Harmony Science Academy and the "Newsweek" Top performing school award.

Many of the Gulen managed schools claim to be voted a "top" Newsweek school

So what does this really mean?

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/how-the-gulen-movement-has-manipulated-the-us-press.html

Harmony School Receives a Gold Medal by U.S.News

U.S. News has announced the best high schools of the nation. The 2012 edition includes data on almost 22,000 public schools, 500 of which received gold medals. Harmony Science Academy High School - Houston is ranked #309 in the nation, making the school one of the Gold Medalists. Harmony Science Academy is also ranked 24th within Texas. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement coursework and exams. The AP participation rate at Harmony Science Academy is 89 percent. The student body makeup is 44 percent male and 56 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 86 percent. Harmony Science Academy Dallas is ranked #554 in the nation, enabling the school to receive a Silver Medal. Harmony Science Academy - Dallas is ranked 50th within Texas. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement coursework and exams. The AP participation rate at Harmony Science Academy - Dallas is 62 percent. The student body makeup is 48 percent male and 52 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 88 percent. Harmony Science Academy North Austin received a Bronze Medal. At Harmony Science, the student body makeup is 47 percent male and 53 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 89 percent. You can read more here.

Now lets see the REAL truth away from Hizmet’s lying fancy PR firm and fake awards.  Besides what does U.S. News have to do with education?

Case 1.  Newsweek magazine lists Harmony Science Academy North Austin on its 2011 "Top 10 Miracle Schools" list based on false data.

Newsweek listed Harmony Science Academy North Austin (a Gulen charter school located in Pflugerville TX and run by the Cosmos Foundation) on its 2011 "miracle" school list.  Newsweek explains how schools were chosen for this list:  "Our analysis excluded schools that had fewer than 10 graduates, as well as those that were newly founded and did not have a graduating senior class in 2010."  The rankings are based on data as reported by school officials.

The Texas Education Agency's report card for Harmony Science Academy North Austin shows it did not have a graduating senior class in 2010.  The inclusion of this school on the list is an error.

This error has not stopped Harmony Public Schools from aggressively and repeatedly advertising this supposed honor.  Newsweek has not issued a correction.

More details can be read at the Miracle Schools webpage.

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/how-the-gulen-movement-has-manipulated-the-us-press.html

Harmony Science Academy, Dr. Soner Tarim the Superintendant

Letter from Dr. Soner Tarim--why is it better to be a coward and not speak like your Hocaefendi.  Hiring Julie Shussler of the expense public relations firm of Burson-Marsteller will not put out the fires or be successful in damage control.  You must do the deposition, remember we will pay for it any time you feel like being truthful to American people.  Here is the expensive public relatons firm Julie Shussler works for.
What a shame to spend $$$thousands of money that should go to education, instead of trying to fix lies.

http://www.burson-marsteller.com/default.aspx

Dear Texas State Board of Education Representative,  

Last December the television news show 60 Minutes contacted Harmony Public Schools (HPS) about a story they were working on, and in which they intended to include HPS. The overall story is about the Turkish scholar and author Fethullah Gulen and his alleged influences in the United States.

We explained repeatedly that HPS has no affiliation of any kind with Mr. Gulen or the Gulen movement but, ultimately, the 60 Minutes producer said that HPS was going to be in the story no matter what we said, and whether we cooperated with them or not.

We have now been advised that the story will be aired on CBS this Sunday, May 13, and we wanted to alert you to the broadcast, share some perspective and background, and note that we may need your assistance in responding to the story.

• The story is expected to be about 12 minutes long, with approximately three minutes devoted to HPS. We expect the story to allege a link between HPS and Mr. Gulen, despite the fact Harmony Public Schools is not affiliated in any way, formal or informal, with Mr. Gulen or his organization, or with any other religious or political organizations or movements.                                                                          

• The producers of the show admitted that no such link or affiliation could be proven, yet we fully expect their story to suggest such a link. As such, we believe the story may be unfair to HPS and contain unsupported allegations.

• HPS has cooperated extensively with 60 Minutes over the past six months, supplying dozens of documents and records, answering hundreds of questions, and providing full access to our school in Houston for an entire day of filming students and classrooms, and interviewing teachers, students, administrators and the head of the Texas Charter School Association, David Dunn.

• The only request we did not grant was to interview me in my role as Harmony Superintendent. We chose not to grant that request when it became apparent, after numerous lengthy discussions, that no matter what I said or did, the producers intended to link HPS to Mr. Gulen, despite having no proof of such a link.

Depending on how HPS is treated, and the factual accuracy of the 60 Minutes program, we may ask for your support in responding to CBS. We will be in touch immediately after the show airs to provide you our thoughts, and our plans for a response.

Thank you for your continued support of the HPS family.

Sincerely,

Dr. Soner Tarim, Superintendent

Harmony Public Schools

www.harmonytx.org 

Soner if you have "no link" to Gulen why do you describe your inspiration for these schools as Fethullah Gulen in the Texas Monthly?  Not to mention you were on the board of the Gulen Insitute in Houston.  Your schools openly admitted this on the PBS interview and in fact interviewed your teachers.

Your are slipping old boy must be from your days around that slippery fish.

Harmony Science Academy, A Gulen Managed Charter School, another former teacher speaks up

I taught at Harmony School of Innovation back when it was just called Harmony Elementary. The school had only been open for one year before I was hired.. I was hired on to teach third grade health, history, and handwriting, making just $32,000/year whereas my Turkish counterparts made about $50,000. We know this is true because there's some website where people with immigration jobs or something must report age and income. I worked on a team of two other white teachers...one taught Math/science, one taught Language arts. Anyway, the night before school began I still had an unfurnished classroom...no desks! I refused to put them together and another teacher had to do that for me. I had a broken Apple (yes, the orange screen) computer in my room to count as technology. We had no library or recess area. Basically the area was a concrete space by the dumpster. There were feral cats. We began the year with no teacher's editions, no school wide curriculum, no materials at all. I finally told the kids to go home and tell their parents they had no textbooks. Parents got pissed at ME of all things. Finally, I used the school account to purchase TE's, test guides, worksheets, overhead sheets, and about 30 student textbooks. At that point I didn't care if I got fired. No one ever said anything to me about it.........principal left mid-year and put a person who spoke little English in charge of the school. Discipline was non-existent although we supposedly had some kind of discipline point system. Several teachers in critical subject areas spoke little English. A math teacher (white lady) was subject to psycho-bitch parents who complained to the new-"principal" and she was fired. Her replacement was two full time guys who spoke little English. They had no math/science background and neither wanted to teach. They wanted to do human resources and asked to not teach...but the principal made them. Their "teaching" was photocopied math TAKS worksheets/packets. Nice! Every month I would find a newly enrolled random Turkish child in my class. The ESL teacher was clearly mentally ill and a drug addict and taught nothing. She was frequently absent. Most of these turkish children were actually refugees from Russia, had never been schooled and were wild. Since we had no birth records for several, we didn't know their age or how to spell their names. There was an online thing where we posted grades. The guy who called himself the superintendent had a non-English speaking son who was placed in gifted/talented despite being average, and the dad would come to me wanting to change grades and behavior/conduct grades. Since the entire school board was made of one family, there was no one to complain to. Mysteriously, all the non English speaking refugees made high scores on the Stanford test (it's like a baseline IW bullshit test, but still) even though the never took the test. It was suggested that I help students "correct" grades during testing and be on the lookout for state employees (they usually come out to schools to make sure we're doing things right.........like they walk around hallways, peek into rooms, etc). Math and Science grades for third grade were mysteriously high despite many clearly failing (as I walked around the room, I looked at their booklets and nearly all were marking wrong answers. Remember, the new math teacher spoke little English. About 75% of the staff was not hired back, including me and that math teacher, although I won some kind of excellent teacher award at the end of the year. Note--the math teacher was transferred to another department (HR). I just got let go. The thing is, aside from fuckking with teachers, the students suffer. Those kids cried during math cuz they had no clue what was going on. The refugee kids never learned anything due to the ESL teacher being high half the time. The kids had none of that robotics club, science club, etc etc. I admit that I was supposed to teach French club but not having any materials and not willing to spend more of my own money, I just turned it into a "hanging out" club. No library, shitty recess area with feral cats, gross as hell lunch...bad atmosphere all around. This was in 2006-07. I guess the school has changed since then.

60 minute out takes Bonus Footage Fethullah Gulen Charter Schools

Gulen Charter Schools Preview 60 Minutes CBS NEWS Lesly Stahl Sunday, May...

WATCH THIS SUNDAY MAY 13, 2012

Gulen Charter Schools sign the Act For America Petition - 130 US Gulen-operated charter schools Mirror ...

This organization which operates 130 charter schools in the United States has been violating the civil rights of American teachers and administrators for the past eleven years by blatantly ignoring  federal age, nationality, and gender equal opportunity laws. Further, their practices have supplanted American jobs by bringing in H1-B visa holders instead of hiring qualified and available American teachers and administrators, and all the while using American tax dollars to do so. The American tax payers are not only losing jobs, but are also required to pay for H1-B visa fees  and in many instances graduate degrees for the foreign teachers and administrators.
With unemployment rates still at an all time high, let's ask our government officials why they are still allowing the influx of H1-B visa employees to take American jobs when the United States has a wealth of qualified and credentialed American teachers and administrators
SIGN THE PETITION HERE:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-discriminatory-practices-at-us-publicly-funded-charter-schools