WikiLeaks and Gulen charter schools (Largest charter school network in US)

[Hannah Bell]

Classified documents recently released by WikiLeaks recount U.S. officials' growing concern over large numbers of Turkish men seeking visas to work at American charter schools founded by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a powerful Turkish Muslim political figure who lives in the Poconos.

"Gulen supporters account for an increasing proportion of . . . nonimmigrant visa applicant pool," a consular official in Istanbul, Turkey, wrote in 2006, according to one of the documents posted by WikiLeaks two weeks ago.

"Consular officials have noticed that most of these applicants share a common characteristic: They are generally evasive about their purpose of travel to the United States."

One destination for visa holders is the Truebright Science Academy, a charter school founded in North Philadelphia by followers of Gulen...Truebright, which opened in 2007 and has 348 students in seventh through 12th grades, has received 21 visas, including for a school director, counselors, and math and chemistry teachers. As a public charter school approved by the Philadelphia School District, it receives more than $3 million a year in district money...

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-04/news/29380536_1_charter-schools-fethullah-gulen-truebright-science-academy

[dmr]

1. Sounds like a way to pilfer US tax dollars

- snip -

As The Inquirer has reported, several federal agencies - including the FBI and the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education - are investigating whether charter employees working in this country on H1-B visas are kicking back part of their salaries to a Muslim movement Gulen founded known as Hizmet, or "Service," according to sources.

- snip -

The report said that after U.S. authorities in Istanbul and Ankara denied many of the applicants permission to enter the United States on other types of visas, many returned in 2004 seeking H1-B visas "sponsored by Gulen-affiliated science academies."

A disaffected former Turkish teacher who had worked at one of Gulen's charter schools told federal authorities that the movement had divided the United States into five regions. A general manager in each coordinates the activities of the schools and related foundations and cultural centers.

The former teacher also provided a document called a tuzuk, which resembles a contract and prescribes how much money teachers employed on H1-B visas are supposed to return to Hizmet. - More at Link -

[Luminous Animal]

2. Similar to how Christian charter schools pilfer public school dollars.

It's cool though. I am totally on board to using the fear of Islam to stop the religious scam.

[Recursion]

3. NYT article about a Gulen school unionizing...

...and the extreme amount of BS the administration spewed to try to prevent that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/us/08cncharter.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

CACTS is an interesting organization model; I hope it spreads.

[Scuba]

4. One more good reason to support our PUBLIC schools. n/t