The Eanes ISD administration likely reads the Austin American-Statesman. I do not believe this is a matter of the administration being clueless about this problem. Immediately following the baseball game, in an article by the Statesman sports reporters, El Paso ISD students and players wrote about the abuse by WHS students at that game. It is outrageous. Just like the Eanes ISD playgrounds and halls and yes, bathrooms — where Eanes ISD children (at all grade levels) are bullied. Sometimes so harshly that they must leave the district. Rather than protecting the “reputation of our school and community” we need to start by protecting all children from bullying within our own school district and community.

Kudos to the WP reporter for bringing this issue into the light. Now, let’s hear from the Eanes ISD administration regarding plans to address this issue. Oh, wait – they’re in China …

That being said, adolescents make poor choices–it happens frequently. And I’ve seen the assistant principals intervene at playoff football games if some of our students started yelling something off color. Now if this kid was not one of our students, they probably couldn’t do anything about it. However, I think before you wrote this piece it would have been legitimate to contact the high school administration to see if they knew about it and what they did.

As a community I think we all have a responsibility to step in to the extent appropriate to protect the reputation of our school and community. I’m just sorry that this was done with an after the fact published article rather than a report to school authorities at the event when something could have been done about it.

Bullying is a big problem in Eanes ISD. The attitudes underlying this problem are apparent not only in the children, but also in the adults who model this behavior either overtly or through their silence. Perhaps even worse than the superior, exclusive attitude displayed by many adults and students is the response of apathy and/or denial.

Children who are different and even adults who voice a different experience and/or opinion in Eanes ISD are at risk (almost predictably) of intimidation, retaliation and other forms of bullying behavior. The hegemony of Eanes ISD is powerful. People conform and become apathetic to the problems because they believe there is protection in going along to get along.

The prism of sports is a good one, albeit not the only one, through which we can examine these problems. The priority on athletics, the sense of entitlement and superiority, the win-at-all-costs mentality (literally) of the Eanes ISD leadership, the disenfranchisement of those with a differing opinion, is fertile ground for bullying behavior.

Let’s be shocked by the behavior of the students at the baseball game — but let’s also recognize that removing one child or two or more will not solve the underlying problem. Eanes ISD is certainly no model for acceptance and/or accommodation of diversity.

Each and every child who has been bullied out of the district (sometimes by those at the top) can attest to this sad truth. Each and every district parent who has been bullied into a quiet submission understands there is a price to pay for speaking up. And the silent apathy surrounding this problem is — deafening.