[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


          RECOGNIZING LAMP HIGH SCHOOL IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2017

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the history 
and continued legacy of LAMP High School in Montgomery, Alabama. This 
Magnet school remains a significant testament to the success of public 
education in America, especially in the historic city of Montgomery.
  LAMP, originally an acronym for Lanier Academic Motivational Program, 
had its origin in 1984 as a magnet program in Lanier High School. As 
the Montgomery Board of Education saw that white flight away from 
integrated schools continued to increase, public education leaders 
affirmed that retaining racial balance in schools would allow for 
quality education for all students.
  The first director of the program, Mary George Jester, brilliantly 
led this school to continually be the number one ranked public school 
in Alabama, a top 50 public school nationally, and the number one 
ranked magnet school in the nation in 2013, according to Newsweek and 
US News and World Report. What started as an idea by the Board of 
Education to combat white flight turned into a program with the 
philosophy that any student, regardless of background or race, could 
get the highest quality education in Alabama. Mary George Jester 
relentlessly took that attitude into a community that was all too 
familiar with innovative ideas, a fervor for change, and the desire for 
equal opportunity. Montgomery remains the backdrop of LAMP High School 
today as it boasts it's racial, religious, and cultural diversity.
  However, as the 2017 to 2018 school year approaches, LAMP will move 
locations for the third time in four years. After LAMP formed in an 
already existing high school in 1984, it finally received its own 
building in 1999. That facility, built in 1923, housed the first junior 
and senior high schools for African-American students, and was named 
after Henry Allen Loveless, a founding member of the Dexter Avenue 
Baptist Church. Subsequently, LAMP changed its acronym to what it is 
today: Loveless Academic Magnet Program--reflecting the name of that 
building. As students and faculty grew accustomed to their new 
surroundings and strived to get national recognition, the building they 
worked in slowly deteriorated. Finally, after 13 years, that building 
was deemed severely unsafe for a school, and the school was promptly 
moved in November of 2014 to a temporary, unused elementary school 
building a couple miles away downtown.
  Nevertheless, LAMP persisted, with students, faculty, and 
administrators scrambling to get situated; this was not the first nor 
the last time LAMP would have to adapt to a new environment. The 
timeless philosophy Mary George Jester instilled in the program that 
``excellence in education does not limit itself in the classroom; 
rather, it encompasses the student's entire world.'' After being 
present for LAMP's second move, Ms. Jester retired after returning that 
year to be the principal. Ms. Jester's philosophy remained as LAMP was 
informed that it would be moving again to a renovated portion of the 
closed down and vacant Montgomery Mall building. The brand new facility 
will reopen for students and faculty in August of 2017, which will 
complete its fourth and final move.
  It took the push of education leaders in 1984 for LAMP's success to 
transcend buildings thirty-three years later. Through community support 
early on, LAMP stands as a testament that public education creates 
developed minds with the ability to adapt to adversity. As current 
Principal Matthew Monson leads the school onward, Ms. Jester's 
philosophy is clearer than ever: education is ``always believing in, 
and always nurturing the mind, body and soul, no matter the 
hindrances.''
  On behalf of Alabama's 7th Congressional District, and the nation, I 
ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing LAMP High School in 
Montgomery, Alabama for demonstrating the pinnacle of public education 
in the face of adversity.

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