School of Science and Technology  (TX)

Evidence of affiliation with Gulen Movement

Page created August 31, 2013    Last updated Sep 29, 2013

School of Science and Technology (SST) is the name of a chain that presently includes 4 publicly-funded Gulen charter schools in the San Antonio, Texas area.  The affiliated charter holder company has been the Riverwalk Education Foundation, Inc.

The School of Science and Technology Alamo website (sstalamo.org) shows students wearing the same two uniform shirt designs as Harmony Public Schools.  The Gifted and Talented Program Documents are the same; only the school names are changed.  In fact, several Harmony Public Schools webpages
http://www.hsshouston.org/?page=Category14
http://www.hsendeavor.org/?page=Category14
http://www.hsabrownsville.org/?page=Category14
http://www.hsaeuless.org/?page=Category14‎
http://www.hsagarland.org/?page=Category14
http://www.hsagp.org/?page=Category14
https://www.hsabeaumont.org/?page=Category14
http://hsaelpaso.org/?page=Category14
http://hsawaco.org/?page=Category14
on the Gifted and Talented program are copied from an SST webpage
http://www.sstalamo.org/default.asp?page=Category14
and whoever did this copy-paste even forgot to change the name of the school - it still shows as "School of Science and Technology" as can be seen in a sample screenshot below (see yellow highlighted text):

Picture
A Harmony Public Schools bidding document ("Request for Sealed Proposals") lists not only all the Harmony schools but also all 4 School of Science and Technology schools.
The connections of the SST chain with other Gulen charter schools and the Gulen Movement is further shown by the multiple affiliations, both past and present, of the following individuals:
Halil Celik
  • Assistant Principal, School of Science and Technology
  • Raindrop Turkish House  (Gulenist organization)
Veysel Demir
  • Co-founder, School of Science and Technology (2004)
  • Board Secretary, School of Science and Technology
  • A page on Fethullah Gulen's website http://en.fgulen.com/press-room/columns/2268-a-rose-in-the-hand, written by Tracy Barnett, the Travel Editor of the San Antonio Express-News, describes how she went on a Gulen Movement-sponsored Turkey trip guided by Veysel Demir and another Gulen follower.  She writes: "Veysel Demir, who is working on his doctoral degree in environmental engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, exemplifies the spirit of this global network of volunteers.  Demir tries to explain how it is that he and thousands of other mainly Turkish people donate their time, money and creative energy to this movement. He is fond of quoting one of Gulen's favorite sayings...."
  • President, San Antonio Institute of Inter-Faith Dialog  (Gulenist organization)
  • "Facilitator" of 3-Sunday-long course in 2009, organized by San Antonio Institute of Interfaith Dialogue (tuition: $25), on "An Introduction to the Institute of Inter-Faith Dialogue, and the Muslim Leader Fethullah Gulen"
  • Turgay Korkmaz (see below) was on his dissertation committee

Ekrem Demirci
  • Principal, School of Science and Technology Corpus Christi
  • Harmony Public Schools
Bulent Dogan
  • Assistant Professor, North American College
  • Project director, DISTCO (Gulenist competition)
  • Principal, Harmony School of Art and Technology
  • Superintendent, School of Science and Technology
  • Principal, School of Science and Technology
  • Teacher, IT and Network Manager, School of Science and Technology

Turgay Korkmaz
  • Board member, President, Riverwalk Education Foundation (charter holder/ operating company of School of Science and Technology chain)
  • Received award, 2002, for "Outstanding contributions and efforts, Daisy Science Academy."  Daisy Science Academy was the original name of Sonoran Science Academy, a Gulen charter school (now a chain) in Arizona
Kemal "Mark" Namver
  • Cosmos Foundation, Harmony Public Schools
  • School of Science and Technology (SST)  (Gulen charter school)
  • Riverwalk Education Foundation (former charter holder of SST schools)
  • Albuquerque School of Excellence  (Gulen charter school)
  • Advisory Board Member, ISWEEEP   (Gulenist competition)
  • Wife Maria Curtis, a professor of Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Houston - Clear Lake, gave a talk on the Gulen Movement at a conference entitled Mapping the Gulen Movement in Amsterdam in 2010 (video).  A page on the University of Houston - Clear Lake website indicates that she has worked to form ties between this university and Gulenist organizations such as the Turquoise Council and the Institute of Interfaith Dialog.  It also states that she has "participated regularly" with the Turkish American Women's Association, another Gulenist organization.  The fact that Ms. Curtis is married to Mr. Namver and has been a board member on several Gulenist organizations, and that she therefore is certainly no objective outside observer of the Gulen Movement, never seems to be mentioned in connection with her academic activities. Ms. Curtis was also one of the representatives, along with Kudbettin Aksoy, Osman Kanlioglu, and Osman Kazan, for two proposed Gulen charter schools that never materialized, namely the School of Art Denton and the School of Art Houston.
Ozgur Ozer
  • Co-founder, School of Science and Technology (2004)
  • Co-founder of a number of schools in the Harmony Public Schools chain of Gulen charter schools in Texas
  • Faculty, North American College  (Gulenist institution)
  • Spoke as representative of proposed New Dimension Math and Science School charter school to Texas State Board of Education during application process, 2010 (failed attempt at Gulen charter school in Texas)
  • Described as "associate" of Soner Tarim in writeup on Brian Talbott's 2007 Turkey trip; co-leader of this trip along with Soner Tarim and Veli Baysal
  • Wrote 5 star review of Jiill Carroll’s book "A Dialogue of Civilizations."  (The Gulen Movement asked Carroll to write this book; it gives a very flattering portrayal of Fethullah Gulen.)
  • Director of Education, Texas Gulf Institute  (Gulenist)
  • Author, Fountain Magazine (premier publication of the Gulen Movement in the US; Fethullah Gulen writes the lead article of each issue)
Mehmet Emin Yetis (a.k.a. Mehmet Yetis)
  • Assistant Principal, Harmony Science Academy Lubbock
  • Assistant Principal, Albuquerque School of Excellence
  • Assistant Principal, School of Science and Technology