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Friday, April 30, 2021

The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog
The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume



The Mind Trust in Indianapolis has been the central engine of charter creation in that city and holds itself up as a model charter authorizer.

Until it was “deceived” by a would-be charter operator with a rosy vision, according to this story by Stephanie Wang in Chalkbeat Indiana.

She begins:

To launch a “transformational” middle school in an overlooked eastside neighborhood, Indianapolis charter advocates turned to a man students call Coach T.

For two decades, Tariq Al-Nasir ran his Stemnasium enrichment programs with a mission of helping Black and brown students realize their “superpowers” in science, technology, engineering, and math. With a resume boasting advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford, Al-Nasir put forward a vision of education in which hands-on lessons in coding, flying drones, and tinkering with robots could change children’s lives.

Calling him “brilliant” at working with students, the influential charter incubator The Mind Trust gave Al-Nasir a two-year, $800,000 fellowship last summer to develop CONTINUE READING: The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog