More Organic Ties
June 2, 2011 last updated June 13, 2011
by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools
Despite the use of the term "Gulen charter school" by The New Republic ("The Global Imam," Nov 10, 2010) and despite an article appearing on the New York Times website stating that "Hizmet [another name for the Gulen movement] operates more than 120 publicly financed charter schools in 25 states" ("Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions," May 28, 2011) Gulenists persist with their cyber-propaganda campaign of denial. Yet evidence that the Gulen charter schools are connected to the Gulen Movement and other Gulen schools around the world is overwhelming. More examples are given here.
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The website (accessed Jan 2011) of Axis Educational Trust, a corporation running the Wisdom School, a private Gulen school in the United Kingdom, has a page describing its education model, which states:
"In order to achieve this aim, we will be partnering with some of our sister schools in the USA which specifically focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics....For instance, Horizon Science Academy in Cleveland has 100% college acceptance rate for students. .... Please also see Appendix-I for further details about the schools run buy Cosmos Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs around 30 Maths and Science Academies in Texas and Concept Schools, an organization that runs around 20 schools focusing on Science, Maths, Technology and Engineering in Ohio, Chicago, Indiana and Michigan."
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The website gulenschools.org is registered to Baybars Bakay, who taught at Fulton Science Academy and also has been affiliated with the Nile Foundation, the Istanbul Center and the Turkish Olympiads. On the IRS Form 990 for 2006 of Fulton Science Academy Middle School, Inc., Bakay was listed as Chief Financial Officer and one of the 5 highest-paid employees.
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The Australian Muslim website crescentsofbrisbane.org has an article about the Turkish Olympiads entitled "Pakistani Youngster in Perfect Turkish Brings House Down at Olympiad." It says "... at the 7th Turkish Olympiad organized by the Gulen Movement where students from 156 countries all studying at Gulen schools come together to display their Turkish language talents in various categories such as singing, poetry, stand-up comedy etc.."
This is an admission that all participants at the Turkish Olympiads come from Gulen schools. Many Gulen charter schools in the US have participated in these Olympiads.
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As of May 2011, exactly 5 domain names were hosted at the IP address 173.192.1.124:
cmitacademy.org
fethullah-gulen.org
fgulenforum.org
hizmetforum.com
zeitinhosting.com
The domain name cmitacademy.org is that of Chesapeake Math and Information Technology Academy, a charter school in Prince George's County, Maryland that plans to open in fall 2011. This school describes itself as a sister school of Chesapeake Science Point, another Maryland charter school.
There can be no doubt of the Gulenist nature of fethullah-gulen.org, fgulenforum.org and hizmetforum.com (recall that "Hizmet" is another name used by Gulenists for the Gulen Movement).
The domain name zeitinhosting.com is owned by Erdem Demirtas, who was Senior Internet Marketing Engineer at Zeitin LLC. Zeitin Design is another Gulenist web development firm (the name "Zeitin" is a variant of the Turkish word for olive; as discussed by Bayram Balci, the olive has symbolic significance for Fethullah Gulen). Erdem Demirtas and Zeitin Design are also the adminstrators for the domain name tccnj.org belonging to the Turkish Cultural Center of New Jersey, another Gulenist organization that is a member of the umbrella Turkic American Alliance.
This clearly shows the connection of the Chesapeake Math and Information Technology Academy charter school to Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement.
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The Concept Schools website has a page outlining the Concept Model, stating the following:
“Students, parents, teachers and staff are part of a school culture that fosters strong communication between school and families. Everyone will be asked to uphold a commitment to the school and to each other to put in the time and effort required to achieve success. The schools host community breakfasts and student-centered exhibits to create a sense of community and build community support. Families and educators share responsibility for student learning and they will rely on each other to contribute to the learning process.”
The identical text appears in a paper by Halit Kara entitled "Character Education in Gulen Inspired Schools Worldwide," dated May 4, 2011 and posted on Fethullah Gulen's website.
http://www.fethullah-gulen.org/op-ed/gulen-schools-charactereducation/all-pages.html
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As of May, 2011 the web analytics site plotip.com showed exactly 22 domain names at the IP address 74.117.238.181
denisonelementary.com (Horizon Science Academy Denison Elementary)
denisonelementary.org (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
conceptschools.org (Concept Schools)
gsastl.org (Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis)
horizoncincy.org (Horizon Science Academy Cincinnati)
horizoncleveland.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland)
horizondenison.com (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
horizondenison.org (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
horizonlorain.org (Horizon Science Academy Lorain)
horizonspringfield.org (Horizon Science Academy Springfield)
horizonyoungstown.org (Horizon Science Academy Youngstown)
hsacms.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland middle school)
hsas.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland)
imsaindy.org (Indiana Math and Science Academy)
islamichicago.org <----- registered to Hilmi Okur, Islamic Society of Chicago
mmsacademy.org (Michigan Math and Science Academy)
nobleacademy.org (Noble Academy)
noblecleveland.org (Noble Academy Cleveland)
noblecolumbus.org (Noble Academy Columbus)
qbmidwest.com (Quality Builders Midwest Inc)
questpeoria.org (Quest Charter Academy, Peoria)
wiscca.org (Wisconsin Career Academy)
All these domains except for two belong to the member schools of Concept Schools. The website islamichicago.org was reported by an Arizona journalist on May 3, 2011 to be a website of Concept Schools. Screenshots taken at that time show Concept Schools content at that web address. The webpage at islamichicago.org has since been taken down (as of June 2011).
islamichicago.org was shown by the web analytics website Domain Tools (as of June 13, 2011) to have the following registrant:
Registrant Name:Hilmi Okur
Registrant Organization:Islamic Society of Chicago
Registrant Street1:119 S.Emerson st.
Registrant Street2:pmb 339
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:MOUNT PROSPECT
Registrant State/Province:Illinois
Registrant Postal Code:60056
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5708010709
Imam Hilmi Okur was described in a 2007 church newsletter as a member of the Niagara Foundation, which is known to be Gulenist (Fethullah Gulen is its honorary president).
Hilmi Okur has also been affiliated with TACA (Turkish-American Cultural Association) in Chicago and the Scioto Educational Foundation (Gulenist organization in Ohio).
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There are exactly 10 domain names on the name server ns2.4dialogue.net:
allaboutturkey.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
seri-ohio.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
theholydove.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
ibrahimyilmaz.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
as4ed.com
capital-national.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
buildingandyardcare.com (now defunct)
balsoy.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
unitedbuildingcare.com (registered to Halit Erciyas)
allaboutturkey.info (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
The domain name theholydove.org belongs to the Holy Dove Foundation, a Gulenist dialog organization in Indianapolis. The domain name as4ed.com belongs to Advanced Solutions for Education, a corporation that has provided many services to the Horizon Science Academy charter schools. Ozgur Balsoy has been CEO of Advanced Solutions for Education.
Also, the domain ohiolearning.net, used by a website associated with Horizon Science Academy, is registered to Ozgur Balsoy.
This shows the close connection of the Holy Dove Foundation, Ozgur Balsoy, and the Horizon Science Academy schools.
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Atilla Yusuf Guleker, a former journalist for Zaman, a newspaper that is widely known to be published by the Gulen Movement, founded Zaman International School, a private Gulen school in Cambodia. He was also a founder of the Michigan Math and Science Academy charter school.
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The following was found among user comments on the Fodors travel website.
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/turkey-is-wonderful.cfm
A traveler using screen name "travelinfool4u" wrote:
"My school was organizing a trip to Turkey for 9 days and my husband and I decided to go along. ... Our trip was very inexpensive due to sponsorship of people that donate or attend our sister schools in Turkey. ... We went with Concept Schools."
Another person with screen name "southeastern" chimed in:
"Did you go with the Atlas Foundation?"
Atlas Foundation is located in Louisiana and sponsors Gulenist interfaith Turkey trips.
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A practice test schedule document on the website of Bergen Arts and Science Charter School in New Jersey has meta-data title "HARMONY SCIENCE ACADEMY-DALLAS" and author "teski."
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Umit Ogras was involved in failed attempts to start two Gulen charter schools, the Science Academy of Erie Charter School in Erie, Pennsylvania, and City College-Prep Charter School in Pittsburgh. Ogras was also a leader at the West Penn Cultural Center. A March 16, 2006 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said of the West Penn Cultural Center, "The group follows the teachings of M. Fethullah Gulen."
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The Cosmos Foundation has applied for a $29,998,950 I3 grant from the US Department of Education. The grant description shows "official partners" and "budget partners," all of which are Gulen charter schools.
The official partner schools shown are:
Albuquerque School of Excellence (NM) ($278,312)
Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School-Kansas City (MO) ($347,890)
Frontier School of Innovation-Kansas City (MO) ($347,890)
Memphis School of Excellence (TN) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Alamo San Antonio (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-San Antonio (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Corpus Christi (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Discovery San Antonio (TX) ($556,624)
The budget partner schools listed are:
Abramson Science and Technology-New Orleans (LA) 347890.00
Dove Elementary-Oklahoma City (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Discovery Tulsa (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Oklahoma City (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Tulsa (OK) 347890.00
Kenilworth Science and Technology-Baton Rouge (LA) 347890.00
LISA Academy-Little Rock (AR) 347890.00
LISA Academy-North Little Rock (AR) 347890.00
There are no partner schools that are not Gulenist.
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Necmi Mutlu has been a professor at Virginia International University, a private institution that is known to belong to the Gulen Movement. He was also director of the Blue Hills Foundation, which tried unsuccessfully to found a charter school in Virginia (proposed name of school is not known). Hasan Burk, who has been Executive Vice President of University Affairs of Virginia International University, was the lead petitioner for this attempted charter school.
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Members of the Fatih College Alumni Association of America (www.fcaana.com) go on "educational visits" to schools and organizations. Photos of these visits on their website show only Gulenist institutions, including private and public Gulen schools: Magnolia Science Academy, the Cosmos Foundation, Harmony Science Academy, TCCNY (Turkish Cultural Center of New York), Putnam Science Academy, Pioneer Science Academy.
Note that Fatih College in Turkey is widely known to belong to the Gulen Movement.
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The “Pinnacle School Model” of the Washington Education Foundation (WEDUF, www.weduf.org) was the basis for a charter school in Virginia named Richmond Science Academy that the Richmond Education Foundation unsuccessfully attempted.
A paper on character education in Gulen schools shown on the website of Fethullah Gulen names the Pinnacle Academy in Virginia as an example for Gulen-inspired education.
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Note: Gulenists often make changes to websites or domain registrations, or otherwise cover their tracks after attention is focused on them, so some of the above links or server information may change. Website information and links were current as of May 2011. Documentation of all the above connections has been saved.
by C.A.S.I.L.I.P.S. - Citizens Against Special Interest Lobbying in Public Schools
Despite the use of the term "Gulen charter school" by The New Republic ("The Global Imam," Nov 10, 2010) and despite an article appearing on the New York Times website stating that "Hizmet [another name for the Gulen movement] operates more than 120 publicly financed charter schools in 25 states" ("Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions," May 28, 2011) Gulenists persist with their cyber-propaganda campaign of denial. Yet evidence that the Gulen charter schools are connected to the Gulen Movement and other Gulen schools around the world is overwhelming. More examples are given here.
============================================================
============================================================
The website (accessed Jan 2011) of Axis Educational Trust, a corporation running the Wisdom School, a private Gulen school in the United Kingdom, has a page describing its education model, which states:
"In order to achieve this aim, we will be partnering with some of our sister schools in the USA which specifically focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics....For instance, Horizon Science Academy in Cleveland has 100% college acceptance rate for students. .... Please also see Appendix-I for further details about the schools run buy Cosmos Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs around 30 Maths and Science Academies in Texas and Concept Schools, an organization that runs around 20 schools focusing on Science, Maths, Technology and Engineering in Ohio, Chicago, Indiana and Michigan."
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The website gulenschools.org is registered to Baybars Bakay, who taught at Fulton Science Academy and also has been affiliated with the Nile Foundation, the Istanbul Center and the Turkish Olympiads. On the IRS Form 990 for 2006 of Fulton Science Academy Middle School, Inc., Bakay was listed as Chief Financial Officer and one of the 5 highest-paid employees.
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The Australian Muslim website crescentsofbrisbane.org has an article about the Turkish Olympiads entitled "Pakistani Youngster in Perfect Turkish Brings House Down at Olympiad." It says "... at the 7th Turkish Olympiad organized by the Gulen Movement where students from 156 countries all studying at Gulen schools come together to display their Turkish language talents in various categories such as singing, poetry, stand-up comedy etc.."
This is an admission that all participants at the Turkish Olympiads come from Gulen schools. Many Gulen charter schools in the US have participated in these Olympiads.
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As of May 2011, exactly 5 domain names were hosted at the IP address 173.192.1.124:
cmitacademy.org
fethullah-gulen.org
fgulenforum.org
hizmetforum.com
zeitinhosting.com
The domain name cmitacademy.org is that of Chesapeake Math and Information Technology Academy, a charter school in Prince George's County, Maryland that plans to open in fall 2011. This school describes itself as a sister school of Chesapeake Science Point, another Maryland charter school.
There can be no doubt of the Gulenist nature of fethullah-gulen.org, fgulenforum.org and hizmetforum.com (recall that "Hizmet" is another name used by Gulenists for the Gulen Movement).
The domain name zeitinhosting.com is owned by Erdem Demirtas, who was Senior Internet Marketing Engineer at Zeitin LLC. Zeitin Design is another Gulenist web development firm (the name "Zeitin" is a variant of the Turkish word for olive; as discussed by Bayram Balci, the olive has symbolic significance for Fethullah Gulen). Erdem Demirtas and Zeitin Design are also the adminstrators for the domain name tccnj.org belonging to the Turkish Cultural Center of New Jersey, another Gulenist organization that is a member of the umbrella Turkic American Alliance.
This clearly shows the connection of the Chesapeake Math and Information Technology Academy charter school to Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement.
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The Concept Schools website has a page outlining the Concept Model, stating the following:
“Students, parents, teachers and staff are part of a school culture that fosters strong communication between school and families. Everyone will be asked to uphold a commitment to the school and to each other to put in the time and effort required to achieve success. The schools host community breakfasts and student-centered exhibits to create a sense of community and build community support. Families and educators share responsibility for student learning and they will rely on each other to contribute to the learning process.”
The identical text appears in a paper by Halit Kara entitled "Character Education in Gulen Inspired Schools Worldwide," dated May 4, 2011 and posted on Fethullah Gulen's website.
http://www.fethullah-gulen.org/op-ed/gulen-schools-charactereducation/all-pages.html
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As of May, 2011 the web analytics site plotip.com showed exactly 22 domain names at the IP address 74.117.238.181
denisonelementary.com (Horizon Science Academy Denison Elementary)
denisonelementary.org (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
conceptschools.org (Concept Schools)
gsastl.org (Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis)
horizoncincy.org (Horizon Science Academy Cincinnati)
horizoncleveland.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland)
horizondenison.com (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
horizondenison.org (Horizon Science Academy Denison)
horizonlorain.org (Horizon Science Academy Lorain)
horizonspringfield.org (Horizon Science Academy Springfield)
horizonyoungstown.org (Horizon Science Academy Youngstown)
hsacms.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland middle school)
hsas.org (Horizon Science Academy Cleveland)
imsaindy.org (Indiana Math and Science Academy)
islamichicago.org <----- registered to Hilmi Okur, Islamic Society of Chicago
mmsacademy.org (Michigan Math and Science Academy)
nobleacademy.org (Noble Academy)
noblecleveland.org (Noble Academy Cleveland)
noblecolumbus.org (Noble Academy Columbus)
qbmidwest.com (Quality Builders Midwest Inc)
questpeoria.org (Quest Charter Academy, Peoria)
wiscca.org (Wisconsin Career Academy)
All these domains except for two belong to the member schools of Concept Schools. The website islamichicago.org was reported by an Arizona journalist on May 3, 2011 to be a website of Concept Schools. Screenshots taken at that time show Concept Schools content at that web address. The webpage at islamichicago.org has since been taken down (as of June 2011).
islamichicago.org was shown by the web analytics website Domain Tools (as of June 13, 2011) to have the following registrant:
Registrant Name:Hilmi Okur
Registrant Organization:Islamic Society of Chicago
Registrant Street1:119 S.Emerson st.
Registrant Street2:pmb 339
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:MOUNT PROSPECT
Registrant State/Province:Illinois
Registrant Postal Code:60056
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5708010709
Imam Hilmi Okur was described in a 2007 church newsletter as a member of the Niagara Foundation, which is known to be Gulenist (Fethullah Gulen is its honorary president).
Hilmi Okur has also been affiliated with TACA (Turkish-American Cultural Association) in Chicago and the Scioto Educational Foundation (Gulenist organization in Ohio).
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There are exactly 10 domain names on the name server ns2.4dialogue.net:
allaboutturkey.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
seri-ohio.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
theholydove.org (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
ibrahimyilmaz.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
as4ed.com
capital-national.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
buildingandyardcare.com (now defunct)
balsoy.com (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
unitedbuildingcare.com (registered to Halit Erciyas)
allaboutturkey.info (registered to Ozgur Balsoy)
The domain name theholydove.org belongs to the Holy Dove Foundation, a Gulenist dialog organization in Indianapolis. The domain name as4ed.com belongs to Advanced Solutions for Education, a corporation that has provided many services to the Horizon Science Academy charter schools. Ozgur Balsoy has been CEO of Advanced Solutions for Education.
Also, the domain ohiolearning.net, used by a website associated with Horizon Science Academy, is registered to Ozgur Balsoy.
This shows the close connection of the Holy Dove Foundation, Ozgur Balsoy, and the Horizon Science Academy schools.
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Atilla Yusuf Guleker, a former journalist for Zaman, a newspaper that is widely known to be published by the Gulen Movement, founded Zaman International School, a private Gulen school in Cambodia. He was also a founder of the Michigan Math and Science Academy charter school.
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The following was found among user comments on the Fodors travel website.
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/turkey-is-wonderful.cfm
A traveler using screen name "travelinfool4u" wrote:
"My school was organizing a trip to Turkey for 9 days and my husband and I decided to go along. ... Our trip was very inexpensive due to sponsorship of people that donate or attend our sister schools in Turkey. ... We went with Concept Schools."
Another person with screen name "southeastern" chimed in:
"Did you go with the Atlas Foundation?"
Atlas Foundation is located in Louisiana and sponsors Gulenist interfaith Turkey trips.
============================================================
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A practice test schedule document on the website of Bergen Arts and Science Charter School in New Jersey has meta-data title "HARMONY SCIENCE ACADEMY-DALLAS" and author "teski."
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Umit Ogras was involved in failed attempts to start two Gulen charter schools, the Science Academy of Erie Charter School in Erie, Pennsylvania, and City College-Prep Charter School in Pittsburgh. Ogras was also a leader at the West Penn Cultural Center. A March 16, 2006 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said of the West Penn Cultural Center, "The group follows the teachings of M. Fethullah Gulen."
============================================================
============================================================
The Cosmos Foundation has applied for a $29,998,950 I3 grant from the US Department of Education. The grant description shows "official partners" and "budget partners," all of which are Gulen charter schools.
The official partner schools shown are:
Albuquerque School of Excellence (NM) ($278,312)
Brookside-Frontier Math and Science School-Kansas City (MO) ($347,890)
Frontier School of Innovation-Kansas City (MO) ($347,890)
Memphis School of Excellence (TN) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Alamo San Antonio (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-San Antonio (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Corpus Christi (TX) ($347,890)
School of Science and Technology-Discovery San Antonio (TX) ($556,624)
The budget partner schools listed are:
Abramson Science and Technology-New Orleans (LA) 347890.00
Dove Elementary-Oklahoma City (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Discovery Tulsa (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Oklahoma City (OK) 347890.00
Dove Science Academy-Tulsa (OK) 347890.00
Kenilworth Science and Technology-Baton Rouge (LA) 347890.00
LISA Academy-Little Rock (AR) 347890.00
LISA Academy-North Little Rock (AR) 347890.00
There are no partner schools that are not Gulenist.
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Necmi Mutlu has been a professor at Virginia International University, a private institution that is known to belong to the Gulen Movement. He was also director of the Blue Hills Foundation, which tried unsuccessfully to found a charter school in Virginia (proposed name of school is not known). Hasan Burk, who has been Executive Vice President of University Affairs of Virginia International University, was the lead petitioner for this attempted charter school.
============================================================
============================================================
Members of the Fatih College Alumni Association of America (www.fcaana.com) go on "educational visits" to schools and organizations. Photos of these visits on their website show only Gulenist institutions, including private and public Gulen schools: Magnolia Science Academy, the Cosmos Foundation, Harmony Science Academy, TCCNY (Turkish Cultural Center of New York), Putnam Science Academy, Pioneer Science Academy.
Note that Fatih College in Turkey is widely known to belong to the Gulen Movement.
============================================================
============================================================
The “Pinnacle School Model” of the Washington Education Foundation (WEDUF, www.weduf.org) was the basis for a charter school in Virginia named Richmond Science Academy that the Richmond Education Foundation unsuccessfully attempted.
A paper on character education in Gulen schools shown on the website of Fethullah Gulen names the Pinnacle Academy in Virginia as an example for Gulen-inspired education.
________________
Note: Gulenists often make changes to websites or domain registrations, or otherwise cover their tracks after attention is focused on them, so some of the above links or server information may change. Website information and links were current as of May 2011. Documentation of all the above connections has been saved.