In Response to the recent news about HSA
the following is an open letter to my friends and family.
Those who love me may have a few questions about my job and welfare. To answer those questions: no, I am not losing my job. And, no, I have not been converted to Islam. To those who have heard the recent news about the scandals the school has been involved in, please read on to be further enlightened about my situation.
Recently, two separate, but equally disturbing “scandals” have broken through to the public eye. One deals mostly with our mother company Concept Schools, and the other deals with our sister school in Dayton.
Allegations have been brought up against Concept Schools, the company that builds, organizes, and for all intents and purposes, runs several Horizon Science Academy schools in several states across the country. In short, Concept Schools has been accused of shady business deals involving the immigration status, pay rate, and teaching qualifications of their Turkish employees. Additionally, these employees are reportedly forced to offer a percentage of their income to an Islamic leader by the name of Gulen, and have higher positions. You can read about these accusations here. Please be advised that this article is kind of skewed and some of the facts are debatable. http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-taxpayers-provide-jobs-to-turkish-immigrants-through-charter-schools-1.501940.
I cannot speak to the wrongdoings of the upper echelon of my Employers, but I can discuss what I see in my school. First of all Horizon Science Academy Columbus High School is a nonprofit charter school which provides a very rigorous program to its students in hopes to send them to College. We are not perfect, but each and every teacher and administrator in the building fights for these students and their academic success in a real and legal way. Of around 35 teachers in our school building, the overwhelming majority are American Christians. I am only mentioning religion, because many people are of the impression that the school’s main purpose is to proselytize to students and influence them to become Muslims. To quote our director, Onder Sechen, “If that is our goal, we are doing a pretty poor job of it.” I personally know of only one student in my two years of teaching here who has converted. He has done so on his own and of his own free will. Muslim Teachers are “advised to keep their distance and avoid religious conversations with (Student name)” so as to keep in line with the law. In addition to being majority American, qualified, and “Highly Qualified” teachers, HSA Columbus HS has two American Deans.
Our school does have to pay Concept Schools a management fee, and we do have to pay rent for the building we are in, and it does belong to a for profit entity, but that is how it has been possible for our school to operate for the last fifteen years. Is this a little shady? Yes. Do I wish this weren’t the case? Yes. But Concept Schools is a business, and like most businesses in America, it is not perfect. But these facts do not affect HSA Columbus High School’s ability to provide high quality education to the students of Columbus.
Accusations of testing fraud and sexual misconduct. These accusations are against Horizon Science Academy Dayton High School. Though our names sound the same, this school is only connected to HSA Columbus High School through our parent company. I will not defend HSA Dayton, though I do not fully believe everything I hear from bias news sources whose supporters are against the success of charter schools. The truth is, some charters are good, and do good things, and produce college ready students, and some do not. Unfortunately, Horizon Science Academy shares its name with around 30 other schools in three different states, so we tend to get lumped in with other schools.
The article above also mentions the less than impressive performance scores. This part of the article seems to exist only to show that Concept Schools charter schools are no better than public schools, while forgetting to mention accurate performance index scores. Having contributed to the education of a class of Sophomores taking the OGT and the year before Juniors who would take the ACT, this statement does not seem accurate to Horizon Science Academy Columbus HS considering the promising test results our students have fairly been achieving. ” According to the Ohio Department of Education, the academies’ performance on state tests varies widely from school to school and year to year. In 2013, 12 received D’s, four C’s and three B’s.” A “B” in Columbus is impressive. Consider the public school options.
I know what you are going to ask now. How can anyone trust the scores if the schools have been accused of cheating? HSA Columbus High School has not been accused of cheating. For the past two years, I have followed testing rules to the teeth as have my colleagues. Testing scores have steadily climbed, as is expected of a school district seeking improvement.
“Three of the Ohio schools have been visited by the FBI as part of a multistate probe. The agency said it is part of a white-collar criminal investigation.” This part is true. The one scandal, if you could call it that, relates to money spent on the school by a grant that helps us renew our technological infrastructure. Last summer, the school was re-wired to make the WIFI that we so heavily depend upon work better. The school received the money, and companies competed to provide us with the service and get the contract. It is possible that the company awarded the contract to do the work went about doing it wrong, or something to that degree. From HSA Columbus HS’s perspective, we paid someone with money given to us to improve the school, and someone improved the school. I don’t know who is to blame for this, or why this is an issue, I only recently heard about it, but for now the specifics of that case remain to be seen. As for me, I am glad for the WIFI.
Now that you have heard about the bad news, let me tell you what positive things the school did in the last year.
Last year, we started to implement a leadership program to teach students how to plan and succeed outside of academics. Several teachers lead groups that would better the school or help the students grow creatively. Our school started a recycling program, saving at least 11 trees from paper recycling alone, raised $150.00 to donate to the butterfly walk (pediatric cancer research), hosted a family game night, ran a cultural celebration fair that lasted all day, and spruced up the front of the building with new mulch and flowers donated by local stores. Students hosted a Science Night for the public, competed in a poetry slam, and had in improv amature night. HAS sophomores scored very well on their OGTs and the Seniors were collectively awarded $4,185,400.00 in academic scholarships.
In closing, no school is perfect. There are some issues which need to be dealt with in order to clear our school of any wrong doing, but I am confident that from the inside, as a teacher, the problems that are real and presently inhibiting Concept Schools from having a clear name and conscience, are not interfering with our students’ education, health, or potential at Horizon Science Academy High School Columbus.
10th grade English Home page
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Below is a list of mandatory supplies for this class as well as a Bio and Contact information for Mrs. Lucas
Supplies for Mrs. Lucas' Class ONLY
Two college ruled spiral notebooks
One folder for take-home materials
One Pen, any kind, for this class specifically
One highlighter
Several pencils
Be prepared to purchase at least one novel for this class (Honors students will purchase more)
Below is a list of mandatory supplies for this class as well as a Bio and Contact information for Mrs. Lucas
Supplies for Mrs. Lucas' Class ONLY
Two college ruled spiral notebooks
One folder for take-home materials
One Pen, any kind, for this class specifically
One highlighter
Several pencils
Be prepared to purchase at least one novel for this class (Honors students will purchase more)
Mrs. Lucas's Bio
Hello students,
My name is Renee Lucas. I will be teaching Sophomore English at Horizon Science Academy. I am a graduate of Ohio Northern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Language Arts Education. I believe that everyone should consider going to college because of the opportunities that are presented to students. Since going to college, I have had many opportunities to travel. I have one goal as a teacher and that is to help all of my students be successful with the English language so that they can communicate appropriately in order to achieve their goals.
Why the owls? There are a few owls in my classroom. They make me think of wisdom. I hope to impart wisdom to my students as well as use it for myself in helping deal with classroom changes and procedures. The owls remind me to think first and act next. I hope my students can get in that habit as well.
Favorite things:
Movies: The Fifth Element..... The Lion King
Song: Sound of Melodies by Leeland
Place: Park Guell in Barcelona Spain
Food: Quesadillias
Dessert: Ice cream!!
My name is Renee Lucas. I will be teaching Sophomore English at Horizon Science Academy. I am a graduate of Ohio Northern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Language Arts Education. I believe that everyone should consider going to college because of the opportunities that are presented to students. Since going to college, I have had many opportunities to travel. I have one goal as a teacher and that is to help all of my students be successful with the English language so that they can communicate appropriately in order to achieve their goals.
Why the owls? There are a few owls in my classroom. They make me think of wisdom. I hope to impart wisdom to my students as well as use it for myself in helping deal with classroom changes and procedures. The owls remind me to think first and act next. I hope my students can get in that habit as well.
Favorite things:
Movies: The Fifth Element..... The Lion King
Song: Sound of Melodies by Leeland
Place: Park Guell in Barcelona Spain
Food: Quesadillias
Dessert: Ice cream!!
Adventures: Something I love as much as teaching is going on adventures. Below are just a few that I have been on.
This is from the summer of 2013
My family and I went white water rafting in West Virginia at the New River Gorge.
My family and I went white water rafting in West Virginia at the New River Gorge.
This is from the summer of 2010
I lived in South Dakota for 3 months working at a resort in Custer State Park
I lived in South Dakota for 3 months working at a resort in Custer State Park
This is from the fall of 2009
I went to Spain with Ohio Northern's Marching Band. This is Park Guell in Barcelona
I went to Spain with Ohio Northern's Marching Band. This is Park Guell in Barcelona