The Grade Schoolers Have Spoken
By VIVIAN WANG
OCT. 22, 2017
... A call to rename Davis International Baccalaureate Elementary School, which was named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, emerged not from protests or rallies, but from one student’s summer reading assignment. It grew into a participatory civics lesson, as students from kindergarten through fifth grade at the school, in Jackson, Miss., nominated new names, assembled PowerPoint presentations and, at the beginning of the month, cast ballots ...
The idea for the name change, which will take effect next academic year, came from Farah Jaentschke, a former student at the school who is now in eighth grade. Four years ago, Farah chose a biography of Davis to fulfill a summer reading requirement, said her mother, Ercilla Hendrix ...
Ms. Hendrix petitioned the school board to allow a name change. In September, the board voted to give authority over school renaming to local parent-teacher organizations and communities.
The Davis Magnet community leapt into action. Over the course of two weeks, the PTA asked students to submit suggestions for new names, with research supporting their picks. Each classroom voted on the nominees and elected a representative to lobby for its selection at a schoolwide assembly on Oct. 4. Ms. Hendrix invited a member of the Hinds County election commission to speak at the assembly ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/us/mississippi-school-rename-obama.html