Thanks!

Thank you to all  those caring folks who have offered continuing support and kindness to my niece, Kaitlan Head, the banned 2007 Valedictorian at Cranfills Gap. You will never know how much your love and support have meant to all of us.  The fact that you shared our outrage and disgust over the shameful way she was treated has sustained us. 

 Kaitlan was the 2006 Cranfills Gap Homecoming Queen. That's quite an honor for anyone, as the students themselves vote on who they want it to be. When I grew up, it seemed it was always the prettiest and most popular girl--sometimes without a brain in her head-- and not necessarily the one with a great personality who was well-liked who got the honor. It meant a lot to Kaitlan that her schoolmates thought that much of her.

Many of you wanted to know if Kaitlan had been allowed to attend the Cranfills Gap homecoming game to crown the 2007 Homecoming Queen, as is the usual custom.  The answer to that question is No, she chose not to. Actually, she was afraid she would be arrested if she set foot on school property. No one could assure her that would not be the case, so rather than take that chance, she chose not to attend. 

Though she was the Valedictorian, Kaitlan had been banned from participating in her graduation ceremony in May 2007. Former Superintendent Carla Sigler had banned Kaitlan and told her she would be arrested if she set foot on the school campus at any time. During the summer, a judge had fully exonerated Kaitlan of what she had been accused of.

 Sigler had resigned and supposedly gone back to Alaska in June 2007.  In the fall of 2007,  Gap school board members were Kenny Wiese, Jeff Rose, Kathie Witte, Shelly Stuart, Virgil Tindall,  Jackie Sorrels, and Sue Lee. Except for her aunt, Sue Lee, these were the same board members who had upheld Sigler's decision to ban her from graduation and campus.

No one would assure Kaitlan that she would not be arrested if she came on campus to crown the new queen, even though it was her right.  The chance of being publicly humiliated again was just too great for Kaitlan. With the vindictive track record of the Cranfills  Gap school board, I believe that was a wise choice. Luckily, Kaitlan realizes there are more important things in Life than being Homecoming Queen.

Kaitlan is doing okay. Working and going on with her life as well as can be expected after all that happened to her.  Kaitlan's resilient, resourceful, and lively spirit has kept all of us going. Kaitlan is a survivor.

 Whoever said Life is not Fair was so right.  My parents, Ralston and Marie--children of the tough times of the Great Depression and adults of World War II--believed in hope, faith, and doing your best with what you've got, no matter what Life threw at you. Kaitlan has their same spirit. She will one day pick up the pieces and do great things, in spite of what was maliciously done to her by Sigler and the Gap school board. Kaitlan has the kind of spirit and intelligence that will make a difference in the world.

It is Ralston and Marie's wonderful spirit of hope and faith that keeps us all going. They believed the best was yet to be. And Life goes on.