N.Y. school renamed to Obama Elementary

Officials think it's country's first to take the name of the next president

Video: Education

Highway 50: In D.C., an education that pays
July 1: NBC's Tom Brokaw is back on Highway 50 with a look at a controversial idea that has taken over public school classrooms in Washington, D.C: cash for good grades.

Educational rappers get nerdy with 'Flocabulary'

Strip searched schoolgirl: 'I never questioned authority'

Supreme Court: School strip searches illegal

Cheerleaders down, but not out

Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).

Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

AP	Week in Pictures Prayers for rain, street battles in Honduras and Michael Jackson's last dance are among this week's memorable pictures from around the globe.
AP	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

Related stories

What’s this?

D-20 fair shows off a plugged-in community

Obama's ASU address big draw for students

updated 8:06 p.m. ET Nov. 21, 2008

NEW YORK - At the behest of its students, an elementary school near New York City has been renamed after President-elect Barack Obama.

The Hempstead Union Free School District board voted unanimously Thursday night to rename Ludlum Elementary School as Barack Obama Elementary School. The change went into effect immediately, school officials said Friday.

Officials for the Long Island district say they think the school is the country's first to be named after the first black president-elect, although similar efforts to rename schools, parks and streets are under way elsewhere.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

The Clear Stream Avenue School in Valley Stream, N.Y., also on Long Island, will consider a renaming resolution in December. Students at the Clark K-8 At Binnsmead school in Portland, Ore., are seeking to rename it after Obama. And the prime minister of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has said he wants its Boggy Peak renamed Mount Obama.

Most of Hempstead's 466 pupils are black or Hispanic, and Obama's election was a big source of pride, principal Jean Bligen said Friday.

Some of the children read essays about Obama and the election at the school board meeting on Thursday night. "That really was effective," Bligen said.

Click for related content

Obama makes key Cabinet picks

The change will be formalized at a ceremony in December. School officials hope Gov. David Paterson, the state's first black governor and Hempstead High School graduate, will attend.

Built in the 1920s, the Ludlum Elementary School was named after Dr. Charles Ludlum, a local physician who served on the school board for about 40 years.

Discuss Story On Newsvine
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh
Email
Instant Message
Print