Gulen Charter Schools
C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S.
  • Gulen Charter Schools
  • How the schools serve the Gulen Movement
  • Why it's wrong
  • Proposed Gulen charter schools
  • SITE INDEX
  • Flier: Print and Handout
  • How to get involved - Sample letters
  • Renewal schedule
  • Hearings on new applications, expansions, etc
  • How school chains evolve
  • Harmony Science Academy: Denials and Evidence
  • Sonoran Science Academy - Denials and Evidence
  • Quest Charter Academy - Denials and Evidence
  • Memphis School of Excellence - Denials and Evidence
  • Are the schools connected to Gulen?
  • Are the schools connected to Gulen? Part 2
  • Organic Ties
  • More organic ties
  • Organic Ties - Part 3
  • Gulenist Self-Empretzelment
  • [Generic] Science Academy - cut, paste, fill in the blank
  • TIE: Coordination across schools
  • TIE and Accord overhead
  • Skimming a percentage off 400 million
  • Total Revenue 2011-12
  • Audits & Financial Statements
  • Charter schools offer numerous business opportunities
  • Charter schools offer numerous business opportunities Part 2
  • Charter schools offer numerous business opportunities, Part 3
  • Blue Ocean Construction
  • Financial links between charter schools and Gulen Movement
  • Financial links between charter schools and Gulen Movement, ctd
  • Charter bond financing - the next subprime crisis?
  • Bonds for Gulen Charters
  • BayTech & Willow Education
  • Bergen Arts and Science Charter School
  • Brookside-Frontier School
  • Buffalo Academy of Science
  • Central Jersey College Prep
  • Chesapeake Science Point
  • Chesapeake Science Point: Timeline & Information
  • Concept Schools; Horizon Science Academy; CMSA etc
  • Concept Schools: now a multinational school management corporation
  • Concept Schools promotes patently false nationalistic propaganda
  • Concept Schools Favored Vendors
  • Coral Academy of Science
  • Dove Science Academy
  • Florida Schools: Orlando, River City, Sweetwater, Stars, New Springs
  • Fulton Science Academy
  • Fulton Science Academy, Cape Fear Board Member: "Yes, I am a Fethullah follower"
  • Fulton students at Gulenist, religious school in Turkey
  • Fulton Science Academy - letter from parent
  • Fulton Science Academy: comparing college prep with district
  • Fulton Science Academy: Charter Renewal 2011
  • Fulton 2015 Charter Renewal
  • GREEN Charter School
  • Harmony Science Academy, Cosmos Foundation
  • How the Harmony schools serve the Gulen Movement
  • LISA Academy
  • Lotus School for Excellence
  • Lotus School for Excellence - some restrictions apply
  • Magnolia Science Academy
  • Magnolia Science Academy ctd
  • Massachusetts schools: Hampden & Pioneer
  • Paterson Charter School of Science and Technology
  • Paterson Charter School, ctd.
  • Paterson Charter School for Science & Technology - Related-Party Deals
  • Rochester Academy Charter School
  • School of Science and Technology
  • Sonoran Science Academy
  • Syracuse Academy of Science
  • Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School
  • Triad Math and Science Academy
  • Triangle Math & Science Academy Related-Party Deals
  • Truebright Science Academy
  • Utica Academy of Science
  • Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania
  • Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania
  • Wisconsin Career Academy
  • Principals of Gulen schools
  • Maps
  • Proposed ABECS school
  • Proposed ABECS School - Denials & Evidence
  • New schools and expansions 2012-13
  • Enrollment
  • News articles 2013 - Gulen charter schools
  • News articles 2014 - Gulen charter schools
  • News articles 2015 - Gulen charter schools
  • Growth of enrollment
  • Gulenist hijrah (migration)
  • ISWEEEP
  • Harmony Schools Fact-Checking
  • Harmony's anomalous at-risk increase
  • Vanishing High School Students
  • Vanishing High School Students, Pt 2
  • Standardized tests
  • Standardized tests, ctd
  • Application forms
  • Application forms ctd
  • Borrowed texts
  • From Massachusetts to Pakistan: More borrowed texts
  • Text strings copy-paste
  • Grants to Gulen schools
  • Federal grants for teaching Turkish
  • Importing English teachers from Turkey
  • Schools paying for visas, immigration
  • Reform Laws Needed
  • Authorizers, Auditors and Accreditors: Concerns
  • Financial Incentives to Ignore Abuse
  • Discrimination
  • Special education
  • Favoritism and Disorganization: Evidence from Sonoran Science Academy Phoenix
  • Report from Concept Schools staff member
  • Culture of secrecy
  • Fraudulent Application or False Denial?
  • Missing information on school websites
  • Charter school authorization: Lack of public input and transparency
  • Lawsuits against Gulen charters
  • Lawsuit: J.R. Johnson v. Cosmos Foundation and Solidarity
  • American enablers
  • Who is responsible?
  • Manipulation tactics
  • Waiting for the government
  • Comments on 60 Minutes Segment
  • Legal threats: a Gulenist intimidation tactic
  • Collecting information on students - where does it go?
  • International schools provide insight
  • Research tools
    • How to find school report cards
    • Charter school law
  • Pioneer Academy of Science
  • Brooklyn Amity School (private)
  • Brief updates
  • The Stem Sell Problem
  • Submit information
  • Return to Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities site
  • For Turkish speakers - Türkçe konuşanlar için

Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School:
evidence of affiliation with the Gulen Movement


Page created Oct 7, 2012

Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School (TEESCS, also TEECS) is a publicly-funded Gulen charter school in Somerville, New Jersey, that opened in fall 2012.  At its opening, it was housed in the building already occupied by another Gulen charter school, Central Jersey College Prep Charter School (CJCPCS).  A newspaper article said that these two schools were "unaffiliated" (even though the affiliation is clear).  The same article reported that TEESCS received $500,000 in federal funds over 3 years; this is in addition to the normal state and local funds for operation (see also here).

While TEESCS was planned and approved as a K-8 school, it opened, after a two-year delay, with only grades K-4.  Nevertheless, it was said to have an "exorbitant" waiting list of 669 students for 210 spots (link).  Note that claims of waiting list numbers are made by school administrators and not verified by any government officials or disinterested third parties.

Despite the claim of no affiliation with CJCPCS, the school website http://energysmartschool.org/ showed in June 2011 that two "information sessions" about the school were to be held at CJCPCS:

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The online application for admission to TEESCS is hosted on the Apple Educational Services website: www.aesny.org/TEESCS/AP/applicationform.aspx
Apple Educational Services is an educational service provider (in actuality a de facto umbrella/charter management organization) that has connections to all the Gulen charter schools in the northeastern states.

The TEESCS website, accessed in fall 2012, stated that "The mission of the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School is to offer a safe, secure, structured and stimulating educational environment to develop students' academic, technical, personal, and critical thinking skills necessary to meet..."  Compare this text with that of a proposed Gulen charter school in New York State: "The mission of The Heights Charter School (HCS) is to offer a safe, secure, structured and stimulating educational environment, which will develop students’ academic, technical, personal and critical thinking skills necessary to meet...." (note that Apple Educational Services appears in The Heights' application.)  Brooklyn Amity School, a private Gulen school in New York City, uses the first part of this string verbatim: "The mission of the Brooklyn Amity School is to offer a safe, secure, structured and stimulating college-career preparatory educational environment," and this text string was also used by New Century Charter Public School (a proposed Gulen charter school in New Jersey), Amity International College (a private Gulen school in Cameroon), and Pioneer Academy of Science (a private Gulen school in New Jersey).  The chances are miniscule that the exact same string of 21 words would be used by all these schools through sheer coincidence, without any connection between them.

Contradicting the claim of no affiliation between TEESCS and CJCPCS, in 2011 the domain names of both schools were hosted at the same IP address:
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The TEESCS 2012-13 student handbook contains nearly verbatim the exact same principal's letter as that of so many other Gulen charter schools (see this page)
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Further connections to the Gulen Movement and the nationwide network of Gulen charter schools are manifested by the multiple affiliations, both past and present, of the following individuals:

Kasim Biyikli
  • TEESCS
  • Central Jersey College Prep Charter School

Candemir "John" Toklu
  • Lead applicant, Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School, NJ
  • President, Board of Trustees, Paterson Charter School of Science and Technology
  • Princeton Area Director, Interfaith Dialog Center, New Jersey (Gulenist organization now renamed Peace Islands Institute)

"Mrs. Topcuoglu"
  • Teacher, TEESCS
  • almost certainly related to Tarkan Topcuoglu of Central Jersey College Prep Charter School

Ibrahim Tuncel
  • Email ituncel@gmail.com appeared in registration for TEESCS website energysmartschool.org
  • Bergen Arts And Science Charter School

Ismail Unlusoy
  • Deputy Secretary General at Abant Platform of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, Turkey, widely known as Gulenist organization
  • Startup Coordinator at Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School  (proposed Gulen charter school in NJ; scheduled to open fall 2012)
  • Director, CEO Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School  (Gulen charter school in NY)
  • Math Teacher, Vice Principal (Manager of School Operations) at Paterson Charter School For Science and Technology  (Gulen charter school in NY)
  • Math Teacher, Department Chair at Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School (Gulen charter school in NY)
  • Co-founder and Startup Specialist at Concept Schools  (management organization currently overseeing 27 Gulen charter schools in the Midwest; see Gulen Movement organizational chart on this page)
  • Teacher, Department Chair, Assistant Principal at Horizon Science Academy  (Gulen charter school in OH)
  • Math Teacher, Department Chair, Tuvan-Turkish Lyceum (a.k.a. Kızıl Tuva Türk Lisesi)  (Gulen school in Russia that was closed down by Russian authorities)

Oguz Yildiz
  • Principal, 2012-13, TEESCS
  • Pioneer Academy of Science
  • Bergen Arts and Science Charter School


C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools  See also here
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This website has two companion websites:  A Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities in the US    and    Gulen in the International Press