Jackson Jambalaya

So, now we get to add the name of Yemi Kings, esquire, to the most honorable Bench of Jackson Area Adjudicators, Arbiters and Equity Masters who, as jurists, grace the pages of this blog. Judge Kings describes himself as 'Just another kid from Lanier'.

Who would have thought JA would claim that diversity is its strength?

Yawn……

What is perhaps missed is that the Voyles have paid the full tuition which was one of the two highest priced tuitions when my child went there decades ago. No doubt tuition has increased over the years and is not likely to be re-couped by the sports programs.
That begs the question is how much will the parents of the recruited children pay in tuition and other fees? If they are getting a full ride then ALL of JA's parents should be incensed. The JA teachers and coaches of other sports should be livid. Can we assume the football coach gets rewarded if the team is more successful?
Also, it used to be that the requirements to be accepted were published as well as the college acceptance rates.

Yemi doesn't always know what he's doing.

the headmaster sounds like a baby

6/7of the 9 baseball starters are all recent transfers. I wonder if that gets brought up in the hearing. I feel sorry for the seniors that have played their whole life for JA and get screwed in the end. Just like football

Yemi might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but you must assume he can recognize a hot potato when it is thrown his way. Send it to arbitration and move on to cooler issues.

Friday Night Lights, Mississippi version (and worse).

Thay is the basic, accurate, spot on point that the immature, blind, coach supporting daddies will not ever see. Period. I have a grand kid that is a pretty good U-10 baseball player. I doubt he will ever be a New York Yankee, but he loves the sport. The LAST place he will attend school is JA, if I have any influence at all in the matter.

This is just a trickle down from the cutthroat mess that college football is in.

None of the transfers are getting a "full ride." If other rich parents want to cover their tuition for them, that's their business.

@1004 I beg to disagree.
A senior headed to play college football for sure did. Several baseball players have said they aren’t paying either.

The DEI lefties are running the show. NE Jackson is creeping to the left. Sell while you can get a decent price.

Or...... he handles the civil case docket in County Court. Not a lot of high-profile or interesting cases come through his court. He might relish the chance to hear this case. Doesn't matter as there will be an interloc no matter what happens.

The private school sports team I played on in high school (the 90's) routinely got hammered since we had to play all the large public schools. Win or lose and at the end of the day, the students all learned valuable lessons from participating and the school was no worse off from having a team that had a losing record every year. Really unfortunate that administrations and parents put so much weight on winning these days. I look back on my playing days with fondness - not sure that's the case now with student athletes.

How far have we come when not too long ago Woodland Hills Academy got the death penalty for exactly what JA is doing.

That’s not true at all. I know for sure 1 graduating senior did

It’s sad to see what has become of Jackson Academy. I feel
Sorry for the graduating student athletes that had their playing time and value degraded by recruited kids. I don’t blame the recruited kids or families, this is on JA

My daughter went to Jackson Prep, Ivy League college, and is now a specialized Radiologist. While I’m very much a football fan, I did not care about JP competing with a Jackson Public School. That helps no student

You are wrong if you believe there are no free rides here-

Once J&J boy goes into bankruptcy JA will need to find another experienced bagman.

A quick Google search lists the various levels of giving to JA and it is all 501(c)(3). A student on a “free ride” very well could be receiving a scholarship funded by a JA supporter who is receiving a tax deduction for charitable contributions.

As the ballsport gods intended!

If you snooze you looze!

The Downfall: JA's Recipe
A fish out of water headmaster with no leadership experience, meat head AD that values winning championships above all else, coaches that care more about winning than developing kids, spineless board too afraid to tell the administration no and a sugar daddy plaintiff lawyer willing to buy championships as long as his boy gets to play QB.

What about the Voyles' son??? "kicking their son out of the only school he had ever known" How embarrassing for him. Where is he in school?

Hartfield's as bad as JA -- maybe worse -- not sure why they are flying under the radar.

Successful competitors want to win. Head cases want to win at all costs. -Nancy Lopez

From a parent who has kid at JA....would I do it again. NO! Definitely not

Why do you need to know where a minor is in school?

JA has already lost.

Says the douchebag blogger who has made an entire post about where minors go to school.

My kids went to Lanier High School then to University of Chicago undergrad and law school. Now they work for a hedge fund on Wall Street! We got offers from JA and Prep but we knew we were smarter than those people! My kids never took guns to school or got beat up although there were some bangers at the school it wasn’t that bad!

I am glad the Voyles are suing the school. We can’t let public school kids ruin the prestige of our private schools. Eventually they will be as dangerous as public schools. We have to keep private schools the way they were originally designed to be. If your family can’t afford a country club membership at either River Hills or JCC then you shouldn’t be allowed to come to JA or Prep. Just that simple . If you can’t afford to live in a house in EastOver or Annandale then you shouldn’t be allowed to go to school with these kids. I understand that not everyone can be like us but at some point you have to GTFO!

Exactly

Exactly

What to bet

I heard the bagman’s kid is terrible
They are making a senior WR play it now because he can’t throw the ball

Was the kid that was killed in the breaking and entering addressed by JA? Glad I live in Annandale

Money definitely is the root of all evil.

I've read all this complaint about JA lowering standards and becoming just another public school but I haven't read anybody cite the academic failure of the transfer athletes. I think that is the ultimate issue. Are they academically eligible? Either they are or they are not. If someone is paying their tuition so what? Ole Miss recruits athletes from any hellhole they can find them and nobody cares as long as they win. It is presumed that they are academically eligible. Maybe. Maybe not. Don't send your kids to Ole Miss either lest they get tainted by the transfers from hell.

0535- they are really lowered their standards. Ask where some of the harder teachers are? They left. What about the kid that got killed breaking and entering. Crazy!

The love of money is the root of all evil.

I have kids at Madison Central so I have no dog in this fight. But it’s good to see Jackson Academy getting their butts whipped by a bunch of paying kids at Magnolia Heights. And then there’s Prep and MRA Grant didn’t get out. At least they are with their own dudes

Prep’s 3 best players are transfers. Damn near MRA’s entire roster are transfer kids. Try again.

Most arbitration clauses now contain delegation clauses on the issue of arbitrality.

I have never had a case NOT get compelled to arbitration with such a clause.

I doubt any petition for PERMISSION to file an interlocutory appeal will be granted. Getting an interlocutory is pretty difficult.

Here's the real deal at JA (from a current "paying" parent):

JA (more than any school by far) continually hosts skills training for all sports on campus by "skills" trainers who work at JA. These trainings bring in kids from all over the metro to learn skills and get trained. These kids see the campus, and if they're talented enough, hints get dropped that they can attend if trainers connect them with the right, influential people. Head coaches are not directly involved to avoid mis-appearances, but they are in communication with the skills trainers (asst coaches). When team camps begin, coaches recognize holes in lineups, calls are made, and movement begins to take hold. Except, of course, for those parents who are influential, and voice opposition to insulate their kid's position. It's actually very easy to tell which player's family is influential and insulated. Very easy to tell.

Be forewarned, if your average-to-good junior high kid wants to play high school sports, JA may not be the place for you. Trust me, they will recruit a better player...unless of course, you influence...

What about that doofus Athletic Director at JA? Walker. He's a significant part of the problem. Will he be working there after June 1?

The fact that an adult (presumed) uses the word “doofus” says a great deal about a person

@8:15 take a visit to MRA on Saturday mornings and Prep on Sunday afternoons. Did you attend the recent AAU tournament at Hartfield? JA isn’t alone.

You are correct, doofus.

Amen!

When did the MRA kids transfer? When did the prep kids transfer? Most of Jackson Academy’s roster is juniors and seniors that transferred that are going free.

10:00AM Exactly right. 7 of 9-10 JA baseball players were not there two years ago. It's a bought team. If only they had bought 2-3 more ringers they might not get run ruled by Mag Heights. AD and coaching staff have some 'cruitin to do. But don't worry wheels are in motion.

"If your family can’t afford a country club membership at either River Hills or JCC then you shouldn’t be allowed to come to JA or Prep. Just that simple . If you can’t afford to live in a house in EastOver or Annandale then you shouldn’t be allowed to go to school with these kids."

And that is probably why your special kid grows up thinking the rules don't apply to him, and will eventually be facing charges of DUI fatality, or forcible rape.

8:43 is correct, a whole lot of training going on out there. But like Houston Nutt said, it’s about heppin’ people.

All ya'll are missing the point of all this! It ain't about recruiting. It's about the color of the skin of the recruits. I don't see anybody raising hell about the new catcher MRA got from NW Rankin. Why? Because he's white. Or the rest of the "transfers" to MRA. Or Prep. Or Hartfield. It's all about RACE!!! Forget. Everything. Else. It doesn't matter. It's window dressing to cover up the racist plantiffs.

2:40, you are wrong. Some of us hate recruiting at all levels of HS sports. Grown ups with big egos that need to win at any cost.

2:40 Nice try. Your race card narrative fell apart when the JA recruit was shot and killed breaking into another JA's student apartment.

@0240 I don’t think anyone has brought up race! Jesus. Maybe you are the racist.
All of our kids go to Jackson Academy. I don’t think anyone has any problem with the kids or the family. They’re all nice and respectable families. That doesn’t change the fact though that they’re not paying to go there. They will occasionally slip up and let you know that.

For what it’s worth, another “tri county” area school recently offered my family free tuition if we’d transfer for my son to play ball.

@0407 nailed it!!!! JA never address the recruit breaking and entering into another JA house and then got gunned down. All of our kids knew him. What if our kid went with him that night. Think about that. It’s going to happen to one of us

@240 is that the same catcher that was supposed to come to JA, but magically couldn’t pass the entrance exam? Who fails the entrance exam at JA? Guess the position need wasn’t there, or the position was insulated and protected by influential parents? 🤔

"Money definitely is the root of all evil.
May 5, 2026 at 5:17 PM"

This has nothing to do with money, in fact it will cost JA money for the scholarships they have to give (if any). Winning a private school state title will not result in a significant monetary wind fall for any school.

This is about pride and prestige.

What happened with the clause requiring arbitration instead of court?

Care to explain without codes and mumbo?

When does Clinton and MC get out of school?? I’m wondering when we should start to see more kids showing up on campus that weren’t here last year replacing our kids? Are we getting a new QB? We need it! Probably a few more big boys on the line too

I am sitting in the stands now acting like I am pulling for the “Raiders” 6 of the kids playing now have not been here 2 years! This is a a sad situation.

WE WOULD NEVER SEND OUR KIDS HERE AGAIN!!!!!

I see when it matters, they put the paying kids on the bench. Poor catcher has been catching all year and then they put him on the bench to put the recruits in

I see why the oil money went to Birmingham

You haven’t driven by in afternoon lately…already started. Tryouts have begun and boosters have been contacted ✅

To JA:

Was it worth it? Seriously, is it worth it? Is it worth the disillusion rampant amongst kids/families? Is it worth the decline in enrollment? Here’s how I feel as a parent after watching JA baseball lose. I was happy! I was pulling for the Mag Heights. Not because we have more black kids….not at all. I wouldn’t care if the entire team was black if they’ve been going there for years so I would know who they were. You’re not a sports factory…you’re a private school academy who used to cherish relationships, develop kids and had family involvement. You chose this path…and for what? A trophy or two. Who gives a shit about a trophy. I can’t wait to leave this place. Can’t come soon enough

Tell me you haven’t been watching Raider baseball without saying you haven’t watched Raider baseball. The switch was for hitting based on the rest of the players on the field. Give me a freaking break. 🙄 Oh, and he came back in the game when another defensive change was made. You forgot to add that part. Guess it didn’t fit your narrative.

What a flex. “I’m a grown adult “pretending” to cheer for children playing a game and having fun. 🙄 Just stay home next time. Raider Network does a great job. Watch that and feel sorry for yourself on your couch.

Thank you for pulling against my kid last night. Really appreciate that. He’s worked his ass off, as have most of those kids on that team. We had all of the things you say we are lacking (family involvement, relationships, etc) but you wouldn’t know that. You would know the kids - “new” and “old” - if you made an effort. But you don’t. It’s easier to hide behind your keyboard and be negative.

@1125 you can think JA for the disenchantment. Didn’t feel that way till recently. I’m not the only one who is “negative” around you, they just won’t say it to your face. But, hey…look at the bright side. Won a championship in 🏈 😂

Just out of curiosity, have JA’s enrollment numbers declined? Anyone know?

97-98% retention

1:26 Oh really? Ok, let's say you're correct for a second. Can you tell me what class size is for 12th, 11th, 10, 9, 8, 7, etc? Do you see a trend in any certain direction?

98% of students stay year to year? Or some leave and new ones come making the numbers look the same although the actual kids are different?

Ten years from now when JA is a modern day version of Hillcrest people will ask - whose idea was it to turn JA into a sports academy? Did the JA community support the change? How did anyone think it was sustainable?
The saddest part is this new vision was decided by just a few egomaniacs behind closed doors.