Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to mail@austinchronicle.com. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I went to see Ad Astra over the weekend hoping upon hope that the hype was true.
    Richard Whittaker’s review [Screens, Sept. 20] was off the mark in so many ways. Yep, D. Sutherland had a thankless cameo, but the movie was so much less that his 2-star rating. This was a “la bomba” movie. Do not see this.
    Its plot is from a Star Trek: TNG episode. ("We’ll Always Have Paris" and they resolved it in an hour.)
    The scene in which Roy McBride uses the nuclear explosion to help propel him was also “borrowed” from Star Trek, but this time from the first reboot.
    The dialogue was awful and made no sense at times, and that car chase on the moon was gratuitous at best and didn’t enhance or move the plot line.
    CGI was the only redeeming part of the movie, but I’d be embarrassed to have my name as one of the artists on the credits.
    The actors must have been paid a lot of money, but this disaster will always be in their filmographies.
    DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.

Dear Editor,
    Maplewood Elementary has the diversity profile of a perfect Sesame Street school. With 50% children of color, 34% economically disadvantaged children, 14% special education enrollment, a dual-language program, and children of refugee families, Maplewood is one of the most diverse schools in the district. In addition, Maplewood has been an Anti-Defamation League “No Place for Hate” campus since 2013.
    With 140% enrollment, Maplewood runs counter to Austin's declining public-school enrollment. With creative and relevant special initiatives, a wide variety of grants, ecological and gardening programs that take the kids outside, “Peace Fests” every nine weeks, innovative community-partnered arts programs, a high walkability score, robust community involvement, a rocking PTA, and dedicated staff, Maplewood is a model of what a school can and should be.
    For several years Maplewood has been awarded the Mayor’s Healthiest School Award, and this year was the only AISD school at the elementary level to score in the top three, earning a $1,000 grant.
    The popular Cherrywood Art Fair sprang from Maplewood and is still held there. The highly respected Chula League Big Artist, Little Artist program is a spin-off of the special synergy of Maplewood Elementary and its neighborhood.
    Maplewood’s many accomplishments and strengths are a result of the hard work and dedication of our students, educators, volunteers, and generous community that has supported it even when AISD resources were scarce.
    Shouldn’t AISD be studying how Maplewood has become such a successful school rather than closing it down? Doesn't it make more sense for AISD to support this flourishing school, learn from it, and utilize the lessons learned to vitalize other schools in the district?

Dear Editor,
    Re: “Death Watch: Mark Soliz Hopes One Stay Leads to Another” [News, Sept. 6]: While several Texas death row inmates are rightfully fighting for stays of execution based on mental disability, Rodney Reed, who is scheduled to be executed on November 20, deserves a stay based on both proof of his innocence and major mishaps in Bastrop County’s investigation. The state continues to refuse to allow DNA testing of the belt used to strangulate Stacey Stites, the murder victim whom Reed is accused of murdering in 1996. At Reed’s original trial, his defense never calls Reed’s alibi witness during the trial. Roberto Bayardo, the medical examiner, was the only witness whose testimony tied Reed to the murder. Yet Bayardo later recanted his testimony after three renowned forensic pathologists testified that Reed could not have murdered Stites.
    The sheriff’s department never searched the apartment where Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, lived. After Stites’ murder, Fennell himself was convicted of kidnapping and rape of a woman in his custody while serving as a police officer. The prosecution also suppressed contradictory evidence of testimony from Fennell about his whereabouts the night of the murder.
    This may already be another of the many tragic cases in which someone who is likely innocent has spent far too many years, over 20, on death row. Without a full and proper investigation, the state has no basis on which to execute Reed. It is unconscionable that Texas is moving forward on this execution when there are so many unanswered questions.