Seriously, since I probably have your attention now, the point is that mature adults should not be teaching others, especially students, that making emotional and illogical statements and arguments do not help one’s cause usually, and moreover probably hurt such, except with like-minded persons who do not need to be persuaded to your viewpoint anyway.

And this goes for the statement (the second post) which seems to have started this whole ruckus. As my mom used to say, “if you stir up a hornets nest at a family picnic, you are responsible for ruining the picnic”.

Or, maybe it really is the first poster’s ( a big fan of the opposing team who seems to post only positive things) fault because he congradulated someone for a job well done and wished them luck in the future. Wouldn’t it be nice if a few more people in Westlake could do that.

The one piece of information I would like to add to the discussion relates to your comment that “it at least appears that extracurricular programs have been enhanced.” Over the last 6 or 7 years, because of Robin Hood, my experience has been that many extracurriculars have had significant budget cuts. But rather than bear those cuts, the parent organizations that support those extracurriculars stepped up their efforts. Any parent of a child in extracurriculars knows that they will be writing a significant check each year for all the extras that aren’t covered by the EISD budget and also participating in fundraising activities. There are dozens of parent organizations that collectively probably raise millions of dollars to pay for extracurriculars – uniforms, costumes, instruments, private lessons, buses, trips, meals, equipment, and on and on, and volunteer many hours. So, although there may be an appearance of enhancement of extracurriculars, the enhancements have not necessarily been EISD funded but funded instead from the passion and the pocketbooks of the supporting parents.

Congratulations on a very constructive response. I don’t have a special needs child. In fact, my children — all of them — benefit greatly from the sports/extracurricular programs in this school district. But the special needs families have been treated viciously by this school district. The response from that community can come acoss in a rather shrill manner, but it’s only out of frustration, anger, and a sense of powerlessness that their children have been so mistreated.