What sealed the deal, though, was the e-mail he got from "a person with the Post Oak Little League," as he put it. "I e-mailed him that I just didn't see any problem in making this work, so we will make it work," Douglas said.
At the Rogers meeting, parents brought up the need for a practice track, especially for the wheelchair kids who compete in the Special Olympics. Shadwick was encouraging about that during the meeting, but after checking with the Little League folks, he e-mailed Gay that while the Little League would allow a track, it would not build one.
Monica Fuentes
Expansive Little League fields have taken over the HISD land from T.H. Rogers.
The elementary playground is located in the lower left portion of the land.
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He'd agreed to propose that the green mesh be removed from some of the fences, and that the elementary playground area be leveled so it didn't collect water. In the follow-up e-mail to Gay, he said the mesh would be removed but didn't mention anything about the leveling.
Contradicting the messages relayed by Shadwick, Snodgrass still insisted that the Little League has not said it won't put in a track or a soccer field. "I have never told and I don't think anybody from the Post Oak Little League has ever told anybody from the school that we're not going to do something," Snodgrass said.
Rogers parents pointed to West University Elementary, which placed the backs of two baseball fields together so a soccer field could be overlaid in the outfields. Of course, to make that work, there are no fences between the fields. Shadwick told parents flat out they weren't going to get a soccer field. Kids could walk 200 yards to the YMCA, he said.
Rogers parents think Shadwick had his mind made up before their meeting. Several feel disenfranchised, and some are talking about filing a request for a temporary restraining order to stop the contract. By last Thursday they'd sent a letter to Superintendent Kaye Stripling and the board asking them to delay the vote.
At first, Gay felt empowered. "My goal really in all this was to show them that they couldn't go behind closed doors and decide this all. The good ol' boys aren't going to just shake hands," she said. "They're going to recognize we're here."
A few days later, though, Gay's e-mail took on a tone of outrage when she found out that the baseball leagues were prepared to grant almost none of the Rogers requests.
"Why must the use of HISD property for recess and PE play by T.H. Rogers children be relegated to the whims and wishes of the Post Oak Little League?…The wording of the fact that they will 'allow' us to put a track on 'our' fields also is a bit hard to swallow," she wrote Shadwick.
Snodgrass and Holmes make it clear that fields existed before the school, at least in its present state, and that they know how to work things out the best for everyone.
Nancy Manley, by all accounts a good principal, clearly hopes to avoid getting hit by any shrapnel from this. She has taken up the recreational issue, but at the same time describes her primary focus as "instructional and educational."
HISD seems to be waiting to see what happens after the dust clears. Its only action has been to have its legal department review the lease and put it on the November 7 school board agenda.
Jeff Shadwick repeatedly said he was trying to do the best for all the public involved and that he hoped it would never come down to his having to choose one group's interests over another.
Well, it did and he did.
