Gulen charter schools: A recently flourishing myth that targets some public charter schools via disinformation. The term Gulen charter schools is coined by a group of bloggers aka the Goose Network.
Gulen Charter Schools is a hot discussion topic on a variety of blogs around the Web. Showing hardly any evidence, some websites try to convince parents as if there were a link between Fethullah Gulen and some charter schools in the US.
The following video on Gulen charter schools shows how informed (!) these people are on the so-called Gulen charter schools:
Gulen charter schools accusations vs. Parents' experience
On the Web, I came across some articles on Gulen charter schools, which I found at the beginning to be very interesting. But, as I read further, I found some contradictions, baseless claims and accusations. Some of these articles on Gulen charter schools were mentioning Magnolia Science Academy which I’ve heard from my friends.
I have some friends whose children attend to one of the Magnolia Science Academy charter schools in Los Angeles, which were also labeled as one of those so-called Gulen charter schools. So far, all the feedback I’ve heard and read about Magnolia charter schools are very positive. They are no different from other public schools, except that they have an extra emphasis on math, science, and technology, which is a very good opportunity for the students who want to improve themselves and get a better education.
My friends are very satisfied with the teachers and the service they offer at Magnolia. My kids are still young to go to school, but Magnolia Science Academy is definitely on the candidate list, as it will most likely be the best choice for my kids.
I have a daughter who graduated from MSA San Diego and my younger daughter started 6th grade at MSA this year. I am so amazed with the kind of transition I’ve seen in my younger daughter. My 6th grader changed from an irresponsible little kid into a responsible and hardworking young lady in only 3 months, thanks to her teachers’ hardwork and discipline. There are many activities I can just go and participate as a parent at the school. For sure, Magnolia is the best school my two daughters ever attended.
A big “Thank you!” to the founders and staff of Magnolia Science Academies for such a great experience.
As a parent, after looking through many websites, I have found many false comments about Magnolia being labeled as Gulen charter schools. What caught my eye is that there are many people who are making untrue comments about these schools, but do not seem to have any idea where their sources came from to blame these schools. People do not seem to have strong and reliable sources to back themselves up. There are many misleading comments, articles, and news to make these schools look bad. One should look more into the teachers, education quality, and test scores of these schools instead of listening to gossip, rumors, and lies.
Ultra picky mom! Yeah! That’s me. It’s my son’s third year at Magnolia and I am asking him about every single day he spent at school, every small detail about his classes, teachers, after school programs, the food, etc. you name it…
I am really fed up with the Gulen charter schools claims about my child’s school which I am proud of. As a parent I feel it’s my very own school; any wrong statement about this beautiful school offends me because I feel myself as a part of it. I don’t know what people are getting out of throwing dirt at this wonderful school. I just don’t get it.
What bothers the layperson bloggers who have never been this school, who have never met any of these wonderful teachers and staff, who have never been exposed to the warmth of this warm school environment??? I don’t really know what their intention is by spreading all these ridiculous ideas around. But, I know I am really upset as a parent. Please stop by our school to see what’s going on.
Wow. It’s been more than two months since I’ve last contributed to this blog. It seems a lot have happened on the desperate Gulen charter schools labeling campaign in the meantime.
I’ll share these developments time to time. It may take time, since there is still some buzz -though at an insignificant rate- going on regarding Gulen charter schools myth, and it is quite impossible to cover all the updates in a single blog post. Yet, I’ll briefly mention something very important.
I was wondering who might be fabricating all this Gulen charter schools spam, if not junk, and posting them to wherever they could on the Web. Now, I know some clamorous members of the Gulen charter schools choir, and I mean it. On the Web, there is substantial evidence on the identities of these people, publicly available to careful eyes. However, I’m not planning to share any names at this point…
There are still missing pieces on why they picked Magnolia charter schools or Gulen, or some minor presence of international staff as topics to their unfounded arguments. What does Gulen have to do with U.S. charter schools anyway? Of course, taking each and every “Gulen charter schools” allegation serious is pointless. I am not in a position to answer questions like those above, but I can say that there are obvious points in this matter that are no news as well. It is crystal clear that this titular Gulen charter schools stuff is nothing but an organized effort which is artificially fueled by folks who are paid for attacking successful charter schools like Magnolia.
I live in Culver City. Even though, I am not that much close to my neighbors, we do have some conversation time to time. One morning, I saw my next door neighbor in the morning with her daughter while she was going to drop off her daughter to school. I have a son who is now in 5th grade, and will be 6th grade next year. So, I asked my neighbor what school her daughter was in (she is in 7th grade now). She told me she was attending Magnolia Science Academy which was a public charter school focused on math, science and technology. I was very interested, because my son is very much interested in science, so asked her for more information. She gave me the contact information of the school. I checked the school website and was very impressed and became more interested. She told me how her daughter was doing well at her classes and mentioned about the enhanced programs they had. She expressed many times about how the teachers cared about their students. It just made me happy to find a school like that, because my son will be in 6th grade next year, and I already decided where he’ll be continuing his education.
My son loves his school and teachers. He didn’t want to stay for after-school math program at first. But after spending one month in the program, he loved it and made a significant progress in his math class. He likes his math teacher’s individual attention to him. It made a big difference. Teachers and the principal are very welcoming; I can always share my comments or concerns with them.
It is our second year with Magnolia charter schools. I could not be more pleased with my kid’s first year. I like this charter school, because of its small environment and staff. The teachers are very helpful and understanding. They push pupils to their limits. My son’s teacher was extremely innovative when it came to keeping him challenged.
At Magnolia, students can feel safe, because bullying is not tolerated. This charter school reminds me of the small town elementary school that I attended – where the teachers knew all of the kids’ names, the environment was safe and academic standards were top of mind.
Yet, atop all above, I happened to find out some people blogging about Gulen charter schools, many of whom have no idea of what actually is going on. My suggestion for them is to take a tour of our school. I did that a couple of times, and I have observed unique and fun teaching strategies in the classroom. My child loves his school and that in itself is the best testimonial from a parent!
This website is designed and maintained by a group of parents whose children are attending Magnolia Schools. Recently, there have been unfair and groundless attacks against our children's schools claiming some sort of affiliation with the so-called Gulen charter schools network, as they name it.
No one has the right to stick labels to the schools that we and our children enjoy being part of.
We want our children to proudly mention their schools in their resume. This is our collective effort to respond to these false accusations and share our experiences at Magnolia Schools with the public.
I live in Culver City. Even though, I am not that much close to my neighbors, we do have some conversation time to time. One morning, I saw my next door neighbor in the morning with her daughter while she was going to drop off her daughter to school. I have a son who is now in 5th grade, and will be 6th grade next year. So, I asked my neighbor what school her daughter was in (she is in 7th grade now). She told me she was attending Magnolia Science Academy which was a public charter school focused on 
