Long on Pride! The J. L. Long Middle School Buccaneers are a proud bunch, and well they should be.

Historic school 

2005 graduates (l to r) Lily Thompson, Sarah Merino, Andrew Morrow, Sarah Delph, and Bryce Romney show off Long's latest achievement: designation as an Historical Landmark in Dallas.

Opening its doors as the second "Junior High" in Dallas in 1933, Long recently received its Dallas Historical Landmark designation in December 2004. At the time of its completion, it was considered one of the finest school buildings in the Southwest.

A hidden gem in the Long Building is the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Depression Mural displayed in the school's Library. As long-ago Long students watched his work progress, well-known local artist, Olin Travis, completed the mural in 1934. The mural's theme is "Food", illustrating food's growth, production and marketing, including a nod to the local bakery business , Mrs. Baird's Bread. Two other well-recognized murals by Travis still receive attention in the Hall of State at Fair Park, painted for the grand opening of the Texas State Fair in 1936.

6th graders added in 2006

The new 6th grade wing, with 16 new classrooms, including state-of-the-art Science Labs, was opened in the summer of 2006 to welcome the inaugural 6th grade class, who will be the Class of 2013 at Woodrow Wilson.

Strong academic curriculum and extracurricular programs 

Long's curriculum offers Pre-AP courses in science, language arts, and math, as well as enrollment in the TAG and AVID Programs.

In addition to the Armelia King Award for Excellence in Science, the school honors math students with the Sharon Morgan Award for Excellence in Math.

The Long Science team was the state champion in 2005-6 and 2006-7, and placed third in the state for 2007-8. The Long Math Team consistently wins top spot in the District, and has placed in the top 6 in the state for several years running.

Music and sports round out the student options 

The Performance Show Choir, "Expectations", consistently takes Sweepstakes in all local, regional, and state competitions. There are too many honors to list on this one.

Long's Athletic Department supports girls and boys teams in football, volleyball, track, basketball, soccer, softball, and baseball. The baseball team went undefeated for the 2007 season. The boys and girls soccer teams are consistently the best in the District.

Active PTA and SBDM 

In addition to a very active Site-Based Decision-Making group (SBDM), Long's PTA is equally strong, annually raising anaverage of $40,000 to enrich our student programs,provide faculty and staff with items from their annual "Wish List," and most recently to begin work on the long-awaited, three-stage Campus Beautification project. Our PTA Board alone boasts 85 members and was recognized as having the highest number of parent/volunteer service hours for 2005-6, and again in 2007-8, with just over 8,500 hours.

The PTA Board meets the first Thursday of each month, 7:00p in the library, right after the 5:30p SBDM Meeting, with PTA general membership meetings the second Tuesday of each month, as announced.

For the 2007-8 school year, PTA President is Maria Luna, and the SBDM Chair is Bette Canelakes.

Long will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in the fall of 2008. 

Thanks to past PTA president Maroy Merino for the bulk of this enthusiastic and complete look at J. L. Long. Maroy would like to thank Beth Bentley and Willena Brown for their contributions.