Grassroots firestorm forces compromise on name change

By Katie Gagliano
Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE -- One of the Legislature’s most combative bills this session, an effort to affix the name of former state Rep. Jimmy D. Long Sr. to the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, passed the House Monday in a 56-43 vote, but only after a carefully crafted amendment basically allowed the high school to employ its traditional name in most common uses.
Legislators complained at the volume and ferocity of email and cellphone messages from the school’s organized alumni opposing the name change, an effort by the dean of the Senate, Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, and Sen. Gerald Long, R-Winnfield, who is the brother of the late Jimmy Long.

Senate Bill 1, designed to honor Long for founding the school more than 34 years ago, water down to reduce the furor renaming, essentially memorializing Long in statute by legally naming the Natchitoches boarding school the “Jimmy D. Long Sr. Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts” without requiring the school to alter its crest, stationery, or technical materials, including ACT registration codes and school transcripts.

The compromise among Thompson, Long and the LSMSA alumni came after lengthy discussions at the Capitol.
Legislators debated the bill Monday afternoon for more than an hour. Several legislators noted as the bill dragged on that it was crucial they shift their attention to other matters before 6 p.m., when a two-thirds vote requirement for all bills would be triggered because the Legislature has to adjourn Thursday.
Despite the bill’s seemingly innocuous subject matter, the issue evoked passionate responses from the public. Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and carried the session’s House budget bill, said the deluge of messages, calls and emails was “to a degree which I have never seen before in my entire life.”

The surprise sore spot among some House members was the pressure by Thompson and Long to stick with the bill. The two veteran lawmakers observed the House debate from the wing of the chamber.

The initial firestorm ignited after the bill was filed. School alumni and friends said they felt Long reneged on their original deal to honor the late Jimmy Long by renaming a new residential hall in his honor.

During a committee hearing on the issue last week, Thompson reacted to a hall naming with: “They offered him a dormitory; he gave them a school.”

House Education Committee member Rep. Beryl Amedée, R-Houma, said the souring of the initial agreement and stakeholders’ assertion they hadn’t been appropriately brought to the table in negotiations prevented her from voting for the bill.

“When someone offers a gift, it’s rather rude to reject that gift and it’s rather arrogant to demand a different gift instead,” she said.
Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, who helped broker the compromise amendment, said LSMSA Foundation board members and the LSMSA Alumni Association president Jamie Smith approved of the compromise rather than risk it “going to a vote and possibly losing.”

Other legislators noted compromise is simply part of the legislative process, and rarely are all parties happy with the final product of contentious legislation.

Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, said adding Long’s name to the school doesn’t belittle the school’s reputation, as some opponents asserted, but brings additional honor by showing appreciation to those who have fought for the school and its students.

The bill now returns to the Senate for concurrence on the amendment.