Aycock School To Be Renamed After Swann

Greensboro's Aycock Middle School is getting ready for a name change. Starting next school year, students will attend Swann Middle School.

The Guilford County Board of Education voted 8-1 Thursday night to rename the school after Melvin C. Swann Jr., a former Guilford County Schools teacher and administrator.

The News and Record of Greensboro reports Swann played an important role in the desegregation of the school district, and the merger of the Guilford, Greensboro and High Point school systems.

Swann died last summer at the age of 80.

The board had previously decided to replace the Aycock name. Charles Aycock was an early 20th century North Carolina governor and education champion, but also an ardent segregationist.

Melvin Swann's widow and granddaughter attended the meeting, along with other friends and supporters.