FBI agents served warrants at Midwest charter schools, including some in Columbus, more than a month ago. But few details have emerged to explain why.
Chicago-based Concept Schools, which runs 19 Horizon Science academies as well as Noble Academy in Ohio, confirmed last week that Horizon Science Middle School in Columbus and the Columbus regional schools office were served warrants. Concept Schools manages four charters in Columbus.
A spokeswoman for the network said it is cooperating with the inquiry into its use of federal technology grants.
An FBI spokeswoman in Cleveland confirmed that agents used search warrants to gather information at charter schools in the Concept Schools network in early June.
“The FBI in conjunction with the Office of Inspector General and the FCC executed court-authorized search warrants related to an ongoing white-collar matter,” said Cleveland-based Special Agent Kelly Liberti. “No arrests were made.”
The warrants are sealed.
Through a spokeswoman at a Chicago public-relations firm, school officials said the federal agents’ interest involved the E-rate program, in which the Federal Communications Commission awards grants for institutions, including schools, to pay for things such as Internet service and technology upgrades.
“We have been asked to provide information and are cooperating with the government in this matter. That process will continue and at some point will be resolved,” Concept Schools officials said in a statement.
Warrants were issued for 19 schools in the network in several states. There are 30 Concept Schools total throughout the Midwest.
Ohio’s Horizon Science schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, have been awarded the E-rate grants dating to 2002. Since that year, the Ohio schools have received about $7.45 million in E-rate funding. The schools and the Concept Schools network in Ohio are registered with the Ohio secretary of state as nonprofit entities.
Though the schools within the Concept Schools network generally perform well academically — the Horizon Science Academy high school in Columbus was named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2012 — they often are a target of critics.
Turkish scientists founded them and still manage them. The members of the Horizon Science school boards, including those for Columbus’ schools, mostly are Turkish scientists who hold prestigious positions, often as university professors and researchers. The top administrators at the schools — superintendents and principals, for example — often are Turkish. Some anti-charter groups have questioned why the schools hire many foreign workers.
The federal government has investigated the schools’ use of federal H1-B visas to bring in teachers from Turkey. The visas permit the hiring of foreign workers in specialty occupations — typically those requiring college degrees such as engineers, teachers, computer programmers, doctors and physical therapists.
The schools say that math and science teachers are in high demand; bringing in experts from Turkey is necessary.
The U.S. Department of Labor launched an inquiry into the schools’ visa use in 2011. No findings have been announced.
In Ohio, State Auditor Dave Yost found during routine financial audits that some schools were using public money to pay immigration-related fees for family members of the employees they hired.
Employers can pay immigration fees for employees but can’t legally use public money for their relatives. Yost issued findings against some Horizon schools, including Horizon in Columbus, in 2001 and 2005 to recover that money. The money was repaid by 2007.
The schools continue to use visas to bring in employees. In the past three fiscal years, at least 98 workers were brought to Concept-managed schools or offices in Ohio using H1-B visas. They include computer, math, science, physical-education and Turkish-language teachers as well as school directors and administrators.
Horizon Science schools in Dayton and Youngstown each brought in math teachers from Turkey on the federal visas in the past two years — four in Youngstown, two in Dayton. The Noble academies, also managed by Concept Schools, also use the visas.
A Noble Academy in Cleveland hired six math, science and Turkish teachers in 2012 and 2013. Columbus’ Noble Academy brought in three teachers from Turkey to teach computer skills, math and science.
Some critics take issue with Concept Schools’ alleged ties to an Islamic religious leader who lives in Pennsylvania.
Fethullah Gulen, who left Turkey for medical treatment in the U.S. in 1999 and stayed, lives a reclusive life in Pennsylvania. Followers of his movement, which teaches peace and tolerance, have established dozens of schools in the U.S. The Concept Schools are public charter schools and do not teach Islam. Some offer Turkish-language classes.
Recently, some former teachers in Ohio’s Horizon Science schools have alleged that state test fraud and discrimination took place while they were employed nearly 10 years ago. The Ohio Department of Education is looking into the test-related allegations, said John Charlton, spokesman for the department.