Reaching out to the Kinders

Yesterday we delivered a letter to the offices of the Kinder Foundation. We hope they will be willing to meet and hear from all of you through us. Here’s the the letter: April 18, 2017 VIA PERSONAL DELIVERY Nancy and Richard Kinder Kinder Foundation 2229 San Felipe St #1700 Houston, Texas 77019 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kinder, We hope you are aware that there has been an appeal circulating on Change.org, regarding your Kinder Foundation contract with HISD for the naming rights of HSPVA. The signers respectfully appeal to you to voluntarily amend the contract to give back the name of the school and take a theater name instead, as a recognition of your financial contribution to the school. The petition gained over 700 signatures in just over one week. It has been a Facebook-only campaign to this point, and most of the signers are alumni. It’s in the family, so to speak, the HSPVA family, to which you belong. Most signers recognize that and value your contribution and your generosity to the school, even if they don’t agree about the name change. Mr. and Mrs. Kinder, we are trying to do something unusual and different here. We collected information about the name change and created a forum for people to voice their concerns, working hard to keep the tone factual, civil, and respectful. Many internet forums tend to go nuclear with the first post. HSPVA graduates are some of the smartest, most loyal, well spoken, caring, creative people you will find anywhere. Their comments in signing the appeal reflect this. They welcome you to their community. They hope you will listen to their concerns. We have enclosed some of the comments by signers of the appeal. About half the signers leave comments; the full printout is 35 pages long. We hope you will take time to look through this sample. We also included a page of statistics about the signers. This public-private partnership is unprecedented at HISD, and it’s important to set the best possible example with this first transaction. We truly believe that you want only the best for our city, and that the physical recognitions Kinder Foundation receives, names on buildings and the like, are only a secondary consideration for you. We also feel sure that if you did walk back the name change, the HSPVA community and the city would be impressed and thrilled at your responsiveness, and your sensitivity to our city’s cultural history. It would bring so much goodwill to the Kinder name. People would remember it, in the best way. We would like to meet with you to deliver the appeal in person, with the signatures and signers’ comments attached. We propose sending three representatives: Sarah Terrell, who helped write the appeal and gathered the related information on kindergiveitback.org, and two others if their schedules and yours permit. The other two would be alumni, or one alumnus and a former HSPVA teacher. One alumnus we hope to include is Mike Martin, a successful stage actor and 1977 graduate. We hope you will be open to hearing their views about the name change and the best way forward for all parties and HSPVA. We look forward to hearing from you. Among the signers of the appeal are: Bob Singleton, beloved drama teacher at HSPVA for over 30 years Dr. Robert Megna, language teacher at HSPVA for 35 years Barry Coffing, Grammy award winner and composer with 27 film soundtrack credits; founder of Springboard Music Festival; 1979 graduate of HSPVA Matt Mullenweg, Founder of WordPress, web hosting and blogging software used by millions, 2002 graduate of HSPVA Sara Hickman, singer-songwriter, 2010 Texas State Musician, 1981 graduate of HSPVA Tim Guinee, actor and film director, 1980 graduate of HSPVA Mike Martin, stage actor, 1977 graduate of HSPVA Dr. Jacqueline Chambers, retired HISD music teacher (32 years), 1974 graduate of HSPVA Mark Holden, composer of music for film and television, 1974 graduate of HSPVA Very truly yours, Sarah Terrell Jeff Wayt Karl Bowles Kindergiveitback.org