If you followed us here on the blog last week, you may have noticed we received more comments than usual. One post, in fact, drew 200 in one week.
We have a saying here at Advocate: “The posts receiving the most comments aren’t always the widest read, and the widest read posts don’t always receive any comments.” On the other hand, judging from the number of you who stopped me at Target and Walgreen’s and local restaurants, it appears construction of new classrooms at Lake Highlands elementary schools has been the topic of a few water cooler conversations and carpool-line confabs.
In many cases, it wasn’t the content of the blog post that generated the discussion, it was the reader comments. Most were inventive, creative suggestions for how to solve the problem of overcrowding in a neighborhood growing with successful young families. A few were just plain nasty.
Dr. Kay Waggoner, Superintendent of Richardson ISD, addressed the issue at the White Rock Elementary meeting Monday night. Neighbors who will be raising their children together for many years would be wise to work together, she said.
Renee Barry Barfoot, Director of Ascension Day School at Episcopal Church of the Ascension, started her own blog this week called “They’re watching us”. In beautiful, original style, she admits her own shortcomings as an example to her own children, right off the bat. But she also invites us into her preschool for a “good old fashioned lesson on manners.”
“I had followed all the comments from your article, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how ugly some of them were,” Renee told me. “My board had asked me to start this blog, and I started thinking that simple preschool lessons would go a long way for many adults. Sometimes we get so lost in our emotions and opinions, we forget that voicing those opinions can end up hurting someone along the way.”
“I was especially frustrated that it was happening in our neighborhood, because it’s so not LH. So I stepped out on a limb to write about it, hoping it wouldn’t be too controversial, but also because we all need the reminder that our kids are listening to everything. “
You can read Renee’s blog here.
