Friday, December 14, 2012

No Sharia in Loudoun County — For the Moment

Al-Loudoun County Courthouse

As we reported yesterday, the Turkish Islamic supremacist Fethullah Gülen had proposed to establish one of his science-technology charter schools in Loudoun County, Virginia. Last night the Loudon school board voted against accepting the application.

This is a major accomplishment, and all of those dedicated anti-sharia activists who made their opposition vocal should be congratulated on their success. However, this was only a skirmish in a much larger war, one that extends throughout Northern Virginia and the whole of the United States.

Here’s the press release from The Center for Security Policy with the good news:

Loudoun School Board Committee rejects proposed Islamist Gülen charter school bid

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Last night, a select committee of the Loudoun County School Board recommended the disapproval of an application for taxpayer funding of a charter school linked to Turkish Islamist Fethullah Gülen. Two of the three members recommended rejection of the application outright; the third called for delay of its consideration “for cause.”

This outcome is a huge, if preliminary, victory for citizens who have come together to oppose the public funding of a school associated with the Gülen Movement in the Virginia county west of Washington, D.C. The Loudoun Math and Information Technology Academy (LMITA) application will now go to the full School Board, which is expected to consider it over the next two months.

It is to be hoped that the Board’s deliberations will be informed by the following notable developments:

  • Public comments received by the select committee were overwhelmingly negative. Among the concerns expressed by opponents were: serious problems with the model the applicants cite — another Gülen school known as the Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School in Anne Arundel County; growing evidence of financial and other mismanagement with other Gülen schools in Georgia, Texas and Ohio; and the Islamist character of the Gülen enterprise. Evidence of the latter was provided in the attached letter from Mary Addi [pdf], a former teacher in a Gülen school in Cleveland, Ohio. It draws on her own experience and that of Ms. Addi’s husband, an expatriate from Turkey who was also a teacher at that school.
  • Four elected officials who have previously endorsed the LMITA application have withdrawn their support for the project. It is expected additional withdrawals will occur as others of those who previously endorsed LMITA — in many cases a year or more ago — learn about the serious grounds for concern about this school and its true sponsors.
  • The case against LMITA was laid out in detail in a powerful briefing presented the night before the select committee vote by Center President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. and a former public school teacher, Rachel Sargent. A version of the presentation is available online at YouTube.

The briefing illuminates the pattern employed by Gülen and his cult-like Turkish supremacist Movement to induce school boards to charter and pay his followers to establish vehicles for indoctrinating impressionable American students, usually under the guise of enriched science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. At its core, this pattern involves deception with respect to the true character of the proposed school, its association with the Gülenists, and the myriad problems such Gülen academic institutions have presented to school system administrators and taxpayers from Texas to Maryland.

In the wake of the select committee vote, Mr. Gaffney said:

The committee is to be commended for its appreciation that Loudoun County does not need and should not allow the establishment there of a Gülen school at taxpayer expense. Every effort must now be made to ensure that the full School Board arrives at the same, prudent conclusion by understanding and acting upon the true and unacceptable nature of the Gülenist penetration of America’s public school systems.

For more information visit The Center for Security Policy.

2 comments:

William Gruff said...

Yet again the decision of one committee is subject to the approval of another. What is the point of representatives at the lowest level making decisions based on the wishes of the local community if they can be overturned by others at ahigher level less accountable?

The Mohammedanisation of the Western cultures cannot be stopped until those most likely to suffer assert their authority over their paid servants.

dymphna said...

They never let up, those Sharia lovers...

Loudon County is represented in the state assembly by one David Ramadan, a person with no particular ties to Loudon, nor any visible means of support when he ran in 2011 for the 7K a year position. However, he has been linked with Grover Norquist, the fiscal conservative Beltway insider who is known for his support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

I doubt Mr. Norquist is a Gulenist. Only Frank Gaffney has had the courage to stand up publicly against both these powerful men. Meanwhile, Mr. Norquist continues to deny his plans for the MB in American government.

Funny thing about that election of Ramadan in 2011. In what should be an easy-win GOP seat, the race was so close that the Dem was entitled to a FREE recount. We know how shy & retiring Dem politicians are - thus is was no surprise when the Democrat politely declined and said Mr. Ramadan was clearly the winner. (/sarc)

As I said at the time had Loudon Co. a larger Tea Party base this unqualified man who took the primary away from a seasoned local woman ( onewith a well-defined conservative history in Loudon) would never have gotten to first base.

In fact, L.C. Tea Party members epressed their frustration in emails and in a comment or two left in this post.

The Tea Party could have prevented this.

It doesn't take much to fight back, but you do need SOME people willing to spend time on the drudgery of handing out leaflets, etc. In that post are links to fighters in the trenches - e.g., the indefatigble Mr. Faulknor at Blue Ridge Forum. Coincidentally, his top post at the moment concerns the infamous David Ramadan.

Virginia GOP Delegate Keeps On Helping Pro-Palestine Republican

As we all too sadly know, elections have consequences. Ramadan shouldn't even BE in that seat.

It is up to all of us to keep the local stables cleaned out. In Virginia, that's not easy. It's definitely an old boy network. And Grover Norquist is surely one of the old boys.

BTW, *his* network is crumbling at the edges: due to Frank Gaffney's courage and integrity, the anti-tax go-to-guy for Republicans, Grover, is losing his absolute hold on the Beltway GOP.

After all that work, I sincerely hope Mr. Gaffney has a pleasant holiday season. He's earned it.

Most Tea Party meetings are postponed for the holidays. I hope everyone considers a New Year's resolution to get involved. Putting my money where my mouth is, I've started a walking program so I'll be at least well enough to attend a few meetings next year. I never could make myself "exercise" for the health of it. W/ fibro, exercise isn' t so great. But I'll be darned if I'm going to lie down and let them roll over me. They'll have to do it while I'm standing up waving a Gadsden flag.

Onward and upward, y'all.