Gradeschool named after Obama

Fred Garvin's picture

I've re-named one of the pigs on our farm "Barack", and one of the cows has been renamed "Michelle"

Barack Obama Elementary will be the new name of Ludlum Elementary

Like Barack Obama's campaign, the plan to rename a Hempstead school after the president-elect was "a remarkable grassroots approach," the district superintendent said Friday.

At a meeting Thursday night, the five-member Hempstead school board voted unanimously to rename one of its schools Barack Obama Elementary School, said Superintendent Joseph Laria.

The change was effective immediately, although the district does not have a new sign yet. The school, formerly called Ludlum Elementary School, is on William Street in Hempstead.

School staff and students, who participated in mock presidential and vice presidential debates before the Nov. 4 election, initiated the request to rename the school, Laria said.

The move could herald a name wave -- schools, streets, parks, people -- following Obama's historic rise to the presidency.

The five-member board passed the resolution unanimously: "Whereas ... the students did a wonderful job of carrying out their tasks and demonstrating their patriotism at an early age ...now be it resolved that the (board members) proudly rename the Ludlum Elementary School as the Barack Obama Elementary School."

The new name will appear on a sign in front of the building and on stationery, "hopefully before Christmas," at a cost of several thousand dollars to the district, Laria said.

The change will be formalized at a ceremony sometime in December. School officials are hoping Gov. David Paterson can attend. The state's first black governor graduated from Hempstead High School.

The prime minister of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has said he's taking measures to have Boggy Peak renamed Mount Obama. In Portland, Ore., students want to rename Clark K-8 At Binnsmead school. Elsewhere on Long Island, the Clear Stream Avenue School in Valley Stream will consider a renaming resolution in December. And parents already have been naming newborns Barack.

In Opa-locka, Florida, the city council is considering naming a street after Obama, as well, the Miami Herald reports.

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Main Stream's picture
Submitted by Main Stream on Mon, 11/24/2008 - 2:07pm.

...newly discovered mold eating beetles were named after Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

BEETLEMANIA

How 'bout that sewage plant named after Bush...whatever happened to that?


hutch866's picture
Submitted by hutch866 on Mon, 11/24/2008 - 2:11pm.

I tried some of that ling ling or jing ling or yung lung (help me out here Dawn) or whatever that beer you and Hobbes push is the other night. It was pretty good but I still like the Fosters best.

I yam what I yam....Popeye


Main Stream's picture
Submitted by Main Stream on Mon, 11/24/2008 - 2:29pm.

I haven't tried it yet, Hutch. I'm still waiting for Richard to invite us all over for a Yuengling kegger party and a dip in his hot tub Smiling


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