Most people think that KIPP is the nation’s largest charter chain, but that’s not correct. KIPP has 109 schools. The Gulen Movement has 135 charter schools.
I mentioned in my last post that the Gulen network is associated with a Turkish imam. One of my Twitter correspondents asked me to explain.
I am attaching two links. One is by Sharon Higgins, an independent researcher who has followed the growth of the Gulen Movement’s charters, the other is a page-one article from the New York Times about the imam Fethullah Gulen; it mentions his charters in passing.
There are legitimate questions to be raised about public dollars funding schools that are tied to a cleric, as well as questions about a charter chain that has close ties with another nation.
Public schools have a civic purpose: they are supposed to prepare young Americans for citizenship. That’s why the public supports them with its taxes.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/largest-charter-network-in-us-schools-tied-to-turkey/2012/03/23/gIQAoaFzcS_blog.html); (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/world/middleeast/turkey-feels-sway-of-fethullah-gulen-a-reclusive-cleric.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
this is just simply wrong. check out this link for so called Gulen charter schools: http://www.hizmetnews.com/index.php/latest-news/itemlist/tag/so%20called%20Gulen%20charter%20schools
as for the news on NY Times and analysis of how biased it is visit this link please: http://www.hizmetnews.com/index.php/columns/item/513-fethullah-gulen-becomes-litmus-test-for-american-media
Thanks for your comment. I prefer to rely on coverage by independent media rather than self-reporting.
Diane
It concerns me greatly to read and know that within our city we have a Gulen charter, which is under investigation, but because that takes so long to build a sound case to close it down, students, teachers and parents in the meantime are victims.
Thank you so much for bringing this to light! There are a number of very good sources on Gulen schools – particularly out of Texas – Peyton Walcott and Donna Garner being two. Although I also appreciate your response to your first commenter, let’s not forget that ‘sources’ shouldn’t be discounted because they are NOT the Washington Post or the New York Times. Many small bloggers have been gleaning through records and stories on Fetulah Gulen and his teachers and schools reporters – who are being paid to report on stories that generate buzz, in turn generating readers, in turn generating subscriptions, in turn generating advertisers, in turn making money – don’t have time to fully investigate and report.