Editor’s note: The following is in response to a column in a metro newspaper about some audience participants at a State Board of Education hearing who were asked to leave for not obeying rules of decorum.

It saddens me that the chair of the Texas Board of Education, Gail Lowe, from my hometown recently threw out one of my favorite politicians, Brigid Shea, her son and his friends from a public meeting for applauding a speaker. As a former Austin City Councilwoman, Ms. Shea served her constituents well by listening and was accessible to the public, traits now long forgotten by our public servants.

What in the world is happening in my home state? Where are all the sane people? Does Mrs. Lowe honestly believe that she and the Board of Education can rewrite and control our own history? If so, let me give you a bit of my own history.

I was born on June 3, 1951, and raised in Lampasas. Throughout my years in the public school system, not one single teacher ever encouraged me to attain a higher educational level. Instead, I was punished for speaking my native Spanish language by running laps around the gymnasium and the football field. And instead of taking college prep classes, I was encouraged to take up sewing and cooking classes, both of which are of no use to me since I buy all my clothes and mostly eat out. This type of treatment by my so-called “educators” only served to make me rebellious and question authority for the rest of my life.

Like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter, I got pregnant during my senior year in high school. Determined not to be a welfare mom, I moved to Austin and went on to get my GED certificate, attended St. Edward’s University, Central Texas College and eventually graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

Today, I am the executive director of Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization promoting the beauty and diversity of Latino culture through music, dance, visual art and educational programs in Philadelphia, Pa. I am often called upon to speak to the youth in and around the tri-state region about Latino art and diversity issues where I always mention my educational experience in the Lampasas public school system.

So you see the moral of this story is that even when Gail Lowe, the Texas Board of Education and the public school system fail our youth with unAmerican and undemocratic-style propaganda, there are people out here that will forever set the record straight by educating the youth outside the system with our very own personal testimonials and real-life experiences.

I proudly applaud former councilwoman Brigid Shea and her son for their protest at the Texas Board of Education public hearing, and I am so sadly ashamed of Gail Lowe’s small-town/small-mind mentality and action.

Veronica Castillo-Perez

Philadelphia