement, a 5-million member transnational social/political/religious movement currently based in Pennsylvania but entirely Turkish in its history and emphasis.<br />
<br />
I've also posted about my observations that the Gulen Movement's political behavior in the States seems like the "baby steps" of its mature political behavior in Turkey, where it is widely agreed that they quietly co-opted the judicial system to a large degree. Whatever the precise history inside Turkey is, <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-imam-s-army-arrested-journalist-s-book-claims-turkish-police-infiltrated-by-islamic-movement-a-755508.html">it is clear to me that it isn't entirely clean</a>, it isn't <a href="http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/2380/2014-05-08/unesco-honoree-raps-self-imprisoned-press.html">dialogue-ish</a>.<br />
<br />
If you've been paying attention, it should come as no surprise that the local branch of the Movement, the Niagara Foundation, has invited Bob Holley, the FBI Agent In Charge of Chicago, to a little private talk. The outreach effort toward the American judiciary system is part of a pattern we've seen before, in Turkey.<br />
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I'm not sure what "a select group of our members and staff" means, but I will say that that it's probably easier to get in a room with the FBI Agent In Charge by being a member of a Turkish transnational religious movement than it is by being, you know, an ordinary citizen or even a member of the secular Turkish expat communities.<br />
<br />
The FBI has a long, long history of being on the receiving end of Gulenist outreach inside the United States. They're either trying to build up what they perceive to be a non-fundamentalist branch of Islam, or they're simply unable to say "no" to invitations that seem benign but are actually part of the foreign policy of a group operating inside a nation (Turkey) on behalf of an agenda that very few people fully understand. It seems improbable to me that the local FBI branch is very much concerned about the charter school connection. It also seems improbable to me that the FBI could have predicted the divorce between Edogan and Gulen. Who knows what the end-game is now? They probably don't even know.<br />
<br />
The FBI's participation in Niagara's forum goes back at least to 2007, <a href="http://www.niagarafoundation.org/robert-d-grant-special-agent-in-charge-of-fbi-chicago/">when then-Agent In Charge Robert Grant appeared at Niagara</a> to give a talk. Incidentally, this was the event where we learned that Niagara had sent at least 30 people from Elmhurst College to Turkey.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Lato, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Kemal Oksuz, the Executive Director of Niagara Foundation declared the event open and thanked Elmhurst College representatives for the flowers kindly sent to Niagara Foundation as </span><span style="background-color: magenta; font-family: Lato, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Niagara Foundation sent 30 professors and personnel from Elmhurst College</span><span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Lato, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> to Turkey for friendship and intercultural dialogue purposes. Beautiful flowers showed the thankfulness and gratitude of Americans to Turkish hospitability in Turkey. Later on, Mr. Oksuz presented a short biography of Robert Grant and introduced him to the audience and left the podium for the speaker.</span></blockquote>
I'll later do a search for any scholarship even remotely critical of the Gulen Movement coming out of Elmhurst but something tells me I'm not going to find any. Incidentally, the list of Illinois luminaries junketed to Turkey is clearly much larger than the <a href="http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/statehouse-early-and-often/graphic-where-illinois-lawmakers-traveled/">Sun Times list</a>. For example, in this video, <a href="http://youtu.be/NSvnqods_8E">John Cullerton says he's gone twice.</a> (Interesting video, by the way. The Turkish Consul was still at that time making public appearances with this group.) I don't know what goes on during these trips, but it seems likely that the recipients are <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/30/us-turkey-corruption-poll-idUSBREA0T0SP20140130">steered away from 60% of the Turkish population</a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">There was majority negative sentiment towards Gulen and his movement, whose supporters claim to number millions worldwide </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">Some 60 percent of those polled describe their overall view of Gulen's movement as negative and 57 percent believe it to have established what Erdogan has described as a "parallel state" within the state bureaucracy.</span></blockquote>
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Mr. Oksuz, from the 2007 FBI appearance mentioned above, later went on to spearhead to the Movement's efforts in Texas, and is referred to<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/education/07charter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0"> in this 2011 NYT article. </a> There's a goldmine in Texas charter school construction, let's just say that.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/sharonoak/status/463054299090522112">Sharon Higgins</a>, who was once told by a Chicago-connected Gulenist operating under the Twitter handle<a href="http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/fulton-science-academy.html"> "</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/fulton-science-academy.html">Gitano Bandolero" </a>to "keep your hands off your keyboard," has compiled the beginnings of a list of known FBI appearances at Gulen-linked events. It's a pretty long history.</span></span><br />
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<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">ALABAMA: “FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Patrick J. Maley announced that the Peace Valley Foundation (PVF), Huntsville Chapter is the recipient of the 2010 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA). SAC Maley made the announcement and presented a certificate to Satilimis Budak, President of PVF’s Huntsville Chapter...” FBI press release, 12/13/2010, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/birmingham/press-releases/2010/bh121310.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.fbi.gov/birmingham/<wbr></wbr>press-releases/2010/bh121310.<wbr></wbr>htm</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">COLORADO: “... [Multicultural Mosaic Foundation] hosted FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Bradley Swim as the speaker for its Dinner with Speaker series.” 3/23/2012, <a href="http://mosaicfoundation.org/blog/?p=11" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://mosaicfoundation.org/<wbr></wbr>blog/?p=11</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">INDIANA: “speakers... Michael Welch, Special agent in Charge, FBI...” Niagara Foundation Dialogue And Friendship Dinner 2009, <a href="http://www.niagarafoundation.org/indiana/?p=2428" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.niagarafoundation.<wbr></wbr>org/indiana/?p=2428</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">LOUISIANA: “The center also has had guest speakers, including... David Welker, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans division.” Turkish Cultural Center in Metairie, 5/11/2011, <a href="http://www.nola.com/east-jefferson/index.ssf/2011/05/turkish_cultural_center_in_met.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.nola.com/east-<wbr></wbr>jefferson/index.ssf/2011/05/<wbr></wbr>turkish_cultural_center_in_<wbr></wbr>met.html</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">MASSACHUSETTS: "FBI Agents visited Hampden Charter School of Science." ~2012, photo gallery:<a href="http://www.hampdencharter.org/index.php/gallery/all-archives/category/54-fbi-agents-visited-hcss" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.hampdencharter.org/<wbr></wbr>index.php/gallery/all-<wbr></wbr>archives/category/54-fbi-<wbr></wbr>agents-visited-hcss</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">MISSOURI: “... then, guest speaker Special Agent Mr. Robert Herndon from FBI Kansas City Field Office gave a presentation on Identity Theft.” Raindrop Foundation, 2/28/2009, <a href="http://www.raindropturkishhouse.org/kansascity/45008-morning-talk-with-fbi-special-agent-robert-herndon" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.<wbr></wbr>raindropturkishhouse.org/<wbr></wbr>kansascity/45008-morning-talk-<wbr></wbr>with-fbi-special-agent-robert-<wbr></wbr>herndon</a>OREGON: “... and Tom Jones, Senior Special Agent of FBI, gave remarks of the night. Hosts offered authentic Turkish Baklava and Turkish coffee to their valuable guests.” Rosegarden Turkish-American Cultural Center, 2/22/2012, <a href="http://rosegardencc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101:2012legislativedinner&catid=81:rosegarden-latest-news&Itemid=662" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://rosegardencc.org/index.<wbr></wbr>php?option=com_content&view=<wbr></wbr>article&id=101:<wbr></wbr>2012legislativedinner&catid=<wbr></wbr>81:rosegarden-latest-news&<wbr></wbr>Itemid=662</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW JERSEY:<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> Edison</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> EnergySmart Charter School: Aaron Ford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark office, visited the school with the county sheriff, the mayor, and four township council members. “The guests were given a tour of the school and had lunch with students and teachers.”</span><a href="http://franklinreporter.com/2014/02/13/dignitaries-tour-thomas-edison-energysmart-charter-school/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span>http://franklinreporter.com/<wbr></wbr>2014/02/13/dignitaries<span lang="ES">-tour-<wbr></wbr>thomas-edison-energysmart-<wbr></wbr>charter-school/</span></a><span lang="ES"></span></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW MEXICO: “Keynote Speaker: Carol K.O. Lee, SAC, FBI Albuquerque.” 3rd Annual Dialog and Friendship Dinner & Awards Ceremony, 11/27/2012, <a href="http://www.interfaithdialog.org/upcoming-events/1336-2012-dialog-and-friendship-dinner-a-awards-ceremony-" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.interfaithdialog.<wbr></wbr>org/upcoming-events/1336-2012-<wbr></wbr>dialog-and-friendship-dinner-<wbr></wbr>a-awards-ceremony-</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW YORK: “Other recipients of awards were Ray Kelly, Commissioner of the NYC Police Department and Mark Mershon, Assistant Director in Charge of the NY field office of the FBI.” [date unknown], Turkish Cultural Center Friendship Dinner, <a href="http://www.jewishpost.com/events/Turkish-Cultural-Center-Friendship-Dinner.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.jewishpost.com/<wbr></wbr>events/Turkish-Cultural-<wbr></wbr>Center-Friendship-Dinner.html</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW YORK: “Speaker: Donald Chu, FBI Special Agent.” Turkish Cultural Center Albany, 2/16/2013,<a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/crmoroccans/we-xZ-CsxvE" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://groups.google.com/<wbr></wbr>forum/#!topic/crmoroccans/we-<wbr></wbr>xZ-CsxvE</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW YORK: “FBI - Assistant Director in Charge, Janice Fedarcyk at Turkish Cultural Center Friendship Dinner.” Turkish Cultural Center New York, 3/24/2011, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cos3zZtqX9o" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=Cos3zZtqX9o</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">NEW YORK: “Turkish Cultural Center in collaboration with FBI has organized a seminar on Identity Theft, Internet Safety and Counterterrorism Programs.” Turkish Cultural Center Long Island, [date unknown], <a href="http://www.turkishculturalcenter.org/li-luncheons-a-forums/590-fbi-semineri.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.<wbr></wbr>turkishculturalcenter.org/li-<wbr></wbr>luncheons-a-forums/590-fbi-<wbr></wbr>semineri.html</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">TENNESSEE: “The Knoxville Turkish Cultural Center invited the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association to dinner. I took pictures of the delicious food but I don’t know what any of it is called.” 5/30/2013,<a href="http://blog.frankmurphy.com/WordPress/tag/fbi/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://blog.frankmurphy.com/<wbr></wbr>WordPress/tag/fbi/</a></li>
<li style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 15px;">WASHINGTON: “We invited local FBI agents to our cultural center and discussed how we can work together.” Acacia Foundation, 5/16/2012, <a href="http://www.acaciafoundation.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=148:acacia-hosts-law-enforcement-at-cultural-center-&catid=5:visits&Itemid=25" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.acaciafoundation.<wbr></wbr>org/web/index.php?option=com_<wbr></wbr>content&view=article&id=148:<wbr></wbr>acacia-hosts-law-enforcement-<wbr></wbr>at-cultural-center-&catid=5:<wbr></wbr>visits&Itemid=25</a></li>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">The Illinois interactions aren't even on the above list yet: the FBI Agent In Charge visited Niagara in 2007, as I've mentioned, and then again in 2011. A Special Agent </span><a href="https://www.niagarafoundation.org/human-trafficking-is-a-lurking-business-in-chicago/" style="line-height: 21px;">visited last year</a><span style="line-height: 21px;">. Take on an individual basis, each visit seems within the realm of what an FBI agent might do in the course of his/her public relations duties, but looked at as a whole, it seems like the massaging of a relationship. The awards are weird. I don't think law enforcement people should receive private awards, in general. Not when there are hidden relationships to business before the state.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Who knows what's going on here? Certainly not me. Maybe there's some profit in the FBI stirring up the Gulen-Erdogan rivalry. Maybe it destabilizes Russia somehow. It's not for mortals like me to know. Maybe the FBI just isn't looking at it at all. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What I do know is that it isn't wise to involve schools. </b>This Movement runs <i>schools</i>, not Arby's franchises, and if they weren't <i>public</i> schools, I wouldn't be writing about this topic. As CASILIPS has said, </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f0PSVEHkJ-M/U4FymUPwKCI/AAAAAAAAEaE/w0geWF3rxCY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-24+at+11.32.57+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f0PSVEHkJ-M/U4FymUPwKCI/AAAAAAAAEaE/w0geWF3rxCY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-24+at+11.32.57+PM.png" height="86" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">On a related note, did you hear about <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/05/20/314231260/cia-says-it-will-no-longer-use-vaccine-programs-as-cover">the CIA announcing it wouldn't do fake vaccine programs</a> any more? What happened there was that the CIA did a fake vaccine program in the effort to find Osama bin Laden, and it backfired. Accounts vary, but <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-campaign-endangers-us-all/">this one is really disturbing</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">In my mind, vaccines are good, and so are public schools. It wasn't wise to mix vaccination programs with an intelligence agenda, and it isn't wise to mix public education with a foreign policy agenda. All the rest of this business, I don't much care about. We should just be more judicious about doling out these charters.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">This current Agent-in-Charge is also on my short-list for likely Niagara award-recipients. Time will tell.</span></span><br />
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<b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b><br />
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/dispatch-from-parallel-state.html">Dispatch From The Parallel State</a><br />
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-more-resolutions-for-gulen.html">Two More Resolutions For Gulen</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-new-to-twitter.html">I Am New To Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span><br />
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Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-18127874453482796782014-05-24T21:32:00.002-05:002014-05-24T23:51:06.067-05:00Working The Refs In CharterworldBefore I continue with tonight's installment of Guleny goodness, let me refer to <a href="http:/">something over at <i>Schooling and the Ownership Society</i></a> that completely escaped my attention:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And records show the state charter commission’s Springfield lobbyist is Liz Brown-Reeves — a former Madigan aide who accompanied lawmakers on their trip to Turkey in 2012. The Commission also received big funding from Walton and other private, pro-charter foundations.</span></blockquote>
Mike is talking about the lobbyist for the very same state charter commission that is possibly <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/breaking-action-on-charter-commission.html">nearing extinction</a>, relinquishing its chartering authority back to the Illinois State Board of Education. It's not clear to me that the Concept school people will be losing too much ground there; they've got friends in high places. <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/breaking-action-on-charter-commission.html">In a recent post</a>, I reported on an exchange I had with ISBE Chair Gery Chico's office:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Incidentally, I asked ISBE Chairman Chico if he's been on any of the </span><a href="http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/statehouse-early-and-often/graphic-where-illinois-lawmakers-traveled/" style="color: #4d469c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Turkey junkets sponsored by the local Gulenist-outreach foundation, Niagara</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">; it seemed likely to me that he had been, given that his wife had received one of their big awards. This was the response from his aide, and I kid you not:</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"Gery has not taken any of these trips since he's been the chair."</span></blockquote>
These guys have been working the refs for longer than anyone local has been paying attention, so maybe someone with journalist credentials should follow-up on that nicely parsed response for clarification.<br />
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Here's another interesting tidbit from the Gulen archipelago. Evidently the<a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-6-14a.cfm"> EEOC just ruled on a case</a> at one of the Gulen-linked school in Texas, which was apparently engaged in a sort of blatant gender discrimination. Here's the gist of the thing:<br />
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The local Gulen-linked school here in Rogers Park had <a href="http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/08/chicago-math-and-science-academy.html">a related kind of situation years ago</a>, so this shouldn't surprise anyone. Nor should it surprise anyone that the people running the schools are archly anti-labor, nor that this attitude is rarely mentioned by our "progressive" alderman. As for the gender discrimination, well, that's a conservative trait all over the world; it's not just a Gulenist thing. Although, to be fair, there <i>are</i> several <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6kBjAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=fethullah+gulen&hl=en&sa=X&ei=d6xaU7iiFsab2QXD04G4Bg&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=fethullah%20gulen&f=false">Pearls of Wisdom</a></i> in which the imam teaches his followers about women.<br />
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This poor teacher in Texas might have simply been a victim of the women's rights movement. Here's a <i>Pearl</i> from p. 64.<br />
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I could go on with the various and sundry Pearls but there's something much more interesting in <a href="http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/emp/documents/harmonycomp.pdf">the actual Justice Department case against Harmony</a> (the Gulen-linked charter school). It's this:<br />
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If this is true, then the salaries earned by H-1B visa teachers/staff working at these schools everywhere should be posted and available, and someone should FOIA them. Who will do that?<br />
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Turns out that five minutes of Googling provides a little clarity; here's the relevant passage from <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title20-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title20-vol3-sec655-760.pdf">the federal code related to the visa program.</a> The things you learn when you start poking around!<br />
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So that list should be there in the office if any of the people at the Concept schools want to see it, and from what I'm hearing, those people exist. But word to the wise: the documents probably aren't there. You'll have to make some waves to get them.<br />
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H/t <a href="https://twitter.com/CASILIPS/status/469380000018604032">CASILIPS</a>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-1520737642179993592014-05-23T15:44:00.001-05:002014-05-23T20:39:46.189-05:00Breaking Action on Charter Commission BillThe Charter Commission Bill<br>
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<b>HB3754</b>, which essentially gets rid of chartering power of the Illinois State Charter Commission, has passed the Senate. <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/98/senate/09800HB3754_05232014_017000T.pdf">Here's the vote.</a> You can tell from some of the votes that the bill is watered down, and it is.<br>
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It's going back to the House for concurrence, and barring any trouble there, will land on Quinn's desk. I believe there are some bills stacking up on that particular desk. (This is a bill that passed the House previously, then went to the Senate, got watered down, passed the Senate, and is now heading back to the House.)<br>
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The charter bill in its new form does abolish the charter commission. Charter operators can still appeal to ISBE, though. And ISBE will be setting up their own Charter appeals board. It isn't clear to me who will be on that board, but my initial understanding is that it will be ISBE members.<br>
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It's a bit of improvement because it brings the process closer to voters, and removes it from the hands of charter enthusiasts accountable to nobody. I'll look at the <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09800HB3754sam001&GA=98&LegID=77514&SessionId=85&SpecSess=0&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=3754&GAID=12&Session=">full text</a> more closely later.<br>
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I would call this development a tiny, tiny step in the right direction. Mary Shesgreen earlier alerted me to the recent article in the Paper I Normally Won't Link To about <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/grayslake_gurnee_round_lake/chi-gurnee-school-dist-sues-charter-school-state-20140520,0,2262446.story">Waukegan suing the charter commission</a>, which re-authorized a Waukegan charter. The net effect of the charter operation there is to take the state money that is targeted for at-risk kids and funnel it off to the charter, which serves primarily kids who aren't "at risk." It's an interesting article.<br>
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The charter commission is a serious liability and needs to go. If we're going to be diverting dollars meant for kids-at-risk to kids not-at-risk, then that should be done by a group a little bit closer to actual voters and a little less gung-ho to implement an agenda. By the way, this diversion of funds is exactly, precisely the way the system is <i>designed</i> to work; it's a feature, not a bug. <br>
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Other districts could and probably should start similar suits, and the most recent commission-authorized charters (Gulen-linked) should be put under review by ISBE. I wonder if ISBE actually has the power to overrule the charter commission..<br>
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More later. There are other developments.<br>
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Incidentally, I asked ISBE Chairman Chico if he's been on any of the <a href="http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/statehouse-early-and-often/graphic-where-illinois-lawmakers-traveled/">Turkey junkets sponsored by the local Gulenist-outreach foundation, Niagara</a>; it seemed likely to me that he had been, given that his wife had received one of their big awards. This was the response from his aide, and I kid you not:<br>
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"Gery has not taken any of these trips since he's been the chair."<br>
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Talk about a parsing! Anyway, don't know about you, but I read the response as a <i>yes</i>,<i> but not lately</i>. So it seems likely that there's been some soft-lobbying there on behalf of a group inextricably linked to charter schools in the state. Theoretically I could be wrong about the <i>yes</i>, but I doubt it. He could have provided a much cleaner answer if the answer were <i>no</i>. Chico's law firm also appears to represent CMSA, and his wife was on their "Board" for a time. It's Illinois; nothing is going to be clean.<br>
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More later.<br>
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H/t to Mary Shesgreen and the Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice group, and all the other partners in the coalition, and also to the indomitable Linda Chapa LaVia.<br>
<br>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-9662597608616877142014-05-23T11:09:00.002-05:002014-05-23T11:13:08.984-05:00The Sad Situation At GaleCTU has released a statement on the predicament Gale Academy finds itself in. Read the whole, sad thing. As a result of per-pupil finding, and the whole choice-for-the-sake-of-choice mania, the kids who need the most will soon be getting even less.<br />
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A forward-thinking people would send the most help to the kids who need the most help, but the kids at Gale are going to lose their librarian, technology teacher, and two classroom teachers.<br />
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Just as there are two Americas, there are two Rogers Parks. The neighborhood Gale sit in has lately been described as <a href="http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140425/rogers-park/rogers-park-violence-residents-fear-killing-fields-north-of-howard">"the killing fields"</a> by a resident whose son was randomly gunned down last year.<br />
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I suspect that if you attended a CPS meeting about Gale, you'd be presented with a Powerpoint with graphs about the reading and math scores, rather than the data that gives you an idea of the world those kids are growing up in.<br />
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Here's a ten minute research project on mobility, homelessness, and truancy in the neighborhood. Test scores are always rolled out as some kind of indicator of the special magic dance or lack of magic dance that a particular set of teachers exhibited, but anyone who's actually worked in classrooms can tell you that test scores give you a better idea of who you've got, rather than what you did. My own experience tells me that test scores begin to have a marginal relationship to "what you did" when you as a teacher have autonomy, and the things you do stem from your own ideas of what's right for the kids in front of you. <br />
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The other way to baffle the relationship between the impact of poverty and test scores is to drill relentlessly in the kinds of activities that appear on tests, which is a behavior that countries like China are trying to get away from because they've been there, done that.<br />
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It's hard to know who you've got until you go into schools and homes, but this is a pretty good indicator of where you're likely to find the distressed families living in our community.<br />
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I don't delve into IEP or ELL or low-income because I think these data often hide more than they reveal. <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-important-new-study-on-special-ed.html">The recent study at UIC</a> certainly showed us this phenomenon in special education enrollments; I think it holds true for income data and language data as well.<br />
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Anyway, if we were looking at a nation-building situation here, we'd be talking about sending more troops to Sullivan and Gale. We wouldn't be taking away a librarian, a technology teacher, and two classroom teachers. Of course, nation building isn't the way we think about things here.<br />
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There's much more to be said, obviously. Currently, the policy solution is to disperse the children who need need the most help so that they get lost in the data, and so that someone can claim a miracle for raising scores back at the ranch. With different kids.<br />
<br />Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-60952831624009813312014-05-19T22:01:00.003-05:002014-05-19T22:08:56.707-05:00Two More Resolutions For Gulen<b>Ok, the long-promised Gulen update.</b> [For those of you who don't know, the Gulen Movement is a Turkish transnational social/religious/political movement whose leader lives in Pennsylvania, and whose followers run some 150 publicly funded American charter schools: an operation in full harmony and accord with the long-range goals of the Movement. It's all very obfuscated.]<br />
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First, the Turquoise Language Festival, in Rosemont. <a href="http://youtu.be/dofnXoBOrVI">The sponsors have posted this highlight reel</a>; it's lovely. It's quite long. (They've finally learned how to turn off the embedding feature of Youtube videos, as well. Kudos.) The contestants are almost entirely students at the Gulen-linked charter schools and private religious schools throughout the region, although the school names are not mentioned. We have a pretty good working list here of which groups are from which schools.<br />
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(Normally, I'd post the video here, but with embedding turned off, I'm limited to a screenshot.<br />
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I have written extensively about the nature of these events, and their connection to the religious aspect of the Gulen Movement, so <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">refer to that if you like</a>. In short, this event, in my analysis, represents the closest, most obvious and visible-from-the-surface connection between the charter schools and the Gulen Movement, a point I make not in alarm, but in the cold review of facts, <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">at length. </a> There are many other connections; it's just that you have to dig harder to establish them. Nothing is new in this year's version of the folk arts festival, except the following items:<br />
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<b>1. The Turkish Consul is not at the event, obviously. </b>The Turkish Prime minister has basically initiated an extradition process for the Movement's leader, Fethullah Gulen (his former ally), so it seems highly unlikely that the Turkish government is going to send the Turkish Consul of Chicago to support this event, which is one of the crown jewel's of the Gulen Movement's public relations efforts. The Consuls of Venezuela and Pakistan were there, oddly. I have reached out to the Turkish Consul in Chicago; I don't expect a response, but much more on that later. I'll be talking to the people at the Pakistani and Venezuelan consulates shortly. I've basically tried to ask the questions that I would expect journalists to ask.<br />
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<b>2. Several Illinois luminaries were there</b>, as I have previously noted.<br />
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A) <b>Elaine Nekritz, who speaks at about the 7:30 mark</b>. Nekritz was a 2008 guest of the Niagara Foundation and the now defunct but reborn & renamed Chicago Turkish American Chamber of Commerce, so she's really quite invested in the Gulen Movement's version of Turkish-American relations. She tells a silly story and tries to tie it in to what she perceives is the theme of the event.<br />
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B)<b> Michelle Mussman is there, and she also addresses the crowd.</b> She reads aloud the text of <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=85&GA=98&DocTypeId=HR&DocNum=0954&GAID=12&LegID=81580&SpecSess=0&Session=0">HR0954</a>, which is a <b>new praise-be-to-the-(Gulenist)-Turkish American Society Resolution</b> sponsored by <b>Jack Franks</b>, who evidently went to Turkey with the Gulenist groups in both 2011 and 2012 and who can be counted on for repayment. Representative Mussman herself has not been to Turkey, she has graciously informed me. It's weird that they've somehow reeled her in for the purpose of reading Jack Franks' resolution. Where's Jack?<br />
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The other weird thing is that <b>they stripped all reference to Gulen</b> out of the resolution; too much heat, in my guess. Here's the text.<br />
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<tr><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">3</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Representatives wish to recognize the Second Annual Turquoise</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">4</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Art and Language Contest, organized by the Turkish American</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">5</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Society, to be held at the Rosemont Theater on April 12, 2014;</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">6</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code>and</code><code> </code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">7</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code> </code><code>WHEREAS, The Turquoise Art and Language Contest is held</code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">8</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">annually to promote intercultural understanding, friendship,</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">9</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code>and dialogue; and</code><code> </code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">10</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code> </code><code>WHEREAS, The contestants will demonstrate diverse talents</code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">11</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">such as folk dancing, singing, and poetry recitation, in a</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">12</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">multitude of languages including English, Spanish, and</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">13</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code>Turkish; and</code><code> </code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">14</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code> </code><code>WHEREAS, The Turkish American Society began operating in</code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">15</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">2005 in the city of Mount Prospect to facilitate and encourage</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">16</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code>cross-cultural experiences and interfaith cooperation; and</code><code> </code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">17</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><code> </code><code>WHEREAS, The Turkish American Society is involved in</code></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">18</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">generous philanthropic ventures and projects that benefit the</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">19</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">people of the State of Illinois, such as: addressing the social</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">20</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">and cultural needs of the Turkish-American community living in</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">21</span></td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code style="background-color: #fff2cc;">the Chicago area, creating a welcoming environment for new</code></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="xsl" colspan="3" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><table class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; width: 100%px;"><colgroup width="5%"></colgroup><colgroup width="5%"></colgroup><colgroup width="30%"></colgroup><colgroup width="20%"></colgroup><colgroup width="40%"></colgroup><tbody>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 27px;"></td><td class="junk" style="width: 27px;"></td><td align="left" class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;">HR0954</td><td align="center" class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;">- 2 -</td><td align="right" class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;">LRB098 20715 MST 57579 r</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">1</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>immigrants and helping them adapt to life in the United States,</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">2</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>providing communities with educational services, introducing</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">3</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>Turkish culture to the Chicago area, uniting the</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">4</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>Turkish-American community, and establishing dialogue between</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">5</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>diverse communities with the goal of leading to global peace;</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">6</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>and</code><code> </code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">7</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code> </code><code>WHEREAS, The Turkish American Society efforts to forge a</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">8</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>stronger bond amongst all Illinoisans and spread the wonders of</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">9</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>Turkish culture are worthy of the greatest respect; therefore,</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">10</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>be it</code><code> </code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">11</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code> </code><code>RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">12</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">13</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>we extend our best wishes to the participants of the Turkish</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">14</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>American Society's Second Annual Turquoise Art and Language</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">15</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>Contest and thank the Turkish American Society for their</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">16</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>wonderful work; and be it further</code><code> </code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">17</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code> </code><code>RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">18</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>presented to the Turkish American Society as a symbol of our</code></td></tr>
<tr><td class="number" style="font-family: 'Courier New', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; width: 26px;">19</td><td class="junk" style="width: 26px;"></td><td class="xsl" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid black; font-size: 10pt; padding: 3pt 0pt;"><code>esteem and respect.</code></td></tr>
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You really have to be a detective to figure out that the people organizing and probably writing these resolutions and handing them off to junketed lawmakers are all the same.<br />
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Sorry about the formatting; I'm typing quickly. <b>This resolution is much less obvious than Susana Mendoza's now infamous <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=84&GA=97&DocTypeId=HR&DocNum=173&GAID=11&LegID=61247&SpecSess=&Session=">paeon to Fethullah Gulen in 2011</a>. </b>Strategic ambiguity. It's really a habit they can't shake loose from--- every little thing needs a resolution in a state capitol or the US Capitol. You can shake up the names for the American audience, keep people from seeing the connections, but none of that matters for the real audience.<br />
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3. Which brings us to the letter of support written, evidently from the heavily recruited <b>U.S. Representative Robin Kelly, who evidently entered a <a href="http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2014-04-04/html/CREC-2014-04-04-pt1-PgE523-2.htm">similarly worded resolution of praise</a> into the United States Congressional Record </b>prior to the April 12 event in Rosemont. I'm not sure who this outreach is aimed at; there's clearly an audience for it back home. And by home I mean Turkey. The event is a talent show for Turkish folk arts; it needs a Congressional resolution? <b>Evidently Tammy Duckworth sent a letter as well,</b> but I haven't seen it.<br />
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<b>4. Other people present include</b>,<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html"> as I've posted before</a>, include Alderman Mary O'Connor, Dupage County Sheriff John Zaruba, Theresa Mah (from Gov. Quinn's staff), and a bunch of people from Elmhurst College, which appears to be completely in the bag. All of the public-sector people on this list are receiving polite inquiries from us, about whether they've junketed in Turkey with any of the Gulenist groups. I think it's fine if they have; it should just be part of the record because we're talking about a group that has business before the state: a growing network of charter schools.<br />
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<b>5. There is some ambiguity about exactly where the Turquoise winners will go, and when</b>. With the internecine war inside Turkey, and with state facilities being cut off, the Gulenists appear to be limiting the normally two-week extravaganza to just three days, as <a href="http://youtu.be/dofnXoBOrVI">described in this video.</a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hnIQaFPoEF0/U3q-Y4CdhJI/AAAAAAAAEXo/Vc5qzWZMWzI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+9.30.04+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hnIQaFPoEF0/U3q-Y4CdhJI/AAAAAAAAEXo/Vc5qzWZMWzI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+9.30.04+PM.png" height="232" width="400" /></a></div>
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However, the <a href="https://twitter.com/turkceder">Twitter account for the event's organizers</a> is still showing the original two-week span, at least as of tonight.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ke6IrbHoDUE/U3q-3MiRQhI/AAAAAAAAEXw/XXmY4RqBvCw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+9.31.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ke6IrbHoDUE/U3q-3MiRQhI/AAAAAAAAEXw/XXmY4RqBvCw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+9.31.43+PM.png" height="193" width="400" /></a></div>
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Who knows. I would keep my kid home. The prime minister has recently announced that he's going to <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pm-erdogan-vows-to-sterilize-gulen-movement-by-boiling-or-molecularizing.aspx?PageID=238&NID=66327&NewsCatID=338">"boil" and/or "molecularlize" </a>the Gulen Movement, whatever that means. There's been a huge falling out between two factions of a repressive political alliance. It won't end well.<br />
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I keep coming back to<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/magazine/whose-turkey-is-it.html?_r=0"> this beautifully written piece in the NYT Magazine</a>. When I see the history of this thing in Turkey, and I measure the arc it's on here in the States, I have to keep digging. Like I say, the secrecy about what is actually going on--- that doesn't sit well with me. If we're going to connect 150+ charter schools to a secretive religious/nationalist group from overseas, that should be happening in sunlight.<br />
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<b>Next up:</b> the Turkey to Texas pipeline in teacher certification.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b></span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-new-to-twitter.html">I Am New To Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span><br />
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Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-4909977629175429942014-05-19T20:20:00.000-05:002014-05-19T20:22:03.538-05:00I Am New To TwitterSo much Gulen information, so little time. I'm working on a summary of all-things-Gulen, but there's so much, and what with the day job, and all.. I'll work on it.<br />
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Anyway, <a href="https://twitter.com/CASILIPS">CASILIPS</a> found a humorous series of posts from the Turkish CEO from the Gulen-linked Harmony schools in Texas. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvHxVHb5SVs/U3qsT1J1GHI/AAAAAAAAEWw/VNW_2NAmOU8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+8.10.35+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvHxVHb5SVs/U3qsT1J1GHI/AAAAAAAAEWw/VNW_2NAmOU8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+8.10.35+PM.png" height="640" width="632" /></a></div>
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Optical character recognition? Who knows. The whole organization is so sketchy, so DL. I don't know what workshop the guy was at, but good lord. Was there ever anything truer than this?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5DKaAkgr0E4/U3qskI-YaQI/AAAAAAAAEW4/WJXOUNRdQpM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+8.06.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5DKaAkgr0E4/U3qskI-YaQI/AAAAAAAAEW4/WJXOUNRdQpM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-19+at+8.06.53+PM.png" height="128" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's all so timely; the stuff I have about Texas is really unbelievable.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/religion-on-march-in-charterworld.html">Religion on the March in Charter World</a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span><br />
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Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-41889259719829164232014-05-18T22:07:00.002-05:002014-05-18T22:07:36.546-05:00Disenfranchised People Stay HomeLooks like a valiant effort today in Rogers Park to hold a community forum, but it was lightly attended. Here'e Kyle Hillman's sad tweet:<br />
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I recognize the backs of four of the heads in that picture. Great people, all of them. As you have probably surmised, I myself didn't attend, even though one of our great founders and activists was one of the organizers, and we've all worked with the other organizers. I heard there was going to be a Powerpoint, and well, you know how sunny it was outside today. I just couldn't bring myself to go inside. Maybe I can get the Powerpoint with a voiceover and post it here.<br />
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I'm glad that Alderman Moore attempted to do something, and he's reached out to some very good people, but let's face it: the whole governance of the schools is so out of whack that there really isn't any reason for anyone to attend public forums until there's systemic change. In governance. There's no democratic access to ed policy whatsoever in this city. Is the alderman involved? Does City Council have some oversight role? At whom do you even direct your anger?<br />
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It would have been nice to have a public forum on the subject of UNO Rogers Park. But that ship has sailed, hasn't it?<br />
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Where I work, in Skokie, there isn't an ounce of doubt about who's in charge of the schools: including the curricular issues, the staffing, the buildings, the future plans. If you wanted to, you could actually run against these people in an election. Here in the city, it's much harder to know. And as for running against someone, well... you know.<br />
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There's a common refrain that goes something like this: even if we had an elected school board, nobody would even bother to vote. Look, here's Mike Flannery saying the very same thing:<br />
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(And yes, this entire post is based on Kyle Hillman's Twitter stream. It's like a fount of free content.) Mike Flannery is wrong, again. At some point, the people repeating the conventional wisdom are actually just weaving a narrative on someone's behalf, and that's what Mike Flannery is doing. A school board election would <u>bring out </u>the city, particularly in these times. You can't look at apathy created by disenfranchisement and suggest that continued disenfranchisement is the solution. The solution is to let people have an actual voice in matters, and then to write election laws that honor fair participation, and limit the influence of money.<br />
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There is not a chance in hell that any of the current Board members would prevail in an election.<br />
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Anyway, nice try to all for organizing today's forum. I'm sure that momentum will build because of the quality of people leading the charge. But we really need to clear up some basic issues in this city: like, who's in charge of the schools? If we had an alderman leading that charge, you'd see some crowds up here, but we don't have that. <br />
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Things could always change, I guess.<br />
<br />Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-4157270237649972532014-05-16T13:14:00.003-05:002014-05-16T13:21:56.952-05:00An Important New Study On Special Ed Enrollment In Chicago ChartersHot off the presses at UIC, <a href="http://ceje.uic.edu/report-on-cps-enrollment-patterns-of-special-education-students/">a tremendously important study</a> of the special education enrollment patterns in Chicago charter schools and neighborhood schools by Federico Waitoller, Josh Radinsky, Agata Trzaska, and Daniel M. Maggin, of the <a href="http://ceje.uic.edu/">Collaborative For Equity and Justice in Education.</a><br />
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<a href="http://ceje.uic.edu/report-on-cps-enrollment-patterns-of-special-education-students/"><b>Read the whole thing.</b></a><br />
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People like me (<i>there's </i>a concept...) are always frustrated by the public data because it seems to hide more than it reveals. We can look up statistic after statistic, but in too many cases, the data is junk. IEP enrollment data is like this; the only numbers available are the aggregate numbers of kids with IEPS. Talk about a near-to-useless number!<br />
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All IEPs are not the same. In fact, they're wildly different, and they require vastly different resources to implement. That's what this research is about. We know that schools' test scores are impacted mostly by SES, students requiring special education, and English Language Learners (we have<a href="http://vimeo.com/85006172"> excellent local research</a>); this new research is very, very helpful in fleshing out what is happening in special education enrollment patterns.<br />
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In the honored tradition of blogging, I'm going to clip a few of the summary statements here, just to encourage you to read the real data.<br />
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I think this conclusion is nice to see, finally, in print, based on research. I live across from Sullivan HS, and I can tell you that some of the kids that Sullivan serves are not really included this "choice for the sake of choice" phenomenon; the charter schools don't want these kids, and that the "choice" phenomenon itself <i>reduces</i> the resources available for meeting these kids' needs. As well as everyone else's needs, when you think about it.<br />
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This observation, I hadn't even thought of. I work in a school where the extraordinarily impacted kids get to spend time with their typically developing peers. It's good for everyone.<br />
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There's no doubt in my mind about this phenomenon. I blame the poor quality of the data, in part. The charter operators know that the data available to the public measures the presence of aggregate numbers of IEPs. So why wouldn't they go after the less intensive ones?<br />
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Again, <a href="http://ceje.uic.edu/report-on-cps-enrollment-patterns-of-special-education-students/">read the whole thing.</a> I need to read it again. And probably a third time. It's one of the benefits of being older; you can re-read endlessly without feeling like you're missing out on something fun going on somewhere. <br />
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Two observations: <b>First</b>, during <a href="http://vimeo.com/83952708">Byron Sigcho's series on the UNO schools</a>, we had real concerns about whether or not these kids with IEPs were actually being served. It's one thing to accept kids with IEPs, it's another to provide the services called for in those IEPs. Who watches that? It may be time to review the whole situation. Today's report doesn't deal with the question.<br />
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<b>And this</b>. This IEP enrollment study is critical and eye-opening. But is there a similar body of research in SES? The only data publicly available is the almost useless designation "low income," a term that doesn't come anywhere near what we need in a country with rampant poverty. We undoubtedly have all kinds of poverty; in fact, I'm pretty sure I can map it block-by-block in Rogers Park just from walking around. Who are the experts in this field and why haven't I met them? In short, we need a smarter set of metrics for poverty beyond "low income" because it's more complicated than that.<br />
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I'm posting the whole study here if you want to flip through it. Give it a moment to load. If you want to download it, find it <a href="http://ceje.uic.edu/report-on-cps-enrollment-patterns-of-special-education-students/">here</a>, at the Collaborative.<br />
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<script async="true" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-40999667394816291042014-05-15T22:24:00.002-05:002014-05-16T07:53:19.322-05:00Krashen on Bad Solutions, Wrong ProblemsJust thought I'd <a href="http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/05/response-to-southern-poverty-law-center.html">steal from Stephen Krashen</a> tonight.<br>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span><span lang="DE">I agree that the
debate about the common core must be rooted in the facts, and that the
"propoganda machine on the right" has "polluted the debate"
with outrageous accusations. There are, however, serious and legitimate arguments
against the common core.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE">The stated reason for
the common core is the supposedly poor performance of American students.
But </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">when researchers control for the effect of poverty, American
students' international test scores are at the top of the world. Our
overall scores are unspectacular (but not terrible) because we have so
much child poverty, 24%, the second highest among all economically advanced
countries. </span><span lang="DE"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poverty means poor diet, inadequate
health care, and little or no access to books. All of these have devastating
effects on school performance. The best
teaching has little effect when children are hungry, ill and have nothing to
read. </span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The common core not only ignores the
real problem; it does nothing to protect children from the effects of poverty.
It only offers us a an extremely expensive plan with no basis in the research:
There is no research supporting "tough" standards or nonstop testing.
Also, studies show that increasing testing does not improve school achievement.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The common core is a bad solution
that is aimed at the wrong problem. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stephen Krashen</span></span></div>
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Please,<a href="http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/05/response-to-southern-poverty-law-center.html"> read the whole thing</a>, with sources.<br>
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This national standards thing (and the whole RTTT) is the exact same magic wand that NCLB was; it's being waved by a new magician.<br>
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I wrote about Mr. Krashen over at my previous blog, but let me just travel down memory lane again. I'm not sure people outside education understand the magnitude of this guy's scholarship; he's pretty much the Godfather of <strike>Soul </strike>Second Language Acquisition. Anyone who's ever taken any training in ELL has had to study his work in the field. It's tough for me to think of another activist-scholar whose professional research has formed the underpinnings of an entire field, like Krashen's has. Oddly, the only other example I can think of is another linguist.<br>
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I taught school in Arizona, and every once in a while, we had to take another ELL course to satisfy some requirement. I can't tell you how many classes I sat through where Krashen's language work was referenced. Mind you, it was all really, really dumbed down and isolated into the most recall-the-acronym bullshit, but I feel like during the course of my teaching years, Stephen Krashen was always hovering somewhere over my shoulder.<br>
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By the way, there's a little unwritten rule I've developed that whenever you blog about the CCSS, nobody will read your post. And I don't blame them; the standards themselves are stultifying. How can a discussion about them not be? As a corollary to that rule, it also stands that if you are in a conversation about the CCSS, your interlocutor will not be able to cite a single one of the actual standards nor will she/he be able to explain how any new standard is better than the standard it replaced.<br>
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But the word <i>rigorous </i>will be used.Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-19275837572190076472014-05-13T20:45:00.000-05:002014-05-13T22:17:59.551-05:00Religion On The March In Charter World<span style="font-size: large;">Way, way too busy to write--- and believe me, for a writer, that's painful---but I would like to point out that the Sun Times, as usual, is fearless in reporting about the various and sundry charternanigans that are so common, yet so counter-narrative and therefore not discussable in polite company. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First of all, <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/27318554-418/charter-school-teaming-with-moody-would-violate-constitution-group.html#.U3K2Jb-GZWI">Dan Mihalopoulous recently unearthed the fact</a> that UNO paid a $150k settlement to the PE teacher who was arbitrarily fired by Juan Rangel. I'd say the teacher settled for way, way too little. This was the incident where the PE teacher was supposed to be monitoring both the gym, the boys' locker-room, and evidently also the girls' locker-room, as well as teaching PE, but found himself capable of being in only one place at a time. A boy was victimized in the boys' locker-room, and the teacher had the gall and temerity to report it.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This culture of being arbitrarily punished for doing the right thing? It's what Rahm Emanuel would refer to as the "secret sauce." Fred <a href="http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/juan-rangels-money-quote-teachers-being-disgruntled-%C2%AD-its-like-any-other-business/#comment-58680">posted some observations</a> on Rangel and the rest of this sad episode. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As an aside, I've been trying to pull together financials, but it's not easy in the charter world. So at this point it's conjecture, but I don't see how UNO survives financially beyond 2015-16 without some kind of manna from Springfield. We'll see. Maybe the Commercial Club will put out some new research about exactly how much taxpayer money is going to service very expensive private debt.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Second, Becky Schlickerman <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/27318554-418/charter-school-teaming-with-moody-would-violate-constitution-group.html#.U3K2Jb-GZWI">filed a story about the church and state issue</a> with the new Moody Bible charter school group scheduled to open in Austin in 2015. Apparently, a DC group working on the church/state issue is indicating it might sue if the school actually comes online. The church group is taking the position that the bible stuff is after school and therefore they're not crossing a line. Here's the defense:</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I think it’s unfortunate that we are being singled out for this type of
an action. I think everyone who starts a charter school has a belief
system whether they are Muslim or Buddhist or agnostic or atheist,” said
Michael Rogers, executive director of Chicago Education Partnership and
a leader at By the Hand. “I don’t . . . recall this group attacking any
other charter operators for their belief system.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I call bullsh*t. It's an obvious blurring of a line that doesn't need to be blurred. If the Board and administration of the public school where I now work suddenly announced it was sponsoring a Christian Bible after-school program, I hope someone would sue. Rogers' assertion that the group's objection is based on the fact that the charter operators have "a belief system" and that everyone has a belief system, is absurd and childish. It's a religious group running a religious program that wants to connect it to a public school. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a analogous assertion sometimes made in the Gulen-linked charter school world, which I have written extensively about. The Gulen-linked charter schools are connected directly to a religious movement, one that is not commonly known here in the States but which is rooted in a specific Islamic theology. The people organizing these schools sometimes suggest that a few people connected to the schools might possibly have been somehow "influenced" by the Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen. But a closer examination, as we have made on these pages, reveals that the Gulen Movement is in fact indistinguishable from the Gulen-linked charter school network. It is in fact a network of people gathered around a specific religious sect, one that sees science and technology as an instrument of faith in Islam, and that with diligence, secrecy, and perseverance, a "Golden Generation" of youth can be molded to bring about "the Islamification of modernity" with a special emphasis on the critical importance of Turkey in the big picture. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">More power to both of these groups; I'm a great fan of religious impulses; it's just that I think public education in the United State ought to be kept out of it. There are so many high quality, accredited private religious schools in our country; I think these charter operators ought to be playing by the same rules. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For me personally, the religious aspect of the Moody-linked charter is my primary objection. In the Gulen-linked schools, the political aspect is my primary objection, although I think people need to be clear-minded about the religious aspect, as well. </span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of, we're working on a bunch of posts here, but just as a preview, here's a couple observations from a recent Gulen-linked charter school event (the rest of this pending post is waiting for legal review, believe it or not): </span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br>[excerpt]</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> We're only a few weeks away from the Turkish Olympiad, during which event last year, <a href="http://youtu.be/_EuyE8nnmdk?t=22m57s">Mr. Gulen appeared on the big screen</a>
to deliver his message to the assembled contestants from throughout the
worldwide network of Gulen-linked schools, including the American
charter schools; it's an event that <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">I have written about at length</a> in attempt to sketch out the religious context in which all of this is taking place.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Locally, our Concept charter students recently participated in one of the qualifying competitions for this Olympiad, and some of<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/culturalartlanguage"> the videos of that event</a> are now posted. They're in a bit of a <i>catch-22</i>
situation; they've learned not to include the names of the charter
schools in the videos because people tracking these things will point it
out, and yet, leaving out the names seems evasive. I understand their
dilemma. But it isn't difficult to figure out which performance groups
are from the charter schools, and which are from the private religious
schools. So for now, enjoy one of the performances from these CMSA kids,
who do a very fine job, even if they didn't win. Folk dancing is fun, I
openly admit it.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The CMSA kids have no idea about <a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">the political and religious context of the event</a> that all this is leading to; they're just kids at a school event, dancing up a Turkish storm. On the other hand, some of the school's employees have a different understanding of the larger audience; one in particular (a veteran of a number of Gulen-linked schools) was eager the next day to share pictures on Twitter, sending <a href="https://twitter.com/tanrisevenr/status/455089642216648704/photo/1">a tweet</a> to the <a href="https://twitter.com/tanrisevenr/status/455089642216648704/photo/1">Washington correspondent</a> of the Gulenist media flagship, <i>Zaman. </i>As I've written before, the Turkish Olympiad and its preceding events are one of the central elements in the worldwide campaign to burnish the image of the Movement and its leader,* which is probably why one of the CMSA's coaches was reaching out to the Gulen Movement's media arm rather than, say, <i>The Pioneer Press</i>, or whatever they have in Rosemont.</span><br>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Il_emkNgUZw/U3LHF9Rr6VI/AAAAAAAAEVc/RQom48n67A4/s1600/gulen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Il_emkNgUZw/U3LHF9Rr6VI/AAAAAAAAEVc/RQom48n67A4/s1600/gulen.png" height="480" width="640"></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I've written time and time again about the connections between the Gulen Movement and these charter schools, and I'll be writing more about this particular festival, but case you missed the point, it's this: even one of the school's employees at the event was out on social media trying to get the attention of Fethullah Gulen's media arm during the event. Nothing wrong with that, but really? There's no connection between the schools and the Movement?</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Incidentally, there was an odd moment during the month before the competition when the organizers send out this <a href="https://twitter.com/turquoisefest/status/451544271074496512/photo/1">rather odd tweet</a>, quoting Marcus Garvey.</span><br>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q8OLQ4ySdE/U2W0Yo33CoI/AAAAAAAAEUY/MTReoTnkstU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-03+at+10.25.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Q8OLQ4ySdE/U2W0Yo33CoI/AAAAAAAAEUY/MTReoTnkstU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-03+at+10.25.25+PM.png" height="640" width="632"></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I can see an organic connection between Garvey's observation and the circumstances the Turkish children attending private religious schools might find themselves, but for most of the Concept charter school kids, Turkish folk dancing isn't about connecting people to their past, unless you have a very, very expanded idea of what Turkishness is, or secret knowledge of <a href="https://twitter.com/r_yurtsever/status/455086539563737088/photo/1">what's in the kids' hearts and minds</a>. </span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Once you start looking long and hard at the theology, you start to see how it fits. </span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I'm working on a post about the two separate Turkish expat communities--- one which is essentially secular, promoting Turkish folk arts and Turkish cultural awareness through a Saturday school program; and the other one, this one, which is run by the politically savvy, highly secretive transnational social/religious/political Gulen Movement and which includes the charter schools as well as the political operation that has successfully reeled in so many Illinois policymakers, including at least four we didn't know about <a href="https://twitter.com/CASILIPS/status/462679864688914432">until recently</a>.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Much more later.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">*There's an excellent chapter on this topic in Joshua Hendrick's </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=1XcaGnpAKmYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=market+islam&hl=en&sa=X&ei=caBlU_OENOWSyAG-qIHoCA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=turkish%20olympics&f=false">Gülen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World</a> (See p. 197.)</span>
<br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br></span>
<br>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/05/gulenist-soft-lobbying-in-illinois-add.html"><span style="font-size: small;">Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More Names</span></a><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a></span><br>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 14.56px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 14.56px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span></div>
<br></div>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-8589917668631313122014-05-09T08:42:00.000-05:002014-05-09T10:01:29.969-05:00The House Is In Session<a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=6005&GAID=12&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=81368&SessionID=85&GA=98">HB 6005</a> is <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/house/schedules/Calendars/calendarproof_H098000127.pdf">on the docket</a> for third reading in the House. It's the Charter Accountability Act, and we need it. The short debate should be available <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/house/audvid.asp#">on the video stream</a>.<br />
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More later; there are a lot of updates on all of the charter bills.<br />
<br />
<b>10:00 AM.</b>. Looks like they adjourned until Tuesday. I'll try to write a summary of the charter bills this weekend. Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-75737227835751506432014-05-08T22:26:00.000-05:002014-05-08T22:26:04.142-05:00Gulenist Soft-Lobbying In Illinois: Add Four More NamesWe've got a couple new posts in the hopper having to with the Gulen-linked charter schools; be on the lookout for those. A couple of the things we've uncovered are pretty glaring and quite detailed, so I'm taking my time with the posts. For now, just remember <a href="http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/2013/06/new-charter-school-proposed-for-mckinley-park-brighton-park-area/">the confident assurances of the executive director of the Illinois State Charter Commission</a>:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNdokmmMHOU/U2w50GHuzUI/AAAAAAAAEU4/mzCDzMd3Ju8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-08+at+9.11.15+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNdokmmMHOU/U2w50GHuzUI/AAAAAAAAEU4/mzCDzMd3Ju8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-08+at+9.11.15+PM.png" height="76" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the same article, this individual asserts that the Charter Commission performed a "very detailed" investigation.<br />
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Let me assure you that we have questions for the Commission, and down the road we'll turn to asking for the records of this detailed investigation. They must exist; that's what "detailed" means. But that's for later.<br />
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For now let's return to Gulen Movement lobbying in general. Before I forget, please refresh your memory with Dan Mihalopoulos's <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/24480273-452/cps-says-no-to-charter-schools-but-michael-madigan-says-yes.html#.U2w5CV485Z8">fine work back in December of last year.</a> Talk about a detailed investigation! Dan's article was supplemented with a fabulous <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/24480273-452/cps-says-no-to-charter-schools-but-michael-madigan-says-yes.html#.U2w5CV485Z8">blog post by Max Rust</a>, who made <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/24480273-452/cps-says-no-to-charter-schools-but-michael-madigan-says-yes.html#.U2w5CV485Z8">an interactive diagram of lots and lots of trips to Turkey</a>, all sponsored by two Gulenist organizations in Chicago.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kL3BMaheNZ8/U2w7_iP1kUI/AAAAAAAAEVE/TZ8nbJXgiAc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-08+at+9.21.29+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kL3BMaheNZ8/U2w7_iP1kUI/AAAAAAAAEVE/TZ8nbJXgiAc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-08+at+9.21.29+PM.png" height="460" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/statehouse-early-and-often/graphic-where-illinois-lawmakers-traveled/#.U2w0w1485Z8">Click here to go all interactive with this thing.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are 32 trips to Turkey listed on this graphic. Seems like a lot of outreach for one little state. Mind you, these trips are linked to a religious/political/social movement operating inside Turkey- a <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/a-new-problem-in-turkish-american-relations-fethullah-gulen-.aspx?PageID=238&NID=66148&NewsCatID=428">phenomenon that is well known in Turkey</a> but is taboo here, except apparently in the Sun Times.<br />
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We've discovered that the graphic is incomplete. There were more junkets.<br />
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Actually, <a href="https://twitter.com/CASILIPS/status/462679864688914432">CASILIPS discovered it</a> while doing a bit of research into the goings-on in Springfield back in 2008. Looks like journalist Kurt Erickson was <a href="http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/editorial/guest/the-madman-in-charge-makes-another-attempt-to-get-what/article_14ad9471-d82e-5402-8c52-4a45317cc32c.html">trying to get some Amtrak-related questions answered</a> back then, but a bunch of pols were out of the country. Where were they?<br />
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You need to ask? Seriously?<br />
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<div style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">After the governor announced he wants to cut funding for Amtrak, we thought of asking state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington for some reaction.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">After all, Brady was a key player in getting the first subsidies for Amtrak approved back in the 1990s, when he was just a young pup in the House.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Alas, </span><b style="background-color: cyan;">Brady</b><span style="background-color: yellow;"> was spending the week in Turkey on a legislative tour and isn't expected to return until Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Our next thought was to call state Rep. Elaine <b>Nekritz</b>, D-Northbrook. She's been a big advocate for Amtrak and serves as chairwoman of a committee that deals with passenger rail service.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Alas, she, too, was on the trip to Turkey.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">With all this extra time on our hands, we decided to call state </span><b style="background-color: cyan;">Rep. Shane Cultra</b><span style="background-color: yellow;">, R-Onarga, for his reaction to the governor's decision to keep Pontiac Correctional Center from being closed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Alas, Cultra was in Turkey too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">In all, there were 10 members of the General Assembly on the overseas voyage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">According to state Sen. <b>Pam Althoff</b>'s office, which helped organize the trip, the group went to Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Members paid for their own airfare, but it wasn't clear whether they tapped into their campaign funds to go on the 10-day trip.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;">Others on the trip included state Reps. <b>Dan Reitz</b>, <b>Suzanna Mendoza</b>, <b>Kathy Ryg</b>,</span><b style="background-color: cyan;"> Sandra Pihos</b><span style="background-color: yellow;">, <b>Karen May </b>and state</span><b style="background-color: cyan;"> Sen. Maggie Crotty</b><span style="background-color: yellow;">.</span></div>
I'm pointing this out because it's interesting that these names didn't show up in whatever search Max Rust did. I bet there are more. (And these are just the state legislators.) I don't know what became of Sen. Crotty, or Rep. Cultra, but it looks to me like the Movemenent had good instincts about the political juice of Bill Brady and of Sandra Pihos. The (Chicago) charter school people are still working (suburban) Representative Pihos, <a href="http://www.hsabelmont.org/il-state-rep-sandra-pihos/">as we pointed out recently.</a> I wonder how many other city charter schools drive kids out to Glen Ellyn on a school day for a photo op.<br />
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<b>Anyway, here's the point.</b> We have on the one hand a known entity, secretive as it may be, connected to one of the most controversial religious/political/social-movement figures of our times, a man who is looking at a potential extradition for a range of behaviors that are clearly illegal and my opinion, politically repressive in nature. This entity is running a soft-lobbying campaign on a scale for which there is no comparison, ferrying dozens of our state policymakers hither and yon, while simultaneously running a network of charter schools back here in the state, a network impacted at every level by decisions made by these very policymakers. And on the <i>other </i>hand, what we have is an unwritten rule that this subject must never, ever be spoken of.<br />
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<b>New to the topic? Please see some of my previous posts.</b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/extradition-requests-coming.html">Extradition Request Coming</a><br />
<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/meet-your-new-board-of-education.html">Meet Your New Board of Education</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/gulen-on-march-in-wisconsin.html">Gulen On The March In Wisconsin</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-thoughts-on-religion-and-politics.html">More Thoughts on Religion (and Politics) In The Gulen-Linked Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/04/taking-good-long-look-at-concept.html">Taking a Good, Long Look at the Concept Charter Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/chicago-charter-schools-and-turkish.html">Chicago Charter Schools and the Turkish Elections</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/religion-and-gulen-schools.html">Religion and the Gulen Schools</a></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gulen-money-train.html">The Gulen Money Train</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/we-fund-turkish-turmoil-with-our-schools.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">We Fund Turkish Turmoil With Our Schools</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14.5600004196167px;"><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>The Grooming of Illinois Policymakers: Toni Berrios</b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/todays-gulen-charter-school-news.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.5600004196167px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Today's Gulen Charter School News</b></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14.5600004196167px;"><b><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/video-here-gulen-101-session-one-with.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gulen 101: Session One, With Sharon Higgins.</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-tribune-and-gulen-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune And The Gulen Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/when-does-gulen-mess-in-illinois-become.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">When Does This Gulen Mess In Illinois Become A Scandal?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/eyes-wide-shut-in-illinois.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eyes Wide Shut In Illinois</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-that-bbc-gulen-interview.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That BBC Gulen Interview</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/think-about-this-for-moment.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Think About This For A Moment</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-tribune-is-so-full-of-it.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Tribune Is So Full Of It</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/about-that-unauthorized-invitation.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">About That Unauthorized Invitation</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-does-it-all-start.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How Does It All Start?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-movement-as-seen-by-our-own-foreign.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Movement, As Seen By Our Own Foreign Service</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/fellowship-joins-with-movement.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fellowship Joins With The Movement</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grooming-of-illinois-policymakers.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Grooming Of Illinois Policymakers: Susana Mendoza</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-is-going-on-in-these-schools.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Is Going On In These Schools?</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-phone-call-that-wont-be-happening.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Phone Call That Won't Be Happening Any Time Soon</a><br /><a href="http://rpnps.blogspot.com/2013/12/what-this-gulen-mess-is-really-about.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What This Gulen Mess Is Really All About</a></b></span><br />
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<br />Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7901396591515733110.post-35640785920933750452014-05-06T10:00:00.001-05:002014-05-06T18:53:19.270-05:00Two Great Charter School ResourcesA couple of things you may not have had time to digest.<br />
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First, <a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/web-extra-public-schools-for-sale/">Diane Ravitch's appearance on Bill Moyers' show</a>, which I originally read about over <a href="http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/sunday-reads-39/">at Fred's</a>. I finally got to watch the whole thing, and it's excellent. There's nobody quite like Diane Ravitch; she's cranks out so many revelations about the privatization crisis that I can't keep up. We're living in quite a time--- there's a full-blown, deep-pocketed onslaught on democratic, public education in our country; and on the other side, there's a small army of extraordinary women fighting for the greater good.<br />
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Diane Ravitch saved me from being a tech blogger, so I have that to thank her for. When I started my previous blog, <a href="http://www.barbarasbookstore.com/book/9780465025572">her<strike> first</strike> earlier book had just come out</a>, and it completely transformed my priorities. When Diane talks about an attack on democracy, that's something I agree with. And it's much more interesting than blogging about the wonders of online mind-mapping services, or the problems with PowerPoint, or the importance of focusing on <i>learning</i>, not technology. You know, the canon.<br />
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Here's the whole segment. It's a great conversation.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/90754535" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
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Second, you might have missed<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/221993993/Charter-School-Vulnerabilities-to-Waste-Fraud-Abuse"> this report</a>, authored by the <a href="http://integrityineducation.org/charter-fraud/">Center for Popular Democracy and Education in Integrity.</a> It uses information from the DOE Inspector General, and it's sort of a here-what-you-get when you set up an unsupervised, opaque outsourcing of a public institution. Charter schools need to be audited, comprehensively, in every state. Why is this so controversial?<br />
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I myself was looking last night at an unpublished audit of one the Gulen-linked schools, and jaded as I am, even I was semi-flabbergasted. I'll probably be posting portions of that audit soon. Meanwhile, here's the charter report--- and keep in mind that this is the tip of the iceberg. It's not even the tip. It's more like a group of little samples from the tip.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/221993993" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, &amp; Abuse on Scribd">Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse</a></div>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="undefined" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_305" scrolling="no" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/221993993/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true" width="100%"></iframe>Learhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05053574139373063271noreply@blogger.com0