Jackson Jambalaya

If this were really about academics only a few people would even be interested. But if a rival school appears poised to kick ass on the field or if some brat will never score a touchdown despite dad's money, all hell breaks loose. We should have better things to do. Me too.

“Breaking news” huh - it’s pretty clear where KF is getting his information. Did he happen to just check MEC and stumble upon the lawsuit or is he being fed info from the parties?

Quit being in a hurry to get a scoop, KF. Clean up your typos and get your facts straight. The two kids who committed to Tennessee have been at JA since 8th and 9th grade.

The local media get many of their leads from KF. Right CJ?

In the long run JA will win no matter what happens in court. They will win because they are riding the national tide and their opponents are trying to hold to the past for personal reasons. In Mississippi we should know by now that's a losing battle.

Can JA point out any high school that has brought in so many highly rated recruits in one school year that wasn’t as rising 9th graders, not including IMG in Florida?

JA, y’all look awfully stupid right now.

I’m not a Prep, MRA, Hillcrest, etc. person. Just a Jackson person.

Grafton Bragg. What a bougie name.
I'm sure a judge who went to Provine and Tugaloo, then Thurgood Marshall Law School will be thrilled to handle a case that amounts to a fight amongst uber rich whiteys.

Would not winning a MAIS title really be so bad as to avoid all of this drama? Whether Voyles is a jerk or not is irrelevant. The school pulled some shenanigans to get ringers for sports. They aren't the first and won't be the last but don't get your boxers in a twist when you get called out for it.

JA leadership isn't thinking ahead to where the number of families who are able and willing to pay their tuition and have their children in school at that location is dwindling. There are better options out there in better locations.

Good luck! Getting by-laws from a school is difficult to say the least, imo! Wonder why that is?

There is discovery in arbitration, too. It’s very similar to a typical lawsuit, only before a private arbitrator rather than a judge/jury. All other aspects are often practically unchanged.

This will get settled out of court. JA will be more nuanced in tamping down dissent from now on. Nothing will change on the recruiting front at Hartfield or JA. JA will lose families to Prep and MRA. JA and Hartfield will be the athletic’s schools and MRA/Prep will be the well rounded schools that will not normally win big in the big three sports. JA will be the Jackson school that demographics wise will look a lot like Jackson and Hartfield will continue to be a mega-church like school that focuses on sports.

Uh huh. I check MEC on a regular basis. Only other reporter who does is Anthony Warren. some of you have so little respect for me you can't believe in your own minds I can come up with something on my own.

As for misreporting the two players, going by what Mississippi Scoreboard reported.

@11:47 JA is already losing students to those schools. And it is laughable that JA will ever look like the demographics of Jackson.

JA riding a national tide? What in the hell does that even mean?

11:47, when did you move to town? Prep (as far back as the Murrah boys) and MRA are the recruiters. JA is late to the show.

King, his name is Eddie.

@11:47 - go check a phonics/grammar book out of the MRA library. They’re next to the coloring books.

Public and private schools both recruit heavily. I remember the good ole days when one school would play another, and it was actually kids from one town versus kids from the other town. One team won and the other team lost.

12:03 The private schools that dominate the national prep scene in sports have created nationwide recognition while maintaining reputations for better than average academics. In many cases they are Catholic powerhouses but typically they are all well financed private enclaves. Mississippi's private schools, outside the church affiliates, were mainly established to maintain segregation but now find themselves able to enter the national spotlight if they so choose, and if they have the money. JA has the money. A few others also have the cash and they will follow. Just watch.

Did he happen to just check MEC and stumble upon the lawsuit ...

You're obviously new around these parts. KF's been breaking news and publishing scoops before the local and state media for nearly 19 years.

You don't have a f'ing clue. Grow a set.

You are full of shit 11:20. The junior linebacker and senior QUARTERBACK are 2 of 5 kids to a single (loudmouth in the stands) mom in Clinton, living in an apartment. They transferred to JA the QUARTERBACK'S senior year....why would you either lie like this, or post bullshit that is not correct?

You wanna bet? NE Jxn is collapsing to overwhelming "diversity". Neighborhoods are changing fast. Trash, litter loud music, speeding, skid marks, late night "parties", gunshots and crime now everywhere. JA WILL be the school of choice for blacks that have money and white families that resist or are turned off by the "changing culture" will simply leave.

College football programs are the latest vanity projects of billionaires.

Apparently, high school programs are now accessories for local millionaires, kind of like the way socialites used to carry around Chihuahuas in their purses.

I wonder if the provisions re atty fees and penalties are enforceable. I think this arbitration provision could be held to be unenforceable as it’s written.

A motion to compel arbitration is 100% coming. You can bet your life savings on that. But I'll throw a little gasoline on the fire to keep it interesting. There are some plausible arguments here to challenge the enforceability of the arbitration clause. Two strains of unconscionability are recognized--procedural and substantive. On the procedural side, there's a handful of factors to consider. The enrollment agreement is likely a contract of adhesion (i.e., the school has superior bargaining power). Also, the arbitration provision does not visually stand out amongst the other provisions (e.g., no FULL CAPS, size differential, special typography, etc.). This is important because our courts consider whether "inconspicuous print" is used. There is no "neutral construction clause" negating contra proferentem (hence, this contract will be construed against the drafter, i.e., the school). As to the substantive unconscionability, our courts have held the "disparities in the rights of contracting parties must not be so one-sided and unreasonably favor the drafter" of the contract (i.e., the school). JA carved out a provision in the arbitration clause that allows the school to bring a debt-collection action against the parents "in a court of law" and outside of arbitration (slightly one-sided, eh?). Who knows which arguments might prevail. But JA messed up on one other little detail in their arbitration clause. All of the questions I have raised will likely be decided in court (before the case is sent to arbitration). Why, you ask? Because the contract could have had a provision that states the parties agree the arbitrator gets to decide the enforceability/unconscionability arguments (meaning it would get kicked to arbitration immediately even if it was unenforceable). However, our courts have held this type of arrangement will not be inferred. The contract must "clearly and unmistakably" state that the arbitrator decides enforceability. Where it doesn't, the case stays in court until these issues are resolved by the judge. So I suspect we will see some court action before this case is roundhoused into arbitration. Which I appreciate. Our founders thought open judicial proceedings were so important that they included an "Open Courts" provision in our State Constitution. See, MS Const. Art. 3, § 24. So let the sunshine in--and let's have some open court action hahah

"It will be settled out of court", says one news-breaking genius. Well, what the hell do you think arbitration is?

Meanwhile: I completed this sentence...Parents/guardians and/or students expressly waive their right to a trial by jury (EXCEPT IN CASES WHERE...).

11:20 here - what exactly did I “lie” about? The 2 Tennessee commits have been at JA a while. There are adult classes aimed at improving reading comprehension. Enroll in one.

Jackson Academy has already lost and its descent has begun. Within 5 years don’t be surprised if there is a push to move north similar to saint Andrew’s.
I don’t have a horse in this race, nor, do I really care about the outcome. However, when parents that can afford JA begin to weigh the pros and cons of each school they are considering, the cons column has gotten much longer. The pro column only gained a paid for championship.

Hartfield distinguishes itself by invoking a moral covenant with families in addition to the formal enrollment contract implying obligations based on trust and shared values that extend beyond enforceable terms. I wonder how that court battle would play out (not that I can afford it)?

Thank you for posting a comment with some meat on the bones.

Just curious, do you know if there has been much litigation involving JA in the recent past? I'm wondering if JA are properly squared away on all the details. Piss poor performance exposed on a prior occasion or perhaps it could be this time?

What he said.

January 8, 2026 at 1:33 PM, there are one, or more pathological liers that post regular to this board. They lie about anything, and everything.

Were you aware of these provisions you don't like before you signed?

@2:48 - I'm not aware of JA being involved in a bunch of lawsuits. But litigation does have its way in ironing out / testing the details in legal instruments. I'm sure they'll take a nice, close look at whether that contract says what they think it says. I'm a litigator myself, so I generally don't do the contract building. I'm in the let's-find-out-what-it-actually-means business.

Well stated. Hope you got to bill for that synopsis

Isn't the JA Headmaster in his first year? He might be well served to remember the name Yates.

Is there any hope of some reform in the MAIS because of all the publicity? Will the MAIS have to act on the recruiting accusations against JA?

@1:38pm dude, what? Do you people get off to these fantasies of the collapse of Jackson? Trash AND litter? Speeding?? The horror!! Take a chill pill buddy. Everything you mentioned is happening everywhere in this country. Ridgeland Madison Flowood Brandon Clinton are no exception.

Lots of private school parents are reading this, so I'll pose the question: How many of you would opt for a private school in the Jackson Metro, which was FREE OF SPORTS? I'm not talking about a school for wacked-out Carrie White types, but a real, Upper Middle Class private school?

We managed to raise three spectacular kids, with just a combination of Martial Arts/Krav Maga and bodybuilding (trainers make great Summer Break mannies...). So, the (usually implicit) argument that without sports, kids'll grow up to be shapeless, underemployed zhlubs, is invalid.

If there WERE a valid option, for a school which doesn't revolve around sports, would you pay? ... and send your offspring to it?

4:20, that school exists - St. Andrews.

4:11. Keep denying. I have lived in NEJ for over 50 years and if you cannot see the cancer, it is because you refuse to. We have horrible decay going on here DAILY, along with serious crime. Duh.

Hell yes!!!

home school is the next best option once they force school choice (JPS) on everyone

They all recruit, but they all do not have overzealous daddies and coaches that BUY players....err students.

My child went to another MAIS school for 13 years. He played football. Prior to his sophomore year the school, which perennially struggled in football, recruited a dozen new students from surrounding public schools. They all happened to play football. The school’s fundraising director called and asked if I would contribute a couple thousand to a scholarship fund to help get those poor, underprivileged children a decent Christian education. I said some decidedly unchristian four letter words in reply and that was the last time he asked me for any donation. I think they won 3 games that year.

6:14, that's awesome!!!

@4:11 Dude, if you’re comparing crime in Madison to crime in Jackson, you probably don’t need to reproduce.

Does this championship, and the way JA won it, make anybody want to stroke a check to attend JA? No thanks. You sacrificed the future because some well heeled boosters wanted a championship now. Reminds me of Hillcrest back around 2006. They never recovered. All of the tuition paying families left.

Mississippi Scoreboard never reported any transfers being D1 signees. YOU are indeed misreporting

So this all stems from a set of entitled parents who after spending all that time and money on travel ball and private lessons, realize that little Johnny isn’t good enough to make the varsity squad. It’s not fair! We’ll the fair only comes around once a year. Little Johnny is going to struggle when he gets into the real world.

It’s a shame football has become a God in America. It holds importance every bit on the same level as church in Mississippi. This proves it and all of you parents of boys from 8-12 grades know it’s the truth. You are for NIL, school choice, and private school athletic recruiting. You see nothing wrong with this. So, good luck! Your son won’t play college ball either. He may get a frat bid- sigma chi at state if he’s a private school boy or phi delt at ole Miss. then what? After 5 years, what will he do? What has this taught the boy? What a disappointment.

I do think it's kind of crazy that they terminated the child from the school. If I was a parent, especially an alum of the school, I would be upset and rightfully so...however, the silent part they are trying to say is that they don't like that poor black kids are taking their kids spots on these sport teams. Maybe instead of spending thousands of dollars on paying for a lawyer, why don't you spend that money on hiring trainers and private practice sessions for your child so they can actually compete and WIN their spot!!

4:11 NE Jackson has decayed beyond reason. Have you driven around heatherwood, briarwood, near McLeod etc.? In the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s these neighborhoods were like Mayberry. Even the less expensive neighborhoods like Canton Heights or the Sedgwick were well maintained and virtually free of crime. The condition of all of those neighborhoods is sad. The public schools in those areas have gone to hell with the neighborhoods. The grocery stores and retail - same thing. Might be hard to believe but we left our doors unlocked, keys in cars, bikes unlocked on the rack at Deville cinema, tote-sum, bowling alley or wherever. It was an incredible place to grow up. The house I grew up in was small and in a cheaper area near briarwood pool. The neighborhood was just as well maintained as Eastover. I saw 4 non-running cars in front of houses on my old street during the holidays. That never happened even when guys were in Vietnam. The neighborhood is approaching ghetto status. It’s sad and pathetic

In my experience, judges compel arbitration 100% of the time (even under extremely unconscionable facts; like a blind lady).

Also, in my experience, discovery in arbitration is significantly limited.

St. Andrew's has a strong athletic program. Research it.

Bye, bye Eddie. Your ego has been transferred to another state. Good riddance.

Either the "No Recruiting Allowed" rules will be enforced or they won't. So far, they're not.

Nobody really gives a shit other than the crowd who believe they exist in a "Blind Side" movie. And that's the same group who hope their kid will survive the influx from 'The Dark Side'.

@thelaw - thanks for the clarification, but could one argue that the arbitration clause is not enforceable since JA terminated the contract with the family? No contractual relationship means no contractual commitments.

I’m trying to understand this. The headmaster said he didn’t care about the facts of the PDF.. Only that the PDF file embarrassed the school?

So the recruits embarrassed the school???

How do the recruits feel about that?

I don't know if tuition-paying parents will leave JA over this teapot tempest but I do know of a private school in Hinds County that lost half of their academic teachers when someone left a copy of employees' salaries where everyone saw it. The teachers were being paid peanuts compared to the coach's salary. The teachers walked out to find better jobs. That school has never won a championship in anything except maybe self-righteousness.

8:03 PM proves the meathead “little Johnny life’s not fair” crowd can’t do simple mathematics.

Based on their meathead logic, each of the private schools should just go out and get enough NON-TUITION PAYING football players to fill every starting position…from where ever they can get them, just to win fake championships.

Maybe somebody like Heaf Jank Trailer Man can explain it; that “allegedly” paid tuition for a bunch of recruits at one of the local MAIS schools his boy was attending, but then, when his boy wouldn’t have (wait for it) “the opportunity to play,” they packed up and moved to another school, so HIS “little Johnny,” would have (wait for it) “the opportunity to play.”

If true, you really can’t make this level of “meatheadedness” up!

That could be said of most Jackson residents; however, the horse got out of the barn.

4:11 PM , I reckon you aren't in Jackson for Holiday " Fireworks Shows" such as we have every year for New Year's, FOFA July, Memorial day, etc.
I do live in NE Jackson and I have gotten very proficient in distinguishing pyrotechnics from semi- automatic weapon fire . It goes on for days, every night. I'd bet that doesn't happen in Madison, Brandon, Gluckstadt, etc etc etc. Nor do they tolerate the general junkiness and trashiness and litter of most main streets that you see in most all parts of Jackson outside of Eastover.

Let’s stop pretending this isn’t welded to school choice. The whole scheme only works if you normalize and excuse wrongdoing. If JA looked at a mostly Black golf team and said, “These kids aren’t cutting it—can we go grab some white golfers from Reunion to fix our problem?” that wouldn’t be coaching, it would be open, unapologetic discrimination. Kids have civil rights too whether adults like it or not, and no amount of religious language or “values talk” makes violating them acceptable. You don’t get to preach morality while enabling abuse, chaos, and cover-ups. That’s not getting an education.

The commonsense solution here is the one nobody mentions: simply ban the act or practice of going outside and recruiting ringgers.

Why isn’t it mentioned, reckon? Because you sportsball hypocrites aren’t averse to such tactics when it goes your way and you have your championship year; then you come down with a case of the sore-ass when your competition recruits a superior breed of ringgers.

Just ban recruiting and this shit ends. Play with what’s homegrown and not what you can import.

The only real issue should be whether the "recruits" are academically capable of performing to the private school's standards. If they are, unless they are doing something illegal who should care where the money for their tuition comes from? If playing a varsity sport is so important to a parent
but the schools athletic program is too competitive, you can always go to another school, maybe your kid can play there. If I can't play at Ole Miss I can try out at Belhaven if it is so damn important.

Parents think joining a team means fun learning sportsmanship nah scumbag coaches and private ball parents turned it into a semi pro pipeline with privately trained ringers for hire. My kid's team got assembled in 2nd grade before we signed up, in the 4th grade teacher and new QB moves kid to the school by 7th grade full recruiting!! Fake families with laughable staged two-parent households so there are no-hood vibes for the scouts and that glorious bag.

Private schools are helping run the fake ass show and staging fake ass games.

Hey hotty toddy? How many damn near 30 year old "student athletes" were out there getting paid last night?

Whole damn system rigged from elementary to SEC.

It's astounding the amount of people who are commenting on here who literally have no idea what they are talking about. I wish this damn website would implode and take all of you old, racist, negative, jealous, and immoral bigots with it. KF, I don't know how you sleep at night knowing that you provide a platform for this behavior.

9:57 what a joke. Open unapologetic discrimination? You ignore the obvious question: Do all great golfers who are available happen to be white and live in Reunion? It's about putting together a great team, not race. I understand arguments for and against recruiting. I can see both sides somewhat. But the reality is that its allowable presently, under certain circumstances at least, and it's been going on for a very long time. Don't cry about it. The free market will fix it. Either more and more strong families will start leaving and JA ultimately will pay a heavy cost for what they did this last season, or maybe they won't. Maybe the ones who are gonna leave have already left, and the remaining ones want to win championships and identify with a winner, so they end up not minding (or at least not leaving). The lawsuit is interesting. I guess we shall see what happens. Again I understand both sides. But arguing that it's unapologetic discrimination just because the best available players happen to be a certain color is no such thing. In fact, your comments are more discriminatory in nature than what JA did. Pretty sure JA didn't care what color the athletes were, just that they were the best available and could bring a state title (which is exactly what they did). Now JA has made it's bed and will have to lie in it. But that bed might just end up being awfully warm and cozy...and full of a ton of trophies in the end...time will tell...

These athletes should demand payment.

@9:18 There are scholarships and assistance available to students that need it - but they are limited in scope. It appears that JA bypasses those limits in shady ways just to bring in ringers to win a championship outside the bounds/limits presented in their own contracts and handbooks. I would think that a parent paying the kind of tuition for their kids to attend JA would want to make sure that most of that investment is going towards developing THEIR kids. Not footing the bill for others in excess of what is transparent and agreed upon in their enrollment contract.

It's NUMBER OF people: not AMOUNT OF people. How did you make it through Seventh Grade English?

People pay a hefty sum to attend JA - I think it's fair for the parents to expect those resources and programs to be targeted primarily at the families that pay to be there. Using those dollars to bring in recruits without being transparent to the folks that foot the bill is shady.

1:27 Trophies 😂? Seriously. Not many parents give a flying 💩about trophies. Parents (realistic ones) would like to see athletics be a portion of the overall experience, not the focus. Delusional ones who think lil Johnny will be on TV one day playing sports may care....and those that hang their existence on JA may care. Overall, most could care a less.

1:14 PM’s post, including the words “old, racist, negative, jealous, and immoral bigots,” is code for - 1:14 PM doesn’t like the fact that the truth can be told and learned.

Its alternative media sites like Jackson Jambalaya and independent YouTubers that keep us from having to listen to the traditional media lairs without being able to fight their propaganda.

Thank you KF for bringing these stories to the public, and giving us the opportunity to fight this leftist communist mentality of taking from tuition payers, and giving to non-payers, just so coaches can win in athletics!

Aren't we talking about a private school? Somebody suggested banning "outsiders" and limiting players to those whose parents pay their own tuition. If my rich uncle pays my tuition who cares? If some rich guy pays the tuition of a good player why should you care? It's a private school. What's an "outsider" if they qualify and somebody pays their tuition? This is some crazy bull....

You don't have kids do you snowflake? No need to answer. You will just lie about that as well.

3:58, tell us like it is! We know you speak from experience, right? You’ve personally stepped up for your kids spending or having spent 6 figures on each of them for a private school education and private school opportunities, and you didn’t care when your son was screwed out of his opportunity because some meathead coach and/or meathead Dad brought in non-paying players so the meathead(s) could have him/themself a pretend trophy, right?

P.S. nobody cares if kids come’s to an MAIS school organically via a rich uncle, etc. But that’s not what’s happening. And you’re either too dumb to know how retarded it would be for a meathead coach to stack the entire football team with NON-TUITION PAYING players (telling all tuition payers tough luck) or you’re smart enough to know that meathead coaches bringing in 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or even 1 non-tuition paying player for the purposes of accomplishing the meatheads goals, is BS.

I do wonder, though, hypothetically, if a parent were uber rich enough, could Daddy Gotbucks pay money enough to get his boy on the starting squad even though the lad was the worst player suited up? I think it's very likely a team position could be bought. But then the poor tyke would likely suffer a season-ending injury during practice.

People in Clinton need the private school graduates to give them future jobs anyway.