2004 DBA President Brian Melton, who initiated the DBA's E-Mentoring, Esq. Program, with 2006 DBA President Mark Sales, who expanded the program, as they admire the students' improving TAKS scores.

July 2009 DBA Headnotes July 2008 DBA Headnotes August 2007 DAYL Dicta July 2007 DBA Headnotes June 15, 2007 Dallas Business Journal DBA President Letter to DISD Superintendent (04/13/2007) DBA President Letter to DISD Superintendent (09/08/2006)  September 2006 DBA Headnotes May 2006 DAYL Dicta May 2006 DBA Headnotes April 2006 DBA Headnotes (President's Column) October 2004 DBA Headnotes Former DBA President Mark Sales:   "Nearly half of all students who enter ninth grade in the DISD either drop out or fail to graduate. This statistic is alarming, to say the least. … Such a significant dropout rate means that every year many thousands of our youth are no longer enrolled in school, never earn a high school diploma, and therefore have limited opportunity to obtain meaningful employment. Those consequences present a serious threat to the rule of law in our society, simply because the more educated and informed our citizens are, the better able they are to hold our government accountable (not to mention the great economic and moral loss - remember the old adage that 'a mind is a terrible thing to waste'?). Moreover, there is an undesirable correlation between lower education and higher crime rates and increased demands on our judicial system. … NONE OF THE NINTH-GRADERS WHO BEGAN THE E-MENTORING PROGRAM IN 2004 HAVE DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL."         See April 2006 DBA Headnotes.  Former DBA President Frank Stevenson:  "The investment of time and effort required of an e-mentor is pin money in the great scheme of things. Just a few e-mails a month — answering questions, sharing experiences, and offering encouragement. But at the three E-Mentoring Celebration Banquets held at the Belo in May, the students seemed to feel quite differently about the subject.  In her presentation to the group, one young woman from Spruce High School literally thanked God for her mentor — or at least tried to, until she choked on her tears. As two students from Woodrow Wilson High School signed their remarks, a teacher gave voice to their gratitude for a program that enables them to communicate fully unrestrained by their deafness, just like any other kid. When they finished, their fellow Woodrow students sat silently and signed their applause. One student called his mentor “my inspiration”; a senior e-mailed one e-mentor to ask that they continue their correspondence “as long as they lived”; another closed his e-mails with “Your Mentee, Buddy, and Best Friend.”  But the e-mentee comment that still shakes me is the one I shared at my Inaugural speech in January in which an e-mentor was told:  “You were the first person who ever acted like I was supposed to succeed.”  Wouldn’t you like to receive an e-mail like that?