Even Kidnappers Want To Run Charter Schools

Most Incompetent Criminals

No one should be surprised to find unscrupulous characters trying to make a buck off the charter school band wagon. In fact, the only thing surprising about this particular case is the incredible chutzpah of the proprietor, a certain Nedir Bey, who attempted to launch the Marcus Garvey charter school in Oakland, California, despite the fact that he owed the city of Oakland over $1.5 million for a failed health care company he launched using city money that he never repaid. Bey eventually withdrew the charter request without offering any explanation.

Bey’s hubris did not end there. He was also a convicted kidnapper.

Bey was a member of the Your Black Muslim Bakery cult, the same organization responsible for the murder of Oakland Post journalist Chauncey Bailey. In 1994, Bey was charged with abducting, assaulting, torturing and robbing a man he believed had cheated Your Black Muslim Bakery. He eventually pled no contest to false imprisonment.

Despite Bey’s checkered history, Oakland City Council member Natalie Bayton saw no problem in voting to give him the money for the health care business. She later turned up as a member of the board of directors for his proposed charter school.

Bey also tried to open a Marcus Garvey school in Berkeley, but was denied by the school board because of irregularities in his application. Several of the signatures of teachers who had pledged to work at the school were identical to those found on a similar application he had made to the San Jose Unified School District.