Oakland, California, has a Gulen problem.
One of its charter schools is a Gulen affiliate, meaning that it has a shadowy connection to a shadowy figure who is an imam who lives in seclusion in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania.
The imam Fethullah Gullen has the same shadowy association with nearly 200 charter schools, meaning his Gulen movement is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars to run “public” schools in which most of the board and teachers are Turkish. The current authoritarian ruler of Turkey, Recip Erdogan, once Gullen’s ally, blames Gulen for a failed coup and wants him extradited. The U.S. is protecting him. That’s okay, but why is this Turkish national running American “public” schools. He used to give free trips to Turkey to key legislators in states like Ohio and Texas, but he can’t do that anymore since Turkey no longer welcomes him or his movement.
Oakland has at least one Gulen school, called BayTech. The principal (Turkish, of course) revised his contract so that he could collect $450,000 if and when he left, and he quit and took off for Australia with $450,000 of taxpayer dollars.
Now the Oakland school board is scrambling to save the school.
Amid a management crisis and allegations of fraud at Oakland’s BayTech charter school, the Oakland Unified School District is exploring the possibility of appointing an independent director to the school’s board. State law allows public school districts to make board appointments to charter schools under their supervision. BayTech has also hired Kathleen Daugherty, a retired superintendent from Sacramento who runs an education consulting firm, to assist with the school’s recovery. Classes began on Monday at BayTech, even though the school’s principal and several other senior administrators all abruptly quit at the end of the last school year.
Meanwhile, OUSD is continuing to investigate allegations that the school’s former principal, Hayri Hatipoglu, defrauded BayTech by modifying his employment contract to obtain a lucrative three-year payout, instead of a standard six-month severance package. BayTech’s three current board members, Fatih Dagdelen, Kairat Sabyrov, and Volkan Ulukoylu, allege that Hatipoglu made the contract modification without their knowledge.
But Hatipoglu wrote in an email to the Express that the allegations are untrue and have unfairly damaged his reputation.
“This allegation is such a big lie that even OUSD, CSMC (BayTech back office) would be able to refute that immediately as they can view/have access to school finances,” Hatipoglu wrote.
OUSD hasn’t commented about the school’s situation or the allegations against Hatipoglu except to confirm several weeks ago that the district is conducting an investigation. School district records show that OUSD has obtained detailed financial information from BayTech.
As is usual in a Gulen school, the management is Turkish.
The article goes on to explain that the school required its student to buy uniforms from a Turkish-owned vendor.
Hatipoglu has maintained in emails sent to the Express that Sabyrov’s allegations are false, and that he is instead being retaliated against for breaking ties with the Accord Institute.
Accord is a nonprofit that was founded by members of the Gülen movement, a Turkish religious sect run by the elderly imam Fethullah Gülen.
In an email sent over the weekend, Hatipoglu wrote that Sabyrov, who is originally from Kyrgyzstan and BayTech’s two Turkish board members are part of a “shady network that is exploiting the school’s resources.”
Hatipoglu didn’t specifically identify this “shady network,” but BayTech’s links to followers of Fethullah Gülen are well-known. The school was founded by Gülen movement members, including the current CEO of the Accord Institute, and BayTech has contracted with several companies that are suspected of being owned and operated by Gülenists. BayTech also paid the Accord Institute about $70,000 a year for various education training services.
Why is the school board trying to keep this Gulen school afloat?
Given the allegations of fraud and mismanagement, why doesn’t the board return the school and the students to the public schools?
Sharon Higgins, an Oakland parent who has been tracking the Gulen movement for years, says that Oakland taxpayers are funding the Gulenists.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Below is excerpt from an email I recently sent to the school board. Obviously, they have their own ideas about what should be done. Save the charter at all costs (but it’s perfectly okay to shut down our “failing” neighborhood school and hand the building over to BayTech):
“The situation feels similar to what happened with American Indian a few years ago. And I sense that the same apologists who argued to keep that school open, will also argue that one bad apple (only one??) shouldn’t ruin BayTech for the students who remain. After all, Oakland’s own charter school incubator, Educate78 even came up with their own stats touting the praises of BayTech as a “growth superstar”:
http://educate78.org/growth-superstars-schools-move/
It’s all bogus. BayTech’s ranking as a “growth superstar” gets tarnished quickly when you look at how they are able to come up with the “100% graduation rate” on their charter renewal, as well as boosting their test scores. Here’s how they did it:
1) Shed 55% of their students between 9th and 12th grade. That 12th grade cohort gets really tiny at the end, a mere 17 students.
2) Get rid of nearly one-third of their 10th graders in 2016, so that when it was time to take the SBAC for the 11th graders in 2017, you had whittled the group down to a cohort of 11th graders that would score better.
3) Start out with 5 SPED in October 2016, end up with 16 SPED (How?) by test time, test 13 of those SPED, and give ALL of them the California Alternative Assessment (for severe cognitive disabilities) test instead of the SBAC. This strategy essentially removes this group of students from the pool of SBAC scores and makes the overall scores go up. In other words, they gamed the scores in their favor.
This is the charter model of winners and losers.
So, who are the losers? Parents, students, taxpayers; Nobody wins here, least of all, the students. Remember them? Don’t they even matter?
But we do have a winner, former principal Mr. Hatipoglu, who walks away with a $450,000 grand prize.
I will preface this by saying that I rarely support school closure, due to the disruptive nature of it and the effects it can have on educational outcomes for our most vulnerable young people. However, this situation has become toxic on so many levels. There is nothing in place to safeguard the situation going forward, either financially or academically. It’s wrong to support a school model that purges so many students from its school. I’m sure the parents were never told that their child has only a 50% chance of “success” at the school. This is not the kind of “opportunity” that our students need. They need stability and support before they can learn, and in this case the adults have let them down. It is clear that given the evidence for both financial as well as academic malfeasance, Bay Area Technology School should be closed and its charter should be revoked as soon as possible.”
Across the nation: “They need stability and support before they can learn, and in this case the adults have let them down. “
Yes, your taxpayer money is funding the Gulenists! Do the citizens of Oakland know what is going on in their charter schools? Maybe it’s time to stop being so trusting and get some answers as to who is benefiting from their hard earned dollars.
Because there is something very political about this whole mess (Obama/HRC admin). I’m not trying to start any conspiracy theories here, but WHY is Gulen living in a secluded compound in the Poconos? There has to be some political “work around” to keep this man safe and wealthy at the expense of the United States. This is a pet cause by a few politicians because the rest would revolt against this “mission”. This whole scheme needs some transparency.
Some have speculated that Gulen is protected by the CIA. I have no idea why he lives in isolated splendor. But some of that luxury is courtesy of tax dollars intended for public schools.
Some people better start doing some deep digging. Sorry to say this, but I wouldn’t mind the Orange Ape getting wind of this and start stirring up the Twitterverse….people would certainly take notice….really quick!
Does anyone remember when Nikita Khrushchev?
“We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within.”
This is a quote attributed to the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
http://www.amarillo.com/article/20121008/opinion/310089744
Is that prediction coming true?
But Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Right on, Diane. We have a FAT, DISGUSTING, STUPID orange orangutang in the wh and in our faces to take a good look at.
I think you owe an apology to orangutans, Yvonne!
Yea, I always thought of orangutans as sort of cute and cuddly. The toxic Kremlin’s Agent Orange is nothing like an orangutang.
“an email sent over the weekend, Hatipoglu wrote that Sabyrov, who is originally from Kyrgyzstan and BayTech’s two Turkish board members are part of a “shady network that is exploiting the school’s resources.”
Irony much?
Cannot believe stupidity of so called educators no knowing Kyrgyzstan is a Turkic nation as are the other central Asian former Soviet countries.
Suleyman Baachi who was one of the founders of Bay Tech was a former superintendent/ CEO of troubled Magnolia Science Academy he is now an administrator at a Gulen operated college Virginia International University VIU which has latched onto FAFSA federal student loans.