JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi school is shedding the name of the Confederacy’s only president and will instead be named for the first African-American president of the United States.
Davis International Baccalaureate Elementary School in Jackson was named decades ago for Jefferson Davis.
In a move proposed by parents, the school with 98 percent African-American enrollment will be renamed for Barack Obama in the next academic year. The PTA president announced the planned change at a school board meeting Tuesday.
State rankings show the magnet school is the top academic performer of all elementary and middle schools in Mississippi.
The name change comes as leaders of the school district in Mississippi’s capital city are reconsidering Confederate names on three campuses.
About 96 percent of students in Jackson Public Schools are African-American.