Metro Academy of Math and Science

“TEA shutting down Arlington charter school.” Star-Telegram (TX), 7/6/11

The Texas Education Agency is ordering Arlington's Metro Academy of Math and Science to shut down because of low academic accountability scores and poor financial performance.

The TEA issued its order July 1, after the academy received academically unacceptable ratings for three of the past four years, plus three years of substandard financial reports. It lists $999,286 in debt for operating loans...

The academy, at 1111 Gibbins Road, opened Aug. 15, 1995 as Metro Christian Academy and was founded by Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington. It became Metro Charter Academy and received a state open-enrollment operating charter. Mount Olive co-signed the academy's million-dollar loans and is equally liable for repaying the lender, which is Frost Bank...

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Gulen charter schools in New Mexico

STATE	# ACTIVE	# PENDING	# INACTIVE*	TOTAL
NM	1	0	0	1

* Denied, withdrawn, closed, or unknown status

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TOTAL ENROLLMENT IN 2010-2011 = 214 STUDENTS

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SCHOOLS

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ALBUQUERQUE SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE
Status	ACTIVE, opened 2010-2011
Charter Holder	New Mexico Focus Foundation
Authorizer	New Mexico Public Education Department
Location/District	13201 Lomas Blvd. NE, Albuquerque / Albuquerque Public Schools
Website	http://www.abqse.org/
Enrollment	Grades 1-8; 2010-2011 enrollment = 214
Notes	Principal Ahmet Cetinkaya previously worked at Harmony Science Academy schools in College Station, Houston, and Beaumont.

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CHARTER HOLDER

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NEW MEXICO FOCUS FOUNDATION
Federal Tax ID	EIN unknown
Website	None
History	Serhat Altunc, president, stated “...in 2005, we establish New Mexico Focus Foundation, you know. We just found out, you know, started charter school...And then about two years ago, we met with Cosmos Foundation, and, you know, we are getting consultation from them.” http://www.ped.state.nm.us/Charter/dl10/2009%20Charter%20School%20Hearings/Albuquerque%20School%20for%20Excellence%20082609.pdf
Individuals involved	Serhat ("Sam S.") Altunc; Arife Burcu Colak (is Arife Burcu Colak Altunc); Unal Sakoglu; Mehmet Fatih Su; Mustafa Zengin
Notes

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“PARTNER ORGANIZATION”

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COSMOS FOUNDATION / HARMONY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Federal Tax ID	EIN 76-0615245
Website	http://www.cosmostx.org/
Services	Cosmos gets a flat fee of $45,000/year from the state funding provided to the Focus Foundation because of their “Support Services Agreement.”
Individuals involved	Ali Tekin, Bilal Akin, Burhanettin Kuruscu, Cengizhan Keskin, Cocksun Cetinkaya, Ellen A. MacDonald, Fatih Yigit, Gokturk Tunc, Ibrahim Sel, Iker Gure, Ismet S. Isik, Kadir Almus, Kudbettin Aksoy, Levent Bulut, Lynn Mitchell, Mehmet Okumus, Mustafa Atik, Mustafa Guvercin, Mustafa Ozen, Nihat Guvercin, Oner Ulvi Celepicikay, Ozgur Ozer, Selahattin Aydin, Soner Tarim, Tevik Eski, Umit Pecin, Yetkin Yildirim (source: IRS Form 990s for 2002 to 2009)

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NOTE: Learn more about the Cosmos Foundation / Harmony Public Schools HERE and HERE and HERE.

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William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts

“D.C. charter school slaps founders with lawsuit, restraining orders.” Washington Examiner, 7/5/11 

The founders of a District charter school have been in an escalating feud with the school's board of directors over control of the Northeast campus that has spawned a lawsuit and prompted a judge to slap the school's former principal with a restraining order.

But as the battle over William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts heads for a Superior Court hearing Thursday, the founders, the William E. Doar, Jr. Educational Foundation, now say they will quit the fight...

It's a stark turnaround after months of infighting between the school's board of directors and its founders, who in May claimed that they had dissolved the board of directors.

In the letter, Mary Robbins, former principal of the upper school, along with founders Nadia Casseus-Torney and Julie S. Doar-Sinkfield, charged the board chairman with "blurring the lines between management and governance of the current board as evidenced by ... his attempts to influence day to day operations, oversee personnel and management decisions around attendance, creation of a hostile work place and the attempt to exercise line item approval over school based expenditures."

The founders then told parents and teachers to ignore an emergency meeting called by the directors, dubbing it an "unauthorized and uninsured meeting of former Board members," according to the lawsuit...

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Shalom Academy Charter School

“Some Parents Hedging Bets On Englewood Charter: Complaints of lack of communication from founder as state deadline nears.” The NY Jewish Week, 7/5/11 

It’s a common trope: the lottery winner who discovers his or her fortune to be less of a than a blessing than it first appeared.

Now, some New Jersey parents whose children won spots in Shalom Academy Charter School’s admissions lotteries this winter and spring are wondering if they were so lucky after all.

With the first day of classes two months away, much about this brand-new Hebrew charter school in Englewood, which many Jewish parents had hoped would solve their tuition-related financial challenges, remains unclear — including whether it will actually open.

“If it does miraculously work out, it’s going to be chaotic the first year,” said one Teaneck mother who recently decided to turn in a contract to keep her child in a local yeshiva even though the child had one of the 160 spots at Shalom, which is tuition-free and open to children from Teaneck and Englewood.

The mother, who asked not to be named, added, “We were happy with the yeshiva anyway; it was just a matter of the money.”

The K-5 school’s founder, Raphael Bachrach, has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.

Growing numbers of parents, many of them Orthodox Jews who would otherwise have enrolled their children in yeshivas, are voicing concerns about whether the new Hebrew-immersion school will open — and if it will offer a quality educational program...

...many parents complained that their calls and e-mails to lead founder Bachrach have gone unreturned, that the location for the school has yet to be announced and that they have received only minimal information about the staff hired so far. There has also been no recent information provided about Hebrew Options in Public Education, a nonprofit (also run by Bachrach) that was to offer an optional after-school Judaic studies program.

“I wouldn’t send my dog to a kennel that I know this little about,” said one Englewood mother who decided to pull her children from the charter school and instead enroll them in a yeshiva.

Like most other parents interviewed, she asked not to be named, explaining that Bergen County’s Orthodox community is tight knit and she is reluctant to get ensnared into a public conflict...

According to one source, Bachrach has not even shared information with the six other founders listed on the charter application, saying he is reluctant to send e-mails for fear they could be subpoenaed in the EPSD’s lawsuit...

One father of children registered for Shalom Academy told The Jewish Week, “Charter schools are supposed to be more responsive, more transparent than public schools, but ... Shalom Academy is actually operating with less transparency and responsiveness than public schools. They don’t seem to understand they are operating a public institution.”...

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Eagle Heights Academy

“Auditor: 'Extensive mismanagement' at Eagle Heights Academy.” The Vindicator (OH), 5/11/10

The Ohio auditor’s office found “extensive mismanagement” at Eagle Heights Academy, Youngstown’s largest charter school, including the failure of the school to pay more than $450,000 in federal taxes.

The audit, released today, also shows the school illegally paid $33,900 to 29 of its employees from a federal grant.

The auditor’s office provided the IRS with information about Eagle Heights’ failure to pay $333,722.34 in federal income tax withholdings and $120,658.92 in Medicare withholdings.

The audit found $707,507 in questionable costs or errors that caused costs to be overstated or understated on federal reports.

“The lack of proper financial oversight at this school allowed for the misspending of tax dollars intended to educate Ohio’s school children,” said Auditor Mary Taylor.

The state Department of Education has ordered the school at 1833 Market St. on the city’s South Side to close by June because it received a rating of academic emergency on each of its last two annual state report cards. An effort is being made to open another charter school at the same location.

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Florida charter schools (high failure rate)

“I-Team: Lawmakers React To Charter School FCAT Failures.” CBS4 News (FL) 7/6/11

...Of Florida’s 2,280 public elementary and middle schools, only 17 scored an “F” on the FCAT.  Of the state’s 270 Charter elementary and middle schools, 15 flunked.

Charter schools had a failure rate 740% higher than that of public schools...

“Traditionally, they (the charters that failed) were in failing school neighborhoods,” said Representative Erik Fresen, a Miami Republican who sits on several education committees and is a strong supporter of charter schools...

“They started as an “F” because they inherited, essentially, “F” performing students,” Fresen said.

Fresen’s defense, however, does not appear to wash.

CBS4′s analysis of the 15 charter schools that failed show at least nine have administered the test for at least two years.  Some saw their grades plunge from an “A” to an “F.”  At least two had back-to-back “F” grades, including Broward Community Charter Middle School and Lawrence Academy Elementary Charter School in Miami-Dade.

Fresen, whose sister and brother-in-law own a charter school management company, Academica, said he sees no conflict between that and his leadership role in education in the legislature...

At least five companies involved in charter school management contributed the maximum allowable donation to Fresen’s most recent election campaign...

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FCAT Results: Charter Schools Have High Failure Rate.” CBS4 News (FL) 7/5/11 

MIAMI (CBS4) – In his first visit to South Florida as governor, Rick Scott visited Florida International Academy, a charter school operated with public money by a private, for-profit company.  Scott – a big charter school booster – said the school in Opa Locka could serve as a model for the rest of the state.

But in FCAT grades released last week, Florida International Academy’s elementary school scored an “F.”

In Miami-Dade, a greater percentage of charter schools failed than public schools.

Every school that got an “F” in Broward County was a charter school.

Statewide the failure rate of charter schools versus public schools is striking.

A CBS4 News analysis of Department of Education numbers shows fewer than one percent of public elementary and middle schools received an “F” in grades released last week.  In contrast, nearly six percent of charter schools received an “F.”

Charter schools got failing grades at a rate more than seven times that of public schools...

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Detroit charter high schools (test scores lower than DPS)

“Charter high schools in Detroit not making grade: Test scores for schools often trail DPS students' average.” Detroit News 7/7/11 

Once touted as a solution to Detroit's public school woes, charter high schools are often doing just about as poorly — and in many cases worse — at educating students and getting them ready for college, a Detroit News analysis of recent test data shows.

Of 25 charters in Detroit or nearby, only six had higher math or science proficiency scores than Detroit Public Schools' average on the most recent Michigan Merit Exam, with most of the others doing worse than the district.

More charters did poorer in reading and writing as well; only in social studies did more charters surpass rather than trail DPS.

The results raise questions about the district's plans to authorize additional charters in its search for improvement and could also renew the debate over whether charters are the answer to the riddle of urban education, where multiple strategies are often producing the same poor results...

One of the largest nationwide charter-schools studies found that nearly half of charter schools do as well as the local public school; more than a third did worse, and just 17 percent did better...

Concerns about the quality of the DPS schools and student safety have caused tens of thousands of parents to choose charter schools or leave the city altogether in search of better educational opportunities. In the past decade, DPS has lost nearly 100,000 students as charter schools and suburban classrooms have swelled with the arrival of former DPS schoolchildren.

Charter schools remain an important part of the reforms proposed by the district, though plans to turn over dozens of schools to charter operators, proposed by former DPS Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, have been scaled back to five new charter schools authorized by DPS...

Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, said research in Michigan has shown charters routinely exceed DPS on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) tests given to children in grades three to nine.

But he said the relatively poor performance of high school students in charters raises questions. Quisenberry said students perform better the longer they are in charter schools and it's unclear how long the high school students have been in the charter school setting. "These numbers are important, and they should make us concerned," he said...

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