Dear Senator Dan Patrick, My name is Sammy Wyatt and I am the principal of a high school in a little west Texas community near Midland/Odessa. You do not represent my area, but what you do affects me greatly as an educational leader. The abolishment of the CSCOPE lessons is not good for the students and educators of this state. Sure not all CSCOPE lessons are perfect, but they are much better than anything we have used before in Texas schools. These lessons are more than just activities that are used to teach students. These lessons also present a variety of progressive teaching strategies for teachers to use and learn from. Why "throw the baby out with the bath water?" I am speaking for nearly every superintendent and principal in the West Texas area. Schools such as: Rankin, Crane, Fort Stockton, Fort Davis, Alpine, Andrews, Midland, Odessa, Kermit, Balmorhea, Monahans, McCamey, Big Lake, Irion County, San Angelo, and others served by the Region 18 Service Center. This week I will be attending the Texas Association of Secondary Schools conference in Austin from June 11th-14th. About 90% of the 1,500 administrators at this conference will be joining together against your recent action because it ultimately hurts the education of students in Texas. I am formally starting a petition and will get as many signatures on it as possible. I have made many phone calls in the last several days including calls to Senator Duncan and Congressman Pete Gallego and shared these opinions. CSCOPE is not perfect, but it is an exceptional system for the education of students in Texas. It is developed by teachers in Texas, it is transparent, it is ever-changing, it is better than a textbook, it has systematic curriculum-based assessments along the way, it provides Texas schools with an aligned curriculum, it provides example lessons for teachers to experiment with to improve their own teaching, and it is good for the students of this great state. Lastly, this should not be a decision the Texas legislature is making on behalf of schools. Let teachers teach in the way that best fits them. Let local districts and schools determine which curriculum and instructional programs meet their needs in teaching the TEKS. I hope this recent move to abolish CSCOPE exemplar lessons is not political in nature, but I fear it is. I feel that politics has prevailed at the expense of education in Texas. It would make much more sense to just change the lessons that are questionable in content and presentation, rather than abolish all of the lessons. The hand of our Texas government is truly overextending. It is time to pull it back! If you agree, please support this petition. Sammy Wyatt Principal Rankin High School

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