Erin Gruwell, as a first year teacher in Long Beach, Calif., in 1994, took 150 students who had been abandoned by traditional teachers teaching traditional subjects in a traditional manner, and turned them into 150 college students stretching the boundaries of their development.

These were students who were poor, abused and neglected. They were toughened on the mean streets of the capital of Gangsta Rap. They seemed doomed to short lives of no consequence until Gruwell, through her inspiration and desire, gave them life.

They weren’t interested in reading or studying because they didn’t see any relevance between the traditional studies and their reality.

Gruwell showed them Anne Frank. She showed them the children of the Holocaust and Sarajevo. She showed them the power of words.

After reading those books they started writing their own stories, and that ultimately lead to the book, The Freedom Writers Diary, which first-year Echo teacher Sara Widdop introduced in February to her own students.

She failed, however, to get parent permission and now stands as the “poster child” for tenure because one student’s parents complained about a book that has been endorsed by every possible educational governing board.

The parents went to the school board and complained that the explicit language in the book made their child uncomfortable. The board disciplined Widdop and later, citing their lack of confidence in her, refused to renew her contract for next year.

Fortune 500 companies sometimes make five-figure donations to Gruwell’s foundation to get Gruwell and her former students to share their experiences with employee groups. Those lifelong learners understand that the testimony of these young people expresses the power that comes from being willing to push their comfort zone.

These huge enterprises understand that true education and learning come from addressing and even challenging issues and tradition. They understand that the entre- preneurial spirit that leads organizations to growth or even rebirth is just another term for education.

To get the Freedom Writers in Echo Thursday and Friday it took only a school board whose majority confuses education with the orderly processing of youngsters through the grades.

Only three school board members were on hand for Thursday night’s session in the City Council chambers. That the other four do not have enough interest in education, even their own, to attend this function must be of major concern to the district’s residents.

The largest contingent of the crowd Thursday night was students from Echo and teachers from around the area. Echo school superintendent Rob Waite and high school principal Norm Stewart were not in attendance.

A school board that employs an administration deaf to the ideals of expanding minds through exposure and challenge is not good enough for the youngsters who made themselves part of this experience.

Every Echo district resident should demand an explanation from every school leader who rejected Gruwell’s personal invitation to this enviable learning experience.

When will we ever learn if we absolutely refuse an opportunity?