Torlakson Announces CA Teachers of the Year - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

Torlakson Announces CA Teachers of the Year - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces California Teachers of the Year

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today selected five outstanding educators as the 2017 California Teachers of the Year.

“I am pleased to honor five dedicated and hardworking teachers who use their creativity and talents every day to make a huge difference in their classrooms,” Torlakson said. “These inspiring and innovative teachers enrich the lives of our students while helping them to succeed in 21st century careers and college. These teachers represent the best of their profession and serve as great examples.”

Presented by California Casualty and the California Teachers of the Year Foundation, the California Teachers of the Year Program began in 1972 to honor outstanding teachers and encourage new teachers to enter the profession.

The 2017 winners are:Torlakson Announces CA Teachers of the Year - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

Podesta emails show NEA behind the scenes on the Clinton endorsement | Seattle Education

Podesta emails show NEA behind the scenes on the Clinton endorsement | Seattle Education:

Podesta emails show NEA behind the scenes on the Clinton endorsement

Candidate Hillary Clinton and NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia

There should be concern when union leaders cozy up to established power rather than work in the best interest of their members.

I keep my ear to the ground on what teachers are saying around the country and after reading comments shared on Facebook and Twitter, it sounded like the fix was in on endorsing Hillary Clinton by the National Education Association (NEA) well before the primary. There were several teachers online who voiced dissatisfaction with an early endorsement of candidate Hillary Clinton without participation of the majority of members.

To follow is an excerpt from an article written by Steve Singer titled The NEA May Be About to Endorse Hillary Clinton Without Input From Majority of Members that was published on September 21, 2015.

The largest labor union in the United States may be about to endorse Hillary Clinton for President without a poll of its membership.

Leadership at the National Education Association (NEA) has been making troubling moves toward endorsing Clinton that could commit the organization to supporting the Democratic presidential hopeful with no regard for the wishes of its 3.2 million members.

An endorsement could come as early as Oct. 2-3 when President Lily Eskelsen Garcia is expected to propose a primary endorsement ofPodesta emails show NEA behind the scenes on the Clinton endorsement | Seattle Education:

Do you know five other people in your school? Ask them to do this. - Lily's Blackboard

Do you know five other people in your school? Ask them to do this. - Lily's Blackboard:

Do you know five other people in your school? Ask them to do this

Anyone who’s worked in a school — from elementary to high school — has seen the same thing. Popular kids sit together at “their table;” sports stars sit together at “their table.” Occasionally, but not nearly enough, we see a student being especially kind to a new kid.

My first job in a school was as a lunch lady, and more times than I would have liked, I saw a child who sat alone. I saw a child mock another child. I saw a child being tripped or pushed. I always intervened, but I never had any formal training on what to do when I saw bullying. I did my best, but today educators don’t have to guess. We know what works in preventing bullying.

First, we now know that ignoring bullying doesn’t help. We know that kids need to know that a caring adult will take action. And we know that that caring adult might be a teacher or a principal or any one of the army of education support professionals (ESPs) that surround that child.

I’ve seen the importance of our ESPs who interact with students on a daily basis–often in less structured environments on the school bus or playground or just walking down the hall. Bus drivers, lunch workers, custodians and para-professionals should all receive the same professional development as teachers, librarians and administrators to know the best way to stop bullying.

There’s no better time to start than now as this month marks National Bullying Prevention Month. NEA has updated its Bully Free: It Starts with Me campaign.

Research by GLSEN shows that our most vulnerable students can name at least one supportive educator in their school. That’s important, but to change school culture, it’s not nearly enough.

Only half of students surveyed could name six supportive educators. We can start to change that today in just two steps. Here’s how:

1. Take the pledge to change school climate and make our schools Bully Free!

I will stand up as an educator dedicated to creating a culture of respect and safety for ALL students. This means, not only identifying myself as a caring adult who is prepared to advocate and intervene in bullying situations, but also as a leader on school climate willing to engage other educators to ensure Bully Free schools.

2. Get resources for your school by sending this pledge to FIVE colleagues who work with students at your school. 

Once five educators from your school sign the pledge, we will send you the tools and resources that you need to improve your school climate and make your school Bully Free!

As I think back to my days in the school cafeteria, I wish there had been more resources and training to help me deal with bullying. I am grateful, however, that today we recognize bullying as an issue that affects students and school environments. Now, we must take advantage of the resources and training available to identify, intervene, and advocate to bring an end to bullying. Let’s demonstrate that we really believe “bully free begins with us”!Do you know five other people in your school? Ask them to do this. - Lily's Blackboard:

NYC Public School Parents: Serious privacy concerns with the new Summit/Facebook platform, used in 100 schools across the nation

NYC Public School Parents: Serious privacy concerns with the new Summit/Facebook platform, used in 100 schools across the nation:

Serious privacy concerns with the new Summit/Facebook platform, used in 100 schools across the nation

Our concerns about the open-ended data sharing of the Summit/Facebook software platform was featured on the front page of today’s Washington Post. This software is in 100 schools nationwide, about two thirds of them public schools. The list is here. Two of the schools are in NYC:  the Bronx Writing Academy in District 9; and J.H.S. 088 Peter Rouget in District 15 in Brooklyn.

Summit is sharing the student personal data with Facebook, Google, Clever and whomever else they please – through an open-ended consent form that they have demanded parents sign.  A copy of the consent form is here.    

I have never seen such a wholesale demand from any company for personal student data, and can imagine many ways it could be abused.  Among other things, Summit/Facebook claims they will have the right to use the personal data “to improve their products and services,” to “conduct surveys, studies” and “perform any other activities requested by the school. ”  

 Here is an excerpt:  

 Summit may collect information that you provide or your child provides directly to Summit, such as contact information, coursework, testing, and grades. Summit also may collect information automatically from browsers, computers, and devices (such as information from cookies and browser and device identifiers in order to remember your preferences)..... Summit may use your child’s information to conduct surveys and studies; develop new features, products, and services; and otherwise as requested by your school or consistent with your consent. ... Summit also may disclose information to third-party service providers and partners as directed or authorized by the school. For example, Summit uses Clever, Facebook, and Google to help develop and improve the personalized learning plan software or to provide related educational services on Summit’s behalf. 

They claim they won’t use the child's personal data for targeted ads (as would be banned anyway in the CA law called SOPIPA) but this is among the only restriction. They say they can sell the data "in connection with a corporate transaction, such as the sale of our Services, a merger, consolidation, asset sale." The one-sided Terms of Service is here; the Privacy Policy is here. 

The Summit platform has never been independently vetted for security protections – or shown to yield any educational benefits, and I believe is a very radical way to outsource instruction and student data to private companies. 

Other reasons that teachers as well as parents should be concerned:

The Terms of Service claims the right to use the intellectual property of teachers in these schools, including course assignments, etc. and even student work without any recompense: “You Grant Us a non--‐exclusive, perpetual, transferable, NYC Public School Parents: Serious privacy concerns with the new Summit/Facebook platform, used in 100 schools across the nation:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire pipeline investor Hamm is also a big charter school backer

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire pipeline investor Hamm is also a big charter school backer:

Billionaire pipeline investor Hamm is also a big charter school backer

Billionaire Hamm is Trump's main energy advisor. 

Billionaire Harold Hamm is the founder CEO of energy giant, Continental Resources. Continental is the largest leaseholder in the nation’s premier oil play, the Bakken Play of North Dakota and Montana. Based in Oklahoma City, the company also has a leading presence in the Anadarko Woodford Play of Oklahoma and the Red River Units Play of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.

Hamm recently announced to investors that oil it obtains via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale basin is destined for transport through Standing Rock Sioux territory via the Dakota Access pipeline.

MORE ABOUT HAMM... He's Donald Trump's energy adviser and a likely pick for U.S. Energy Sec. should Trump be elected.

As you might have already guessed, Philanthro-capitalist Hamm is also a big player in the world of school privatization and charter schools. His favorite seems to beASTEC charters, the first charter in Oklahoma.

He's also appealing his divorce settlement which called for him paying out $1B to ex-wife Sue Ann. He claims a drop in oil prices negatively affected his finances. It seems that $18 billion doesn't go as far as it used to.

Will ASTEC be next on the chopping block? Schooling in the Ownership Society: Billionaire pipeline investor Hamm is also a big charter school backer:

State Senator To Propose Rewriting PA Charter School Law To Hold the Industry Accountable | gadflyonthewallblog

State Senator To Propose Rewriting PA Charter School Law To Hold the Industry Accountable | gadflyonthewallblog:

State Senator To Propose Rewriting PA Charter School Law To Hold the Industry Accountable

Pennsylvania’s charter school law is a national disgrace.

It allows charters to defraud the public and provide a substandard education to our children.

Charter school managers pay themselves with taxpayer money for leases on properties they already own. They funnel money through shell companies into their own pockets. Academic achievement at many charters is far below par.

And it’s all legal.

That’s why state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has long called it the “worst charter school law” in the country. But his call for sweeping reforms from the legislature has fallen on mostly deaf ears.

Until now.

State Sen. Jim Brewster is in the early stages of proposing legislation that would ensure charter schools are State Senator To Propose Rewriting PA Charter School Law To Hold the Industry Accountable | gadflyonthewallblog:

 

Big Education Ape: PA Charter Schools Caught Gaming the System for $2.5 Million | gadflyonthewallblog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/08/pa-charter-schools-caught-gaming-system.html

Flint resident requests grand jury investigation of Gov. Rick...

Flint resident requests grand jury investigation of Gov. Rick...:

Flint resident requests grand jury investigation of Gov. Rick Snyder

Lawyer claims Snyder broke law using public money to pay for legal defense

DETROIT - An Ingham County judge is being asked to OK a grand jury investigation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder over his authorizing public monies to pay for legal fees.

The legal maneuver claims the governor is breaking the law by using public money to pay for legal defense. He's authorized $3.4 million for himself and multiple state employee's, which is what the legal complaint is challenging.

"After what has happened in this city, it's just a slap in the face," said Keri Webber, who's asking for the investigation.

"Gov. Rick Snyder can stand there and say, 'I take responsibility. I'm going to fix this. The buck stops with me,'" Webber said. "Yet (he has) the unmitigated gall to turn around and take $2 million from the citizens of Michigan."

Flags mark the spots where the lead pipes have been removed outside of Webber's Flint home, but the damage has already been done.

"There's no words," she said.

The entire family is suffering with the effects of lead poisoning. What got the ball rolling? Her teenage daughter Victoria went in for an MRI. Her doctors found lead riddling the teen's body.

Webber's husband has uncontrollable high blood pressure and had an eye stroke. Victoria continues to struggle and her daughter Stephanie contracted Legionnaire's. Their beloved dog, Jasmine, died from lead.

The DPA said an acceptable level of lead in water is 15 parts per billion in the Webber home. Webber said she received a phone call that her home's level was 1,800 parts per billion.

Webber is sick too, but more than anything, she's angry. Former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer is her lawyer who is filing the case Wednesday.

"We are asking the Ingham County Circuit Court to conduct a criminal investigation of the governor's authorization for payment of his own legal fees," Brewer said.

In essence, Brewer is asking for a one-man grand jury to perform the investigation. This could become a major issue if the attorney general does actually charge the governor in connection with the Flint water crisis.

Sign up for ClickOnDetroit Email Newsletters (click here) for more stories like this.Flint resident requests grand jury investigation of Gov. Rick...:

The educator exodus - The Echo News

The educator exodus - The Echo News:

Indiana struggles to keep teachers in-state

By Megan Herrema | Echo

Taylor’s education students may be surprised to learn that Indiana has one of the lowest teacher retention rates in the nation.

Two main issues—working conditions and teacher compensation—resulted in Indiana’s score of only 2.17 out of a total of five possible points, according to a review of educator data conducted by the Learning Policy Institute. Only Arizona, Texas, Colorado and the District of Columbia received lower scores. As a result, the teacher shortage has become a hot topic.

According to Taylor professor and Department Chair of Education Cindy Tyner, low pay and standardized tests play a role in discouraging teachers from continuing in their profession here.

“The stress that has come about due to high-stakes standardized testing is taking a toll on the retention rate of teachers in the state,” Tyner said. “The Indiana Department of Education needs to continue to work to find a solution to this problem.”

Gubernatorial candidates John Gregg and Eric Holcomb are addressing these issues in their current campaigns for Indiana governor.

In a statement on his campaign website, Democratic candidate John Gregg said teachers should have a role in forming educational policies: “The first step should be to give back to teachers a seat at the policy making table—and stop the intentional excluding and undermining of them.”

The Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, told The Indianapolis Star that Indiana should offer more incentives for teachers to stay in their schools and classrooms. Like Gregg, Holcomb also mentioned teachers should have a role in making educational policies. “Educators know what is best for their schools,” he said.

While Indiana struggles to keep teachers in the state for the long run, Taylor students are doing their part for teachers right now.

“More Taylor education grads stay in Indiana than one would think,” Tyner said. “This year we have three young men who are teaching in Fishers, Indiana. We have a lot who take jobs in the Indianapolis area.”

Taylor also offers Transition to Teaching, an online graduate program open to any individual with a bachelor’s degree. Students in the program can obtain an elementary or secondary teaching license in Indiana in 18 months.

Tyner said that the Indiana Department of Education recommends Taylor specifically to those seeking information about Transition to Teaching. As a result, the education department receives multiple calls a week regarding the program.

While Transition to Teaching focuses on graduated adults, Taylor also engages with local schools to encourage high school students who are considering teaching as a profession. Alexis Armstrong, professor of education and director of teacher education, said Taylor held a “cadet teacher day” last April. Taylor’s education department asked high school counselors in Grant and Delaware counties to invite their cadet teachers (high school students who help as teacher’s aides) to visit Taylor. The students spent time on campus, sat in on classes, talked with financial aid advisors and had lunch with Taylor students.

Although politicians and legislators are working to increase teacher incentives and educational institutions like Taylor are offering advanced training and opportunity, there seem to be few ways the general public can help keep teachers in-state. However, Armstrong believes the public can make a difference in keeping teachers in Indiana.

“The best incentive is for our society and media to recognize the importance of teachers and to give them the respect that they deserve,” Armstrong said.

Thank a teacher today; your encouragement may just change education tomorrow.The educator exodus - The Echo News:

Hoosier School Heist TV is Doug Martin's channel featuring videos of his book tour across Indiana speaking on the corporate takeover of public education. Order Hoosier School Heist at http://hoosierschoolheist.com/.

Follow Hoosier School Heist on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoosierSchoolHeist

Tweet with Doug Martin at: https://twitter.com/DougMartinED

Now, the teachers get to say. | Fred Klonsky

Now, the teachers get to say. | Fred Klonsky:

Now, the teachers get to say

Teachers at International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn congratulate Chicago teachers on their contract win today. “Your fight is our fight!”

Some contract settlements make me scratch my head in negative amazement. Some put a smile on my face. But as a career union teacher who led a local and sat long hours at the bargaining table many times, I strongly believe that the collective bargaining agreement belongs to the those who must work it. The rest of us may have opinions. Only members get to vote.

The tentative agreement that the CTU bargaining team will present to its House of Delegates, and if passed, to its members, is theirs and theirs alone to vote yea or nay.

At a time when Illinois has a governor who came into office with a promise to destroy public employee unionism, that alone would be a victory.

Bruce Rauner is a big loser in the agreement that put teachers and students in classrooms yesterday morning.

But there is more.

Rahm said the city was broke, demanded a return of the previously bargained  7% pension pickup and portrayed the board’s early offers as a pay raise when it was a pay cut.

CTU members get to keep the pickup, new hires get the 7% as direct Now, the teachers get to say. | Fred Klonsky:

Schools Matter: Trade you a backpack of badges for a caring teacher & well-resourced school.

Schools Matter: Trade you a backpack of badges for a caring teacher & well-resourced school.:

Trade you a backpack of badges for a caring teacher & well-resourced school.

This is the third in a series intended to describe the process by which education reformers are transitioning us from neighborhood schools to learning eco-systems. For additional background you can read “From Neighborhood Schools to Learning Eco-Systems, A Dangerous Trade” and “Questions We Should Be Asking About Future Ready Schools.”

Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the drumbeat for “innovative,” “personalized” education has grown stronger and more insistent. Key to the successful implementation of Education Reform 2.0 is convincing the public that education in school buildings with certified human teachers is obsolete. The No Child Left Behind Act laid the groundwork. It created increasingly hostile working conditions for teachers, inhumane learning conditions for students, and emphasized standards and test scores above all else.

While the public was sold a story that national standards were about ensuring equity for all children, parents of children enrolled in predominately low-income districts know that is not true. Time and time again we have seen that the standards-based accountability frameworks established under NCLB focus on outputs, NEVER inputs. These laws did not secure additional resources for children in need. They were designed to raise expectations for college and career readiness while kneecapping, through ongoing austerity budgets, our schools’ ability to meet our children’s most basic needs. Imposition of Common Core State Standards, value-added measures, high school exit exams, third-grade reading guarantees, test-score based “turnaround” policies, data-walls, and the like, have gradually institutionalized a punitive, data-driven approach to education across our country.

So what exactly does that have to do with badges? Well, data-driven education and badges go hand-in-hand. It makes sense once you realize the end goal is to replace our current system of public education with individualized pathways geared to “anytime, anyplace, any pace” learning mediated largely through technological devices that collect and aggregate educational Schools Matter: Trade you a backpack of badges for a caring teacher & well-resourced school.:



Big Education Ape: Teacher Competency, Complete with Digital Badges! | BustED Pencils - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/08/teacher-competency-complete-with.html



Big Education Ape: “Learning is Earning” the Rand Corporation way with digital badges and Edublocks | Seattle Education - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/09/learning-is-earning-rand-corporation.html

Prop. 55: Initiative to extend income tax increases to benefit schools | EdSource

Prop. 55: Initiative to extend income tax increases to benefit schools | EdSource:

Prop. 55: Initiative to extend income tax increases to benefit schools

With Gov. Jerry Brown vowing to cut $6 billion in funding to K–12 schools and community colleges if they didn’t approve a temporary tax increase, voters in 2012 passed Proposition 30, raising the state sales tax and personal income tax on the wealthiest Californians.

PROPOSITION 55

What it would do: The California Children’s Education and Health Care Protection Act of 2016 would extend Proposition 30’s increase on the income tax, due to expire at the end of 2018, for an additional 12 years. It would apply to individuals earning more than $263,000 and couples earning more than $526,000. It’s projected to generate annually between $4 billion and $9 billion, with an estimated half going to K–12 schools and community colleges, and with some of the remainder funding Medi-Cal health services for low-income families and the state’s rainy day fund.

Funders in support: California Teachers Association, California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, California State Council of State Employees, California School Employees Association. Contributions total $52 million as Oct. 10.

Funders in opposition: no significant funding.

• Official arguments for and against Prop. 55
• Full text of the initiative
• Yes on Prop.55 campaign
• No on Prop 55 campaign
• List of supporters, opponents, Ballotpedia

Now, Californians are being asked to extend for a dozen years a slightly modified version of the tax, generating roughly the same amount of revenue, depending on economic conditions, under a new name, Proposition 55. Only this time, supporters must make the case without the governor’s help. Brown is staying neutral, saying in a state budget press conference in May, “I said it was temporary when I started, when I got Prop. 30 passed — and I think I’ll leave it there.”

Education funding isn’t as dire as it was four years ago, pre-Prop. 30. But advocates say continuing the revenue is essential for education because many school districts are barely above the funding levels they were at before the Great Recession.

“California is 49th in the nation in teacher-student ratios, and the money from Prop. 55 will be critical to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers,” said Chris Ungar, president of the California Teachers Association.

Benefiting from a resurgent stock market, Prop. 30 raised between $8 billion and $10 billion annually for the General Fund, money that will disappear when Prop. 30 expires on Dec. 31, 2018. In the initial years, nearly all of that money went to K–12 schools and community colleges to repay them for funding that was cut during the recession. Without the money, Brown could not have jump-started his signature reform, the Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts with Prop. 55: Initiative to extend income tax increases to benefit schools | EdSource:

Protecting California - Yes on Prop. 55 - http://www.protectingcalifornia.com/ 

Obama administration releases long-delayed regulations for teacher-preparation programs - The Washington Post

Obama administration releases long-delayed regulations for teacher-preparation programs - The Washington Post:

Obama administration releases long-delayed regulations for teacher-preparation programs

The U.S. Education Department published regulations Wednesday governing programs that prepare new K-12 teachers, a long-delayed effort meant to ensure that graduates emerge ready for the nation’s classrooms.

The new regulations, at least five years in the making, require each state to issue annual ratings for teacher-prep programs within their borders. The ratings aim to serve as a snapshot of how novice teachers perform after graduation, offering prospective teachers and school district recruiters a more accurate picture of which programs are successful at producing strong educators and which are not.

Obama administration officials also hope the ratings prod training programs — long criticized as cash cows for universities that produce ill-prepared candidates — to improve.

“The system we have for training teachers lacks rigor, is out of step with the times, and is given to extreme grade inflation that leaves teachers unprepared and their future students at risk,” former Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote this month in an open letter to America’s college presidents. Duncan stepped down in 2015, four years after starting the Obama administration’s effort to overhaul teacher-prep regulations.

The effort proceeded more slowly than the administration anticipated, in part because of deep divisions about the role of standardized test scores in gauging the effectiveness of a new teacher — and thus the effectiveness of the training program that teacher attended.

The Education Department previously pushed for a “significant part” of ratings to come from the performance of recent graduates’ students, as measured by those students’ standardized tests and other measures of achievement. In theory, the agency argued, a strong teacher training program should produce new teachers whose students demonstrate progress on standardized tests.

[Education Department moves to regulate teacher preparation programs]

But that proposal generated a storm of criticism. It was released in 2014 amid a growing backlash against overtesting in the nation’s public schools. Teachers unions argued that test scores are often arbitrary and are an unfair metric for judging effectiveness. The American Council on Education, an association of colleges and universities, and others argued that the Obama administration releases long-delayed regulations for teacher-preparation programs - The Washington Post:

Three L.A. Gulen charter schools could be shut down, largely because of their practice of bringing in teachers from Turkey - LA Times

Three L.A. charter schools could be shut down, largely because of their practice of bringing in teachers from Turkey - LA Times:

Three L.A. charter schools could be shut down, largely because of their practice of bringing in teachers from Turkey

 Three Los Angeles charter schools could be shut down, largely because of their practice of bringing in teachers from Turkey, The Times has learned. 

The schools are part of a group of 10 campuses operated by locally based Magnolia Public Schools, which has relied heavily on using temporary work visas to import Turkish teachers.

The three charters now under review have five-year operating agreements that are expiring, and the L.A. Unified School District must either approve or deny their renewal applications. The official word, with no accompanying explanation, reached their campuses by email Tuesday afternoon: School district staff will recommend denial.

The Board of Education is expected to vote next Tuesday on the recommendations for Magnolia Science Academy 1 in Reseda, Magnolia Science Academy 2 in Van Nuys and Magnolia Science Academy 3 in Carson.

Magnolia’s schools have attracted increased attention in the wake of a failed coup in Turkey in July. The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Turkish cleric Muhammed Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the revolt. Erdogan claims American charter schools with Turkish ties supported — and even helped fund — Gulen’s alleged activities.

L.A. Unified backs down and agrees to provide lifetime benefits to charter school teachers

L.A. Unified has not yet released its rationale for recommending that the schools’ renewal requests be denied. But sources inside and outside the district make it clear that one major issue is Magnolia’s foreign workers, most of whom came in to teach. 

The school group applied to bring in 138 teachers from abroad, almost all from Turkey, and 97 eventually worked for Magnolia. Thirty-seven still do. As required by law, Magnolia covered the visa-related costs, which it estimated at about $3,000 per employee, and chose to pay for the visas of spouses and children.

L.A. Unified estimated the total cost of that effort at about $929,000, according to Magnolia Chief Executive Caprice Young, the former L.A. school board president who took over Magnolia in 2015.

Young said she ended the practice, though she has brought in a Chinese citizen to teach Chinese.

L.A. school board president Steve Zimmer, however, says Magnolia’s past actions remain a problem. Magnolia never indicated it intended to import teachers en masse, Zimmer said, when before the Board of Education for approval. 

“The role of an authorizer includes making sure that a charter follows the instructional and business practices outlined in its petition,” said Zimmer, who declined to discuss the district’s internal report. 

The significance of any alleged ties to Gulen is a matter of intense debate. The cleric, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denied involvement in the coup. And Turkish-associated charter groups, including Magnolia, have denied financial or management ties with each other or with him.

Magnolia’s Turkish employees agreed to be interviewed only on condition of anonymity, out of fear that family members back home could be targeted in a wide-ranging crackdown on dissidents and suspected Gulen followers. Magnolia governing board member Umit Yapanel recently stepped forward as an admirer of Gulen, he said, to emphasize the Three L.A. charter schools could be shut down, largely because of their practice of bringing in teachers from Turkey - LA Times: