Jackson Academy has responded to a lawsuit filed by two parents who say their son was expelled in retaliation after a document alleging recruiting violations circulated online.
Madison residents Jason and Carolyn Voyles filed the complaint against Jackson Academy and Head of School Eddie Wettach in Hinds County District Court on Jan. 5.
According to the complaint, Voyles’ son, who is identified as CV, was unenrolled in the summer of 2025. Around the same time, Jason Voyles and other Jackson Academy parents compiled a PDF identifying 11 student-athletes who were being recruited from “Clinton, Madison Central, Pearl and Northwest Rankin,” 10 of whom have since enrolled at JA.
Recruiting student athletes from other high schools is a practice expressly prohibited by Midsouth Association of Independent Schools bylaws.
The school now says the complaint was filed improperly and is therefore invalid.
complaint
The Voyles’ complaint is against Jackson Academy for breach of contract, bad faith breach of contract and promissory estoppel, while alleging one count of intentional interference with contract against Jackson Academy and Wettach.
The complaint states that CV, a sophomore and member of Jackson Academy’s baseball team, entered into a re-enrollment agreement in May 2025, a month before Wettach called a meeting with Voyles and canceled the student.
Wettach, according to the complaint, cited the “amount of negativity” caused by the circulation of the PDF as the reason for the expulsion.
The enrollment agreement states that the school “has the right to terminate or not renew a student’s enrollment contract if the school reasonably concludes that the actions of a parent or guardian make such a positive and constructive working relationship impossible or seriously interfere with the school’s fulfillment of its mission.”
However, the complaint says the decision to de-enroll CV was not based on reasonable cause.
“By terminating CV without cause, Jackson Academy retaliated against a child for Jason’s decision to share true information about inappropriate behavior at Jackson Academy,” the complaint states.
More about the complaint: Jackson Academy parents file suit against school for recruiting violations
The answer
On Jan. 30, Jackson Academy filed a response calling the Voyles’ claims “frivolous.”
According to the response, the Voyles had previously contacted Jackson Academy administration to ask if the school was engaging in improper recruiting activities, to which the school said no.
The response says the decision to de-enroll CV was based on Voyles’ “coordinated efforts to harm the school and its administration through rumors, innuendo and harassment, which included overt acts designed to demean the administration and certain students, particularly public school transfers.”
Jackson Academy also said the complaint was improperly filed under the enrollment agreement the Voyles signed, and therefore the forum cannot proceed.
According to a memorandum filed with Jackson Academy’s Jan. 30 response, the enrollment agreement included an arbitration provision stating that “any dispute” would be resolved “in arbitration and not in court.”
The memorandum also states that Voyles’ “real objective” is not to receive a cash prize.
“(Voyles’) apparent goal is to further damage the school’s reputation in retaliation for JA taking action against them,” the memorandum said.
The MAIS athletics logo is displayed on a banner during a MAIS 3A Division I championship football game between Leake Academy and Tri-County Academy at the Brickyard in Jackson, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
Beyond the alleged recruiting violations, Carolyn, according to the memo, expressed concern in an email to Wettach that students transferring from public schools were harming Jackson Academy’s culture and threatening the safety of existing students.
The memo includes portions of those emails, one of which states Carolyn wrote to Wettach: “Public school kids go through metal detectors. Are we going to add metal detectors if we continue to recruit students from public high schools without knowing much about their personal beliefs? My son’s safety is important and we rely on JA to make sure his school is safe.”
“Carolyn’s suggestion that ‘public school’ transfers posed a specific threat to student safety was completely off-base, unsupported and inappropriate,” the memorandum states. “There is no reason to believe that ‘public school’ transfers pose any danger to the safety and well-being of the JA community at large.”
According to the memorandum, the Voyles violated several terms of the enrollment agreement, including “non-consensual recording of conversations between anyone related to school business.”
More in education news: Community college students can get free tuition under this Senate bill
The memorandum also provides the following excerpt, titled “Statement of Parental Expectations” from the Jackson Academy Student Handbook:
“A positive and constructive working relationship between Jackson Academy, the student body, and the parent body is essential to achieving maximum fulfillment of the school’s stated mission. Jackson Academy has already adopted written expectations for students, faculty, and staff. The following expectations provide the same guidance to our parent body. Combined, these expectations provide consistent guidance and direction to the entire Jackson Academy community. Jackson Academy.”
The Jackson Academy states that “no further litigation in this matter is permitted until the Court determines the threshold arbitration issue.”
In a statement to the Clarion Ledger on Feb. 2, Jackson Academy said the school is “deeply disappointed by Voyles’ decision to sue JA in an effort to damage the school’s reputation with false and frivolous claims.”
Got a news tip? Contact Mary Boyte at mboyte@jackson.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on the Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson Academy says complaint over frivolous student expulsion lawsuit