Jackson Academy responds to parent’s lawsuit over student expulsion

Jackson Academy has responded to a lawsuit filed by two parents who said their son was expelled in retaliation after documents alleging recruitment violations were circulated online.

Madison residents Jason and Carolyn Voyles filed a complaint Jan. 5 in Hinds County Court against Jackson Academy and the school’s principal, Eddie Wettach.

According to the complaint, the Voyles’ son, identified as CV, dropped out of school in the summer of 2025. At the same time, Jason Voyles and other Jackson Academy parents compiled a PDF identifying “11 student-athletes enrolled from Clinton, Madison Central, Pearl and Northwest Rankin who have enrolled at J.A.

Recruiting student athletes from other high schools is a practice expressly prohibited under Midsouth Association of Independent Schools rules.

The school now says the complaint was improperly filed and is therefore invalid.

complaint

Voyles’ complaint is against Jackson Academy and Wettach alleging intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, bad faith and promissory estoppel.

The complaint states that CV, a sophomore and member of the Jackson Academy baseball team, entered into a re-enrollment agreement in May 2025, a month before Wettach called a meeting with Voyles and canceled the student’s enrollment.

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 cancel or renew the student’s enrollment agreement if the school reasonably concludes that the parent or guardian’s actions make such a positive and constructive working relationship impossible or otherwise seriously interfere with the accomplishment of the school’s goals.”

However, the complaint said the decision to cancel the 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 Jackson Academy misconduct,” the complaint states.

More about complaints: Jackson Academy parents file suit against school for recruiting violations

response

On Jan. 30, Jackson Academy filed a response calling Voyles’ claims “frivolous.”

According to the response, Voyles had previously contacted Jackson Academy administration to ask if the school had engaged in improper recruiting activities, to which the school responded, “No.”

The response stated that the decision to cancel CV’s admission was based on Voyles’ “coordinated efforts to damage the school and its administration through rumor, innuendo, and harassment, including overt actions directed at the administration and some students, specifically aimed at transferring public schools.”

Jackson Academy said the complaint was improperly filed under the enrollment agreement signed by Voyles and therefore the forum could not proceed.

According to Jackson Academy’s Jan. 30 response memorandum brief, the enrollment agreement included an arbitration provision stating that “any and all disputes” would be resolved “in court rather than in arbitration.”

The memorandum also states that Voyles’ “true motive” was not to receive monetary rewards.

“(The Voyles’) apparent intent is to further damage the school’s reputation in retaliation for JA’s actions against them,” the memorandum said.

In addition to the alleged recruitment violations, Carolyn, according to the memo, expressed concern in an email to Wettach that students transferring from public schools were harming the culture of Jackson Academy and endangering the safety of existing students.

The memo includes excerpts from those emails, one of which states Carolyn wrote to Wettach, “Public school kids are going through metal detectors. If we continue to enroll public high school students without knowing much about their personal beliefs, are we going to add metal detectors? My son’s safety is important, and we trust JA to make sure his school is safe.

“Carolyn’s suggestion that ‘public school’ transfers represent a particular threat to student safety was completely baseless, unsupported, and inappropriate,” the memo said. “There is no reason to believe that the relocation of the public school poses any threat to the safety and well-being of the JA community at large.”

According to the memo, Voyles’ violated several enrollment agreement terms, including “non-consensual recording of conversations between individuals regarding school activities.”

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The memorandum also provides the following excerpt from the Jackson Academy Student Handbook, titled “Statement of Parental Expectations”:

“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 common guidance to our parent body. Combined, these expectations will provide ongoing guidance and direction to the entire Jackson Academy community to parents of their state. The standing of the children at Jackson Academy.

Jackson Academy states that “no further litigation of this matter is permitted until this court determines the threshold arbitration issue.”

In a statement to the Clarion Ledger on Feb. 2, Jackson Academy said the school is “deeply disappointed in the Voyles’ decision to file suit against JA for attempting 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 in the Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson Academy files complaint over student expulsion.