GREENSBORO—After months of debate, Guilford County school board members voted to change the name of Aycock Middle School.
It's named after former governor Charles B. Aycock—a strong supporter of public education, but also a prominent figure in the white supremacist movement.
"Thursday, Guilford County Schools Board of Education decided in a 9-2 vote that we would change the name of Charles B. Aycock Middle School, effective in the 2017-2018 school year,” said vice chairman Amos Quick.
When GCS opened a survey earlier this summer, public opinion was split about 60 – 40—slightly favoring leaving the name in place.
"That survey was not scientific,” Quick said. “One of the things that was questioned was whether a person could vote more than one time. However, we didn't just take a poll and make this decision."
Quick says Aycock's legacy will continue to be a part of the school, just not on its marquee.
"It's important that our students know why this change is being made,” Quick said. “We want to archive and preserve that history, so that students will know. We don't want to contribute to the sanitizing of history. In fact, we want to tell a more complete story."
The process of renaming the school will work much like the one where Guilford County Schools officials actually considered changing the school's name. It an online proposal form, and several public forms.
"The renaming process is through our nominations process, where names are submitted to our district relations office,” said Sandra Culmer, who serves as executive director of the school system’s western region office. “The nomination period is from September through November."
The board of education will review the proposed names and make a decision before next school year.
Renaming the school will cost the school system about $23,000.
You can find a link to the online form to suggest a new name here.