Proposed rural Alabama charter school faces opposition, partly because manager is a foreign-born Muslim - Entrepreneur Generations

Flyer produced by charter opponent and included in local newspaper in May.
(Courtesy of Al.com; click the image to enlarge it)

There are a lot of reasons many locals in Chatom, Alabama oppose a proposed charter school that state officials recently approved: they worry that it will drain tax money from local public schools, for one thing. Also, a nonprofit that reviews charter organizations for the state gave Woodland Preparatory School a thumbs down, saying it didn't have a good curriculum or financial plan, and that not enough information was available about the company that will operate the school.

There's another reason many object to the school, though: the charter manager is a Muslim with possible ties to a controversial cleric. Trisha Powell Crain reports for Al.com: "Retired teacher Wayne Blackwell, among others, made his concerns clear in a letter to the editor of the Washington County News in March. 'It personally concerns me that Dr. Soner Tarim,' Blackwell wrote, 'is from Turkey and is of the Muslim faith.'"

Tarim told Crain that opening the school "is an excellent opportunity for me to prove that in a small community where there is no option, no choice, parents are fleeing to find a proper education outside of this county . . . This is the place that I can prove again -- one more time -- that the charter school model can work." Tarim owns charter school company Unity School Services, based in Sugar Land, Texas. He previously co-founded and was chief executive of charter school chain Harmony Public Schools, which "critics say is part of an informal network of scores of charter schools operated by followers of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim preacher from Turkey who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania and is wanted by the Turkish government," Valerie Strauss reports for The Washington Post.

"A number of schools in the unofficial network have been investigated over a period of years by state and federal agencies amid allegations regarding hiring practices that favor Turkish nationals, abuse of the H-1B visa process and preferences in the awarding of contracts to related Turkish businesses," Strauss reports. "Former employees have alleged that they were required to contribute some of their salaries to the Gülen political movement, although representatives of Gülen have denied it over the years. Tarim has repeatedly denied that Harmony is part of a Gülen network of charter schools."

Meanwhile, Woodland Prep is having a hard time keeping board members and convincing local parents to enroll their children because of the intense pressure from charter opponents. Most recently, Ford dealership owner Gene Brown resigned in early July. Brown gained nationwide attention in June for a promotion that offered a gun, a flag and a Bible with every car purchase. "Brown has since shifted his support. Last week, his Ford dealership's Facebook paged said he donated "large sum to the athletic department" at one of the county's schools," Crain reports.

Local opposition has stopped the school from even being built: "The Montgomery contractor hired to build the school told the state commission that workers have walked off the job after opponents threatened that they'd never again find work in Washington County," Crain reports.

It's unclear when or if the school will open. It's suspected that only about 50 children are enrolled in the school thus far; without at least 200, the school can't open, Crain reports.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2YkvqHE Proposed rural Alabama charter school faces opposition, partly because manager is a foreign-born Muslim - Entrepreneur Generations

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