Texas CSCOPE Liberal Curriculum is DEAD! - Not so Fast, SB 1406 MUST STILL PASS

update:  SB 1406 JUST PASSED the Texas House!

The TESCCC Board has announced that they will be ENDING all CSCOPE lessons.

CSCOPE is dead, but as a way to prevent it from coming back with no SBOE oversight, SB 1406 MUST STILL pass the Texas House

We must NOT let our guard down and the Texas Legislature needs to continue to take action to prevent bad curriculum and online backdoor curriculum from being introduced into Texas schools with no oversight. SB 1406 MUST pass the Texas House. Just because TESCCC is pulling CSCOPE does not mean they cannot try to start it back up in the future. SB 1406 will help prevent this and must pass even though CSCOPE has been pulled. Ginger Russell reports on her website Red Hot Conservative that an email has been sent to Superintendents saying that CSCOPE will not be completely gone.

State Senator Dan Patrick announced this news earlier this morning (See Dan Patrick Press Release below)

CSCOPE was a controversial curriculum in Texas. There was widespread outrage over the past year because of the outrageous Liberal, anti-American lessons. What made things worse is that this curriculum was created WITHOUT the oversight of the State Board of Education as required by law for all Texas Curriculum. On top of that there were financial inconsitincies and coverups.

After CSCOPE was exposed, school district all across Texas started dropping CSCOPE from being used in their school districts. My hometown of Lumberton, TX was even in the committee process of ditching CSCOPE and researching what will replace it for Lumberton ISD.

It is believed that TESCCC was facing investigations into the financing of CSCOPE and that is what finally compelled them to finally pull all CSCOPE lessons before they could be investigated further.

past articles:
Greg Abbott to CSCOPE - Disclose Info or Face Lawsuit
CSCOPE Director Caught LYING about Communist Chinese Flag Lesson (VIDEO) - Lumberton ISD - David Bellow Investigation
Flawed CSCOPE Needs SBOE Oversight says State Board of Education Member David Bradley
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Orders Full Investigation into CSCOPE, will SHUT IT DOWN
CSCOPE supplement blames 9/11 attack on America - shocking Texas school lesson
OUTRAGE: The Boston Tea Party was a Terrorist Attack according to Texas School Curriculum, Cscope
Texas Teaching 'Allah is the Almighty God' - CSCOPE Cirriculum Must be Stopped


Press Release from State Senator Dan Patrick:

SENATOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES THE END OF CSCOPE
In sudden turn of events the TESCCC Board decides to end CSCOPE lesson plans.

AUSTIN-- A letter signed by all 20 members of the Board released this morning stated they will notify their 875 school district clients that all lesson plans will be removed from their website on August 31st, 2013 and that districts cannot use any lessons they currently have beyond that date. TheAugust 31st date corresponds to the notice clause in their contracts with their districts. The letter goes on to say that the Regional Service Centers will not produce lesson plans in the future. The 20 Service Centers will return to their original business plan of providing a management tool for teachers to stay on schedule regarding the teaching of the required TEKS. The official vote will take place at an already scheduled Board meeting on Friday, May 24th.

"I'm pleased that the CSCOPE Board has made the decision to get out of the lesson plan business. This is a positive development for students, parents, teachers, and for the Regional Service Centers,' said Senator Patrick. "I want to thank the members of the Senate Education Committee for their months of work on this issue. I also want to thank Attorney General Abbott and his staff in providing valuable assistance in our review of CSCOPE," added Patrick.

"We would like to thank Senator Patrick, Senator Duncan, and members of the Senate and House Education Committees. Their leadership has been invaluable and we look forward to a positive relationship in the future. We believe that this is the best decision moving forward; and allows us to continue to provide high quality services to the more than 1,000, school districts and charter schools in Texas, said Kyle Wargo, Board Member Region 17 Board of Directors and Anne Poplin, Chair, TESCCC.

"We accept the concerns expressed by the leadership of our state regarding segments of the lessons that were perceived as contradictory to the values of our great state. We will therefore eliminate the model lessons offered as examples of what was interpreted as the intent of the standards and focus on moving forward in a positive manner," said Mary Ann Whiteker, Superintendent, Hudson ISD.

"Once the TESCCC officially approves this measure Friday I will notify the SBOE that they do not need to review the 1600 CSCOPE lesson plans," said Patrick. "The CSCOPE era is over. However, what the last several months has proven is that the state will have to create a plan to monitor all on line material in the future so that our schools and classroom remain completely transparent to parents and the legislature knows what is being taught in our classrooms across Texas," added Patrick.

CSCOPE Director Caught LYING about Communist Chinese Flag Lesson (VIDEO) - Lumberton ISD - David Bellow Investigation

Investigative Report by David Bellow

Caught on VIDEO:

CSCOPE Director Danny Lovett Caught Lying about Chinese/Soviet Communist Flag Lesson while speaking to parents at Lumberton ISD "Truth about CSCOPE" Presentation.

Director says CSCOPE Lesson teaches kids in Texas Schools that Communism OPPRESSES, but truth is the Lesson teaches the Communism UNITES. Proof shows that this CSCOPE Curriculum shows Communism positively, not negatively.

Video of CSCOPE Director Caught Lying:

If the video above did not play, click here to watch video at YouTube: http://youtu.be/FWNU1_vcPII

After a few minutes of heated discussion and dodging questions, Danny Lovett goes on to defend the "Communist Flag Lesson" by blatantly lying about what was in the Communist Flag Lesson.

As you can see in the video, CSCOPE Director Says, "The Whole Thing is Designed to Show that the Communist Government is Oppressive."

Sounds Good Right?

The Problem is NOTHING HE SAID IS TRUE.

See the Paper in the CSCOPE Director's hand in the video? That is the Chinese Communist Flag Lesson. I got a copy of that lesson to see if what Danny Lovett was saying was true.

The Truth is, what the LESSON says completely CONTRADICTS what the CSCOPE DIRECOR says.


The Chinese Flag Communist Lesson

As you can see, the Chinese Flag Lesson says NOTHING about Communism being over and OPPRESSING the people. In fact, the lesson says the Chinese People are UNITED by and around the Communist Government.

The Soviet Flag

The Lesson says nothing about Soviet Communism OPPRESSING the people. In fact, the Lesson says that the Communist Star in the Flag Symbolizes its role in UNIFYING the people in the Socialist Society.

United States Flag

He even lied about this!

Danny Lovett says that the lesson teaches that the stars on the U.S. flag are all equal to show that the people are all equal. Well, the U.S. Flag says nothing about the size of the stars and what they mean.

Conclusion:

This CSCOPE Director LIED.

He Told Lumberton Parents GREAT things about the lesson like how the lesson explains to kids that Communist Govenments OPPRESS people but the American Government treats everyone equal.

The LESSON teaches something completely opposite of what he told parents. The LESSON teaches that Communism UNITES people, not oppresses them and it says NOTHING about people being equal in America.

The TRUTH is, any Kid Reading the Lesson will believe that Communism UNITES the people, NOT OPPRESSES THEM.

Kids then DREW COMMUNIST FLAG

Finally, at the end of the video, You Heard Right, the Kids were asked to draw their own Communist flag, based on what they learned from the LESSON.

The Problem is, Contrary to what Danny Lovett said, the LESSON teaches that Communism UNITES people.

I can only imagine what Communist flags the kids drew. Maybe they drew people holding hands around the Communist Government that "Unites" them. That is what the lesson teaches.

CSCOPE DIRECTOR LIED!

Communist Lesson did NOT teach that Communism was Oppressive. Students should NOT have drawn a Communist flag. We should make sure they understand AMERICAN values before false Communist values.

If this CSCOPE Director BLATANTLY LIED about this Communist Lesson, what else will they lie about?

related story:

(Video) CSCOPE Director: "I Would Have Killed For CSCOPE" - Lumberton ISD - Danny Lovett

full copy of CSCOPE Communist lesson below:

(Video) CSCOPE Director: "I Would Have Killed For CSCOPE" - Lumberton ISD - Danny Lovett

Video at bottom of this article

Region 5 Executive Director, and one of the heads of CSCOPE, Danny Lovett says, "I would have killed for CSCOPE." Did he go too far with this statement? I mean, I know he likes CSCOPE, and it probably helps him keep a good paying job if he keeps his CSCOPE program from collapsing. But seriously, he loves it so much that he would KILL for it?

This video is from when Dr. Danny Lovett came to Lumberton ISD a couple of weeks ago. Many parents at Lumberton ISD are upset that the CSCOPE Curriculum is being used in Lumberton schools. Lovett's purpose for coming to Lumberton ISD was to try to promote CSCOPE as something awesome so that all the parents would just be happy about it I guess. This angered many parents who were expecting a public forum where parents could express concerns. Instead of a public forum, these parents show up to find out that there would be no official school public forum and instead there was an information presentation from Lovett intended to promote CSCOPE. Before the presentation could even be started, some parents stood up and made it known that they were not happy and wanted to ask question and not just be presented a puff piece by one of the leaders in CSCOPE.

I am glad that Lumberton ISD Administration did do a good job of allowing parents to ask questions at this informational meeting. It was just frustrating because the parents were having to continually interrupt the meeting to correct something or inquire about the something that the CSCOPE Director was presenting.

To his credit though, he did allow the parents to interject their comments during his CSCOPE promotional. He didn't answer my question though about how much money he made. You see, he had tried to downplay the fact that CSCOPE double dips with tax dollars when they use tax money to create it and then sell it to schools who pay for it with tax dollars. His excuse for it not being an issue is that CSCOPE is created under a non profit organization and therefore they cannot make a profit with it so we should not worry about what CSCOPE is charging because, hey, they cannot make money from it. I stood up and pointed out that, although their organization cannot technically make a profit, they can still certainly gain financially from CSCOPE. I pointed out the different directors of "non profit" organizations who make millions a year in base salary. I then asked him how much he made. He would not give me a number, although he was adamant earlier in the evening about his organization being completely open about finances. My question was not intended to bash him or say that he should not be compensated for his job. My point was that, even as a non profit, they certainly stand to gain financially if CSCOPE does well via salaries and new hires and more power as the "non profit" grows and does well.

It was also interesting that, on top of promoting CSCOPE, Danny Lovett also tried to associate anyone who was against CSCOPE with terroristic threat emails. I don't know the validity of whether or not CSCOPE administrators have received any valid threatening emails or if they were just upset individuals venting about the seemingly un-American lessons in CSCOPE. I do not condone that and neither do ANY of the people who are pushing for the removal of CSCOPE from Texas Schools. We who are against CSCOPE have valid reasons to show why CSCOPE is flawed and needs to be removed. We don't threaten. Yet, here was Danny Lovett standing in front of us telling us how hateful and threatening the people against CSCOPE are. It seemed to me as though he was trying to discredit anyone who might speak out against CSCOPE at the information meeting by grouping people who speak out with valid concerns into the same pot with some random hateful people who may or may not have sent threatening emails to them.

It was interesting though that he would talk about violent comments people might have made to him but yet he has not problem spouting out violent comments without thinking, like how he would have killed for CSCOPE.

That is it for this article. I will be posting another video soon from this meeting showing that Danny Lovett straight up lied to the Lumberton ISD parents concerning a particularly troubling CSCOPE lesson. I got it all on video of course!

Watch Video Below or click no this link to watch video at YouTube: http://youtu.be/tMYzWFTqL9w

Flawed CSCOPE Needs SBOE Oversight says State Board of Education Member David Bradley

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 26, 2013

SUBJECT:  CSCOPE CURRICULUM

From:  DAVID BRADLEY, State Board of education, District 7

Contact:  Theone Bradley

                    bttbradley@yahoo.com

                    409-745-9195

         Many are asking questions about the accessibility, content and structure of CSCOPE, which is now being used in 80 percent of Texas school districts. Some call it “curriculum,” while others describe it simply as “lesson plans.” Its development began a decade ago when teachers were looking for lesson plans to align with new standards being adopted by the State Board of Education (SBOE). By law, curriculum is reviewed by the SBOE, while lesson plans are not. In essence, CSCOPE is now an online curriculum program marketed to individual school districts by members of the Regional Education Service Centers. It was not coordinated through the Texas Education Agency, and it was never reviewed or approved by the SBOE to assure conformity with Texas curriculum standards.

         Concerns regarding parental access stem from the ten-page CSCOPE contract that teachers are required to sign prior to using the curriculum. It prohibits educators from showing CSCOPE content to parents. This directly conflicts with the state law assuring parents the right to review any and all curriculum used in public schools to instruct their children. In this same vein, it took the Chairman of our Education Board six months to obtain an access password from CSCOPE developers known as the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC). The TESCCC board is comprised of the 20 executive directors of the 20 publicly funded Regional Education Service Centers in Texas. Access to their meetings and minutes was repeatedly denied until the Texas Attorney General insisted that their meetings be posted and open to the public in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.

         Reports of questionable CSCOPE content range from viewing the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism to requiring students to design a flag for a new socialist country. One document handed out during a 2012 CSCOPE summer training session called for rigid compliance with CSCOPE content, stating that steps should be taken to ensure that “individual teachers do not have the option to disregard or replace assigned content.” Yet today, the CSCOPE website claims that CSCOPE curriculum is “customizable” and “aligned with” Texas state standards. 

         Also of concern is the fact that state employees have used public funds to develop a product and are then turning around and selling it to Texas schools. Texas taxpayers are essentially paying for the work twice. And despite protestations that the Regional Service Centers have yet to “break even on their investment,” any amount of money paid for CSCOPE multiplied by four million Texas students is a hefty sum! In my mind, there is an obvious conflict of interest when employees of the Regional Service Centers decide to market their own product to a captive audience of school districts that they are already employed to serve.

         In order to cut costs and bolster competition, SB 6 of the 2011 legislative session expanded the term, “instructional materials,” to include hardware, software, etc. Textbook money is now sent directly to individual school districts, which are no longer required to purchase SBOE-approved curriculum that has been reviewed and certified as conforming to state standards. This month, the Texas Legislature took measures to regulate CSCOPE after learning of the issues described above. Senators Dan Patrick and Donna Campbell filed SB 1406, which, if passed, would require CSCOPE to come under the authority and scrutiny of the SBOE.

         We have apparently come full circle. In the quest for taxpayer savings, we are being double-billed, and higher state standards are being set aside for online curriculum that can be changed with a simple keystroke. In the short term, SB 1406 needs our support so CSCOPE can be brought under the review of the SBOE to ensure content compliance for our Texas students. In the long term, new legislation and contracts must be developed for the new era of online education resources so we can continue to ensure Texas’ high standards of content are met.

David Bradley

State Board of Education, District 7

Representing Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Augustine and Tyler Counties

Lumberton ISD Looks to Replace Flawed CSCOPE Curriculum. Thanks LISD! Other Schools Should Follow

From the moment I first brought up the flawed Texas CSCOPE curriculum to the Lumberton School Board over two months ago, and through the national controversy over the Lumberton Muslim Burqa School Lesson a month ago, I never once blamed the Lumberton ISD School Board. They, like most people, did not realize the massive problems with CSCOPE. I personally know some of the board members and I know they are Christian Conservatives who would have never allowed CSCOPE at LISD if they would have known the secret problems within CSCOPE (pro communist lessons, incorrect answers, lack of transparency, bias against Christianity, calling Boston Tea Party Patriots Terrorists like 9/11 Terrorists).

Sometimes though, change is hard to get unless you really stir things up and expose enough problems. Although I did not blame the board, what I did do (via writing articles and contacting the school board) is I helped show the board, and the Lumberton community, that CSCOPE is very bad, and then pleaded with the board to take action.

I am very excited to say that the Lumberton School Board has listened and they have formed a committee to examine how CSCOPE can be replaced at Lumberton ISD.

The Lumberton curriculum committee is to be made up of district employees, parents and other community members, and it will present its findings to the administration and board by the June school board meeting.

I encourage other parents and taxpayers in other Texas communities to do the same thing. Go to your local school board meetings, speak to the board and plead with them to stop using CSCOPE because of all of the problems. Then take it further, get a group together and start speaking louder. They might not listen to one voter, but they will listen when a group of voters starts demanding they do away with CSCOPE.

TEXAS SENATORS TAKE REAL ACTION AGAINST CSCOPE -- SB 1406 - By Donna Garner

The following article is from Donna Garner:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Logan Spence (512) 463-0107

March 7, 2013

TEXAS SENATOR DONNA CAMPBELL AND SENATOR DAN PATRICK FILE CSCOPE BILL  -- SB 1406

AUSTIN— Senator Donna Campbell has joined Senator Dan Patrick as author of SB 1406 that will enact significant reforms of CSCOPE.

CSCOPE, is a teaching management tool with lesson plans that have come under scrutiny with parents, teachers, and legislators over the past year. In February, Senator Patrick conducted a Senate Education Committee hearing with CSCOPE representatives that exposed problems including a lack of management oversight, a lack of transparency, questionable lesson plans, and troubling legal documents.

Since the hearing, Senator Patrick was able to get CSCOPE to agree to the following:

1. Begin the process of closing down the non-profit corporation controlling CSCOPE.

2. Immediately open up all meetings to the public.

3. Begin the process of turning over lessons for review by the SBOE. The first set of lesson plans will be social study lesson plans

4. Begin to put lesson plans on the CSCOPE website and make them easy to locate and read.

5. Establish an oversight board comprised in part by both parents and non-parents.

Senator Patrick and Campbell have filed SB 1406 in order to ensure these reforms are placed in statute. "The agreed-to reforms were a step in the right direction, but they still have much to do and need to do it sooner than later," said Senator Patrick.

"If they don't get their act together soon, they run the risk of having the entire program shut down," said Senator Campbell.

"No educational curriculum should ever leave parents in the dark. This bill ensures parents have access to the material and that it's correct, credible, and consistent with what Texans want taught in our schools," Sen. Campbell said. "CSCOPE must go through the same rigorous review process as our textbooks."

"My recommendation is that CSCOPE remove itself from supplying lesson plans to school districts and go back to the original mission of the supplying a management tool for teachers to keep them on pace to teach the TEKS as required," said Patrick. "If they continue to supply lesson plans that are flawed, incorrect, or raise concerns about content, they risk closure of the entire program.

XXXX

================

Texas Legislature Online – SB 1406 – Sen. Donna Campbell, Sen. Dan Patrick:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=SB1406

By:  Patrick, Campbell                                                                                       S.B. No. 1406

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to State Board of Education oversight of regional education service center services and products concerning student curriculum.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 8, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 8.0531 to read as follows:

Sec. 8.0531.  STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION OVERSIGHT OF CURRICULUM-RELATED SERVICES AND PRODUCTS.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter or Section 8.001(c), the State Board of Education shall maintain oversight and direction of the activities of a regional education service center, acting alone or in collaboration with one or more other regional education service centers, concerning:

(1)  any service or product related to student curriculum, or;

(2)  integration of instructional materials with curriculum management materials for delivery of instructional materials and related materials or aids to enable public access, including parental access, in accordance with Section 26.006.

SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

Update on Flawed CSOPE Curriculum from Ken Mercer Texas State Board of Education Member

Ken Mercer Update on CScope - Part II of III When the Lights Suddenly Turn On – The Roaches Run and Hide! 16 March 2013 ---------------------------------------------------- "I believe that if moms and dads do not have the right to see what their children are being taught in school, then we are no longer living in a place called the United States of America." Ken Mercer

Ken Mercer on CSCOPE:  Part II of III When the Lights Suddenly Turn On – The Roaches Run and Hide On Nov. 18, 2012, I tried to “turn on the lights” regarding CSCOPE, the embattled curriculum utilized by 875 school districts in Texas.  With the support of hundreds of concerned parents and educators, I requested my fellow Members of the State Board of Education to approve a motion recommending the Texas Legislature give the SBOE oversight and review authority over CSCOPE. My friends, I was shocked when my motion was defeated by a vote of 9-6.  However, within one week CSCOPE had made national news, including segments by Glenn Beck and Fox News that outlined controversial lessons and problems with the online curriculum program. In January 2013, the lights again were “turned on.”  State Sen. Dan Patrick, the new Chair of the Senate Education Committee, announced he would hold a public hearing on CSCOPE.  Among his reasons:  …There are questions about CSCOPE as it currently exists in many of our districts that need to be addressed.  We need total transparency concerning any program that is now in the vast majority of our schools in one form or the other… Any system where the Chairman of the State Board can't get a password to explore the CSCOPE site in detail for 6 months, requires teachers to sign an agreement that could subject them to criminal penalties, and is not easily transparent to parents, needs to be closely examined by the legislature. With Sen. Patrick’s bold announcement, the political “roaches” began to run and hide. On Jan. 31, Sen. Patrick’s committee discovered that even though 875 Texas school districts use CSCOPE, there has not been any outside review and oversight of CSCOPE to ensure its lessons align with the SBOE-adopted curriculum standards. I need to add that in 2011, lobbyists used the new funding allotment in Senate Bill 6 to take away the power of the SBOE to review and approve “digital” curriculum (such as CSCOPE).  Before SB 6, a school district could use state funds to buy only instructional materials that had that had gone through the Texas State Board of Education’s public review process and had been reviewed and certified by the SBOE as “conforming” to state standards. In 2011, however, lobbyists worked to delete the requirement that state funds be restricted to “conforming” textbooks and instructional materials.   The lobbyists used SB 6 to create a means to bypass the SBOE’s review of these materials.  Those changes opened the door for digital materials such as CSCOPE to bypass the authority of the elected SBOE. Now in 2013, the Senate Education Committee is investigating CSCOPE. State Sen. Donna Campbell opened her sharp questioning at a recent hearing on the curriculum system by asking: Who owns the proprietary property of CSCOPE? Was it developed using public funds -- "Do the people of Texas own it?"  Why doesn’t the general public (including parents) have easy access to CSCOPE in the same way they do with copyrighted textbooks? Where are the checks and balances to verify the curriculum content of CSCOPE? Senators Larry Taylor and Ken Paxton were deeply troubled about a student project in CSCOPE in which students were to role play and design a Communist/Socialist flag.  Was this a lesson in education or indoctrination? Other lessons that upset the Senate committee included references to the Boston Tea Party patriots as "terrorists” and a lesson on Christopher Columbus that purposely deleted every reference in his personal diary to his belief in God. A classroom educator testifying against CSCOPE provided the senators a copy of the legal document passed out during a CSCOPE 2012 summer training session that states:  "To support implementation of this detailed curriculum, districts must have processes and people in place to insure that there is sustained monitoring of the curriculum and that individual teachers do not have the option to disregard or replace assigned content."  Apparently, CSCOPE requires that educators lay aside their professional expertise and does not allow them freedom to waver from the scripted lessons to provide any individualized instruction to their students. Sen. Patrick and his committee clearly were outraged that CSCOPE was developed by a collaborative of Regional Education Service Center directors who acted without the proper authority to set up such a structure. This collaborative, known as TESCCC, is considered by the Texas Attorney General to be a governmental body, except it: uses public funds to develop its product and then sells CSCOPE materials to public schools, so that the taxpayer is hit twice. uses public dollars to pay its ESC employees. has no TESCCC business office. does not post its agenda. does not allow the public into its meetings. does not allow public access to its minutes.  I share that outrage over the lack of transparency and the possible “double dipping” of taxpayer funds while going around the established authority, review, and oversight of the elected members of the SBOE. I applaud Sen. Dan Patrick and his colleagues on the Senate Education Committee for wanting further scrutiny of CSCOPE and the TESCCC collaborative. Later this week I will publish a third and final report detailing the resulting actions and legislation proposed by the Senate Education Committee members to deal with CSCOPE problems.  I will need your help to ensure the Senate and the House pass that legislation.