JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) — The number one elementary school in the state is right here in Jackson.
Jefferson Davis IB Elementary, soon to be renamed to honor a former president.
Khristopher Gaylor is already on the right path. He is only in 4th grade, but he met with the PTA and figured out a way to change the name of the school.
Khris wanted to name the school after Barack Obama.
“He has a rich international heritage, so I added that into my powerpoint,” he said.
He presented the powerpoint to the PTA and students, parents, teachers, and staff voted for the name change.
Khris says this will be the first school in Mississippi to be named after Obama.The state still honors the Confederacy with an emblem on the state flag. There are still two more schools in Jackson named after Confederate generals and some students at George and Lee elementary are working on changing that.
Christian Ross will never forget her part in changing the history of her elementary school, but she is more concerned about doing well so that she can achieve her dream to be an OBGYN.
“It’s a group effort we need all our teachers, administrators interventionist Spanish teachers we need everybody to just come together to help raise us all.”
“The key to the success is really the staff, the teachers, of course, our students and the support of their families as well. So they are very much involved in all that we do,” said Principal Kathleen Grigsby.
Since voting to change the name of the school, Grigsby said they’d received letters of support from people around the world.