To the editor:
We are asking the committee for renaming the current “Central Junior High School” to please return the name “Liberty Memorial” to this school.
Liberty Memorial Middle School only changes ONE word from the original tribute name, Liberty Memorial High School.
LMHS was built in memory of the 19 Lawrence High School students and alumni who died during World War I, in battle, from wounds or from the severe flu epidemic of 1918. Bronze plaques on either side of the auditorium stage display the names of these brave men, and a collage of the students’ photos is displayed in the front hallway. Liberty Memorial is a historical and meaningful name, not just a directional name, as the other junior highs use.
The 19 Lawrence students and alumni gave their lives while they were in their teens or 20s. These brave young men are buried in cemeteries in France, in America and even in Oak Hill Cemetery here in Lawrence. Please honor the memory of students by keeping “Liberty Memorial” (which is etched in stone about the front doors) as the everlasting name for this school.
At the beginning of each school year, the principal tells new students about the history and significance of the school’s name and their responsibilities to honor its history. I hope that at the opening assembly this fall, 88 years after the school’s opening, the principal will continue to educate students about the origin of their school and the continued pride they should feel in attending “Liberty Memorial Middle School.”
Comments
cato_the_elder 5 years, 5 months ago
"Liberty Memorial?" You bet.
"Middle School?" Just another education fad that has watered down American public education for two decades. The "middle school philosophy" has very little, if anything, to do with grade configuration, but has a lot to do with head-patting and pablum-feeding. Lawrence could have gone to four-year high schools while retaining junior high schools for grades 7 and 8, a much less costly move that would have ensured that junior high buildings weren't overcrowded while at the same time not disturbing our current elementary school configuration. Of course, that wouldn't have been consistent with the views of most of those in charge of USD 497, who have long held the view that junior high-age kids should be mollycoddled instead of challenged.
Lawrence could have chosen to remain independent and not try to fix something that wasn't broken, but ran with the lemmings instead.
Abdu Omar 5 years, 5 months ago
I concur. Let that name be etched forever as its name. Something in which to be proud.
Ken Lassman 5 years, 5 months ago
Cato, I agree. Can you believe it?
cato_the_elder 5 years, 5 months ago
Sure. We all agree on some things.
Lori Tilson 5 years, 5 months ago
This is an ideal opportunity to make this change-- it is a great idea! Signs are needing to be changed anyway and this would be a nice way to honor the history of this building and those soldiers for whom it was originally named to honor.
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