*A Mississippi elementary school is ditching its name old name, after Confederate President Jefferson Davis, to honor former President Barack Obama.
The decision to rename Davis IB Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi, was announced Tuesday night following months of parental lobbying to rid the school of its Confederate reference in favor of honoring the president no.
Janelle Jefferson, president of the school’s PTA, said the new name will be more fitting for a school with a student population that is 98 percent black.
“Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,” Jefferson said in a statement, according to The Clarion Ledger, a local paper.
The school’s new name will now “reflect a person who fully represents ideals and public stances consistent with what we want our children to believe about themselves,” she added.
The name change will take effect next school year, officials said.
Community leaders are also trying to rename two other schools in the district: George Elementary, which is named after Confederate Brigadier General James Zachariah George; and Lee Elementary, which is named for Gen. Robert E. Lee.
There are now at least 20 schools across the country that bear Obama’s name. Many of the schools are majority black, according to Education Week.
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