Geez folks are freakin’ out because lil’ Suzie is learning about Islam for a week in public schools, meanwhile 7 charter schools in New Jersey are linked to Islamic Cleric fighting extradition charges in his Pa compound – PB/TK
Investigation: Charter school leaders, founders linked to controversial Turkish cleric – Jean Rimbach , Jeff Pillets and Hannan Adely
Taxpayers contribute more than $60 million to charter school network in 2016
A group of charter schools that arose from North Jersey’s Turkish community is rapidly growing in the state, with seven schools collecting more than $60 million in taxpayer money last year alone to fund their growth.
Now, an investigation by The Record and NorthJersey.com shows that some founders and leaders of the schools have close ties to the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the controversial Islamic cleric accused of working to overthrow the government in his native Turkey last summer. Gulen has denied the charge and is fighting extradition demands as he lives in a secluded compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, about 10 miles from the New Jersey border.
The 75-year-old Gulen, in his writings and public comments, espouses a modern Islamic society that embraces education, interfaith dialogue and tolerance. Sympathy for the movement is strong among key figures who pioneered the North Jersey charter schools.
Some belong to Turkish émigré groups that tout the cleric’s teachings. There are also political donors who collectively have furnished hundreds of thousands in donations to U.S. office holders while the North Jersey charter schools in general have been adept at wooing state and local government officials with trips to Turkey and, in some cases, jobs.
Records show the charter schools also have been a channel for state taxpayer money to private entities that serve the schools as landlords or vendors — in one case, a Wayne boarding school that is openly Gulen inspired.
In Turkey’s capital of Ankara, President Recep Erdogan (err-doe-wan) — some critics say in an effort to solidify his power and move toward authoritarianism — has purged thousands of suspected “Gulenists” from the government. He is also pressing the Trump administration to break with former President Barack Obama and immediately dislodge the cleric and send him home to stand trial as a domestic terrorist who they claim was behind the July 2016 coup attempt.
Officials in the turbulent Turkish republic have maintained Gulen is leveraging a network of more than 100 charter schools nationwide and U.S. tax dollars to support revolution back home that would put his followers in power.
“It’s clear these schools were being used both to raise funds for Gulen and employ Gulen followers and teachers and basically have them tie a percent of their income back to Gulen,” said Robert Amsterdam, a London-based lawyer hired by the Turkish government who is investigating charter schools in the U.S. that he alleges are linked to Gulen.
Continue to usatoday.com article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/watchdog/2017/02/15/fethullah-gulen-charter-schools-islamic-cleric-new-jersey/94574618/
