It’s heartbreaking to see cheerleader Shemaiah Whitfield walking out of the board meeting with her mother.

I admire G.L. Wiley students who stood up for their school.

Coque Gibson said it best — the board is “disrupting the lives of these students.” But the trustees had their own agenda. Shame on them.

Kyle Crum

Waco

* * *

“We try so hard, but the district does nothing but knock us down,” Wiley student Darious Wright told the board. 

Administration and members of the school board: If you will not listen to the voices of children, then you are in the wrong business.

You need to consider the morale of the East Waco community. Do you think that you have done a good job in preparing Wiley students to enter the year with high morale?

Thank you to trustees Larry Perez, Alex Williams and all of those who had the courage to do what was right.

Dr. Nika Davis

Waco

* * *

I have lived in Waco, primarily in East Waco, all my life and I have not once said to myself , “Wow, Waco truly does care for East Waco.”

Waco seems to do the bare minimum for East Waco. All “improvements” stop right before you cross the river.

What is Waco trying to say to the youth of East Waco: “Do your best and it still won’t be good enough”? 

We deserve what all the other areas of Waco get — police coverage, police interaction with the community, support of our schools, support of our neighborhoods.

Things have gotten better, but it’s always one step forward, three steps back.

Does East Waco deserve another empty building?

City of Waco, WISD trustees: You are doing your fellow citizens wrong and you are discouraging your future leaders.

Shelia Williams

Waco

* * *

If the story of closing G.L. Wiley ever gets out of this country, I can see the headlines in South Africa, China and elsewhere, “United States closes public school for dark-skinned students.”

In this age of nuclear science, Mars exploration, MRIs and pilotless warplanes, we fail a public school in Texas, closing it even though the state education commissioner permits it to remain open for one year to improve.

Superintendent Hernandez, I have some university degrees.

I’m willing to help out at Wiley, free of charge.

Robert Martin Davis

Woodway