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:
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:
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:
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)
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
