'Media reports of FBI visit to charter school inaccurate'

The lawyer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has announced that news reports circulating in the Turkish media over the past several days with headlines such as “FBI operation targets Gülen” and “FBI raids Gülen school” are filled with inaccurate information and baseless accusations.

In a statement posted on a number of news websites, lawyer Nurullah Albayrak said his client, Gülen, is not the founder, shareholder or administrator of any school, adding that claims about the “Fethullah Gülen community's school” are also wrong.

There have been reports in the Turkish media in recent days about an FBI visit to the Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last week. The school is run by the Pelican Educational Foundation. These news reports were mostly based on articles that appeared in local US media.

Albayrak said only the information about the visit to the school by the FBI officials is correct, adding that no one has been detained at the school and that the FBI officials had informed the school prior to their visit.

“It is clearly unfair to describe this visit, which has nothing to do with my client, as a raid or an operation. My client has never been involved in any illegal affair. Based on ungrounded accusations, trying to show him as if he is involved in illegal affairs only shows the ill will of those making these claims,” the lawyer said in the statement.

Officials from the school have also said the FBI visit to the Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School has been misinterpreted by the Turkish media and wrongly associated with the decision to revoke another New Orleans school's charter status.

The news about the Kenilworth school came soon after the school performance scores were released in October, which showed that Kenilworth was among only five schools in East Baton Rouge Parish that had improved by more than one grade level compared to the previous year.

Kenilworth, the only charter school in Baton Rouge overseen by the Recovery School District, jumped from a grade of F up to C this year.

School officials stated recently that 59 percent of Kenilworth students are now performing at or above their previous average grade, an increase of more than 40 percent compared with the period before the school became a charter school.

According to observers, the school's improved performance was not welcome in some circles, which, based on inaccurate information, might have misled the FBI for an investigation.

The FBI officers who visited the school last Wednesday took some documents from the school for investigation.

Mary Beth Romig, an FBI spokesperson in New Orleans, said the FBI visit to the school “was not an issue related to public safety.”

School Principal Hasan Süzük said Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School does not have any financial problems or problems related to official procedures, adding that the school was recently inspected by an independent company. He said the inspection was successfully completed and that the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had recently agreed to renew its charter for a further five years, extending it through 2019.

He said the decision to renew the school's charter came after the board examined its financial statements in detail.

Sending a letter to the parents of students, Süzük said he gave them detailed information about the developments and stated that education at the school would continue without interruption.

The school's principal also voiced his regret about the way in which some Turkish media have covered the story.

“It is upsetting that biased news reports in local media outlets, which are xenophobic and against the charter school system, have been repeated by some Turkish media outlets without contacting any of the school's officials. We have difficulty in understanding their intention in carrying the ungrounded allegations about our school, which has won the appreciation of many, to their pages,” Süzük said.

Pelican Educational Foundation won the charter to take over Kenilworth Middle School in 2009 and then renamed it Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School. The charter was authorized by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to take over Kenilworth Middle School after years of academic and other problems.

Repeating claims found on The Clarion Project's website, some Turkish media outlets noted the removal of the charter status of another school, also run by the Pelican Educational Foundation in New Orleans, some years before.

The Clarion Project's article claimed that the charter of the Abramson Science and Technology Center in New Orleans was revoked after an investigation found multiple disturbing incidents, including sexual abuse and an accusation of rape. “The findings at the Abramson Center led to an investigation of the Kenilworth School,” it said.

Officials from the Pelican Educational Foundation said the allegations about “sexual abuse” at the New Orleans school are “ridiculous,” adding that the incident merely involved two kindergarten students who pushed each other while waiting in a queue for the bathroom. They said a parent of one of those children made a complaint to the school administration about the incident and that the issue was settled between the school administration and the parents.

The officials said the charter of the school in New Orleans was revoked because of ungrounded accusations and that academic performance fell rapidly while acts of violence also increased after its transfer to the state. Some examples include one student who was arrested for coming to school with a firearm and 11 others who were detained during a fight.

Officials from the foundation also denied The Clarion Project's claim that a business associate of the Abramson Center, named İnci Akpınar, had tried to bribe an official of the Louisiana Department of Education after the probe into the school was initiated. This allegation also found its way into the Turkish media.

The officials said Akpınar does not have any connection with the school and that the public official who made this allegation, without providing any evidence, had been removed from his job.

Published on Today's Zaman, 16 December 2013, Monday