Jackson Academy (Mississippi)

Jackson Academy
Address
4908 Ridgewood Road
Jackson, Mississippi
Coordinates 32°21′45″N 90°8′28″W / 32.36250°N 90.14111°W / 32.36250; -90.14111Coordinates: 32°21′45″N 90°8′28″W / 32.36250°N 90.14111°W / 32.36250; -90.14111
Information
Type Primary and Secondary Independent College Preparatory Schooll
Motto Integrity, Achievement, Growth.
Established 1959
Founder Loyal M Bearss
President Jack Milne
Grades K3 through 12
Enrollment 1,250
Color(s) Navy, Silver and White
Athletics Baseball, Basketball, Cross-Country, Dance/Cheer, Football, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track, Volleyball
Mascot Raiders
Nickname JA
Accreditation SACS,[1] SAIS
Yearbook Reflections
Affiliations NAIS, MAIS
Website Official Website

Jackson Academy is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school in Jackson, Mississippi founded in 1959 as a segregation academy.[2][3] Its founder, Loyal M. Bearss, claimed he founded the school to teach accelerated reading and spelling in early grades using a phonics program he developed.[4][5] The school enrolls nearly 1250 students in grades K3 through 12 and is the largest independent school in Mississippi[6]

About

Jackson Academy is accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent Schools. Affiliations include the National Association of Independent Schools, the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools and the Jackson Area Association of Independent Schools.

The school is a member of the Cum Laude Academic Honor Society, one of only four charter members in Mississippi.

History

The Mississippi State Times announced the opening of a new academy in Jackson, Mississippi, set to debut in early September 1959. The name of the new school was to be Jackson Academy. The idea for the new school developed during the previous year when ten parents of first grade-aged children got together and decided how their children's first grade instructor, Mr. Loyal Bearss, and his curriculum should be extended through all of elementary school.

Jackson Academy, led by founder and headmaster Loyal M Bearss, was to have its foundation on the old educational standards of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The curriculum was both classical and experimental – classical in that the textbooks were taken from the McGuffey Readers and Webster's Bluebacked Speller; experimental in resurrecting the concept of teaching reading through phonics rather than sight and memorization of words.

In 1959, Jackson Academy began operation in a renovated residence on Northview Drive in Jackson, MS. The school included first through fourth grade. By 1963 Jackson Academy had grown to some 103 students, after which the JA Corporation purchased 5.5 acres (2.2 ha) on Ridgewood Road where the main campus is located today.

Peter Jernberg was Jackson Academy's headmaster from July 1988 until November 2005, when he became the school's president. Before joining Jackson Academy, Jernberg was the headmaster at Indianola Academy.[7] Jernberg also served on the Board for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is the past president of the Delta State University Foundation and the Southern Association of Independent Schools. In 2014, Jernberg retired.[8]

In December 2006, Pat Taylor was named headmaster. Taylor came to Jackson Academy from Mobile, AL, where he served as Assistant Headmaster at St. Paul's Episcopal School. A 2008 Clarion-Ledger article reported the Jackson Academy board was aware that LaSalle University, where Taylor had obtained his doctoral degree, was a diploma mill, but decided to hire Taylor on the basis of his other accomplishments.[9]

In 2014, Clifton Kling became president.[10] Jack F. Milne assumed the role of Head of School on January 1, 2017.[11]

Racial segregation

For the 1965-1966 school year, 41% of Jackson Academy's tuition revenue came from grants provided by the state of Mississippi. In 1969, in Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled that, since, in the court's opinion, Jackson Academy would refuse to admit qualified black students, the tuition grant program violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment.[12]

Jackson Academy's enrollment tripled in 1970 when a court ordered Jackson public schools to desegregate.[13] Later in 1970, the school lost its tax exempt status when it declined to share its admissions policies with the IRS.[14][13]

In 1973, the FCC was asked to revoke WLBT's broadcasting license because the station's largest shareholder, William Mounger, also served as a Jackson Academy Vice President.[13] The FCC filing stated that, since Mounger was affiliated with an institution that practiced racial segregation, he was not fit to hold a broadcasting license.[13][15] In 1974, the FCC rejected the complaint as untimely since the evidence of Mounger's association with the school and the school's discriminatory practices was available from at least 1969.[16]

In April 1979, Jackson Academy's campus was damaged in the Jackson Easter flood. The school resumed classes in temporary facilities provided by local churches.[17] Jackson Academy was forced to vacate the churches after a civil rights attorney filed a lawsuit to force the IRS to remove the churches' tax exempt status since the churches were aiding a racially segregated school.[18] The attorney who filed the IRS complaint, Frank Parker, recalled that he received so many threats of violence that he had to leave Mississippi for several weeks.[19]

As of 1982, no African-Americans had ever applied to or attended Jackson Academy. The headmaster Glenn Cain explained "People of like kind educate better together."[20]

In 1986, the school enrolled its first two black students.[21][22] Jackson Academy was the first traditionally segregated private academy in the Jackson area to enroll black students.[21]

As of 2009, the school was over 98% white, whereas Jackson city schools were 97.6% black.[2]

Campus Expansion

Jackson Academy is currently involved in the most transformational expansion in the school's history. According to the school's website, the Bold Vision, Bright Future master plan has been divided into two phases with costs reaching an estimated $17.5M:

Phase One: JA is currently at the midpoint of Phase One. Phase One includes the following: a performing arts center for school programs, theatrical productions and concerts as well as classroom and rehearsal space for choral music and a black-box theater. The new Performing Arts Center was dedicated and opened in early 2010; a student commons with dining facilities; student lounges and meeting spaces accessible to all grades; an enclosed atrium connecting the student commons to the performing arts center; an academic lawn along Ridgewood Road made possible by moving parking and traffic circulation behind the buildings; a new parking lot creating 150 additional spaces as well as improved traffic flow with a quarter mile of queuing space for cars on campus and off public roads; and a new 2,000 seat gymnasium adjacent to the secondary school gym.

Phase Two: Phase Two will include replacement of long-serving facilities with a new, state-of-the-art junior/senior high building to serve grades 7-12; and a new, expanded elementary building.

Athletics

Jackson Academy student athletes compete in volleyball, football, soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming, dance, cheer, golf, softball, cross-country, track, and baseball. In 2010, student athlete Davis Rogers was named one of 6 male national finalists for the Wendy's High School Heisman Award after being selected from approximately 55,000 national applicants.[23]

Football

Jackson Academy has won seven MAIS AAA Division I Championships in football.

Varsity Basketball

Girls basketball Jan Sojourner ranks as one of the winningest Mississippi high school girls' basketball coaches in history. After her first year of coaching at Jackson Academy she has posted a winning record each of her over 30 seasons, with 4 Overall State Championships and numerous divisional championships.

Boys basketball coach Bill Ball carries a 277-83 record in his first 10 years at Jackson Academy with 2 Overall State Championships.

Varsity Baseball

Jay Powell, with a record of 91-49 as head baseball coach, led the baseball team to their first State Championship in 9 years. The 2011 team broke numerous personal and team records on their way to winning the Championship including most runs scored in a season (363), most strikeouts thrown (310), most home runs (34), most wins (29).

MAIS championships

Football

  • 1995
  • 1996
  • 2001
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2005
  • 2009
  • 2010
  • 2011

Baseball

  • 1985
  • 1986
  • 1992
  • 1999
  • 2002
  • 2011

Boys' basketball overall titles

  • 1994
  • 1995
  • 2004
  • 2006

Girls' basketball overall titles

  • 1984
  • 1992
  • 1996
  • 2001
  • 2002
  • 2016
  • 2017

Athletics on the radio

All Jackson Academy football, boys' basketball, girls' basketball, and baseball games are broadcast via radio in the Jackson, Mississippi area. Bryan Eubank has been the voice of the Raiders in some capacity since 2000, and has called 9 MPSA State Championships. Eubank spent 2005–2007 as the voice of the Mississippi Braves before returning to call Jackson Prep games in the fall of 2007.

In 1989, a retired NFL player, Glenn Collins, was the color commentator for Jackson Academy football broadcasts. Collins, who is black, was asked by Jackson Academy athletic director Bobby West not attend a game at East Holmes Academy because the other school did want any blacks to attend.[24]

Tech Center

Jackson Academy's Tech Center construction completed in July 2012.

The Tech Center's primary functions are support and professional development. In the Tech Center students bring their devices in order to get support with software or hardware. Jackson Academy is able to do any repairs to Apple devices in-house. Teachers will often come to the Tech Center to get help. Teachers and technology personnel can also use the Tech Center as a professional development meeting area.

Images

Images is a publication of fiction, nonfiction, poems and art by Jackson Academy students. The publication has won the Gold Crown, the highest award bestowed by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association; no other high school publication in the state of Mississippi has received this award. Images also has won the Highest Award by the National Council of Teachers of English.

References

  1. ↑ Institution Summary, AdvancED, Retrieved 2012-07-10
  2. 1 2 "Four decades later, freedom rider returns to Mississippi". The Salt Lake Tribune. July 3, 2009. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  3. ↑ McGee, Meredith Coleman (2013-03-21). James Meredith: Warrior and the America that Created Him. ABC-CLIO. p. 40. ISBN 9780313397400.
  4. ↑ McIntire, Carl (December 1, 1963). "Try New-Old Methods: Jackson Academy Plans Open House Next Sunday" (PDF). Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi). p. 58. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  5. ↑ Dilmore, John (January 25, 1996). "Bearss discusses JA founding" (PDF). Northside Sun. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Bunting and Lyon's private school directory". Comprehensive Directory of Private Schools.
  7. ↑ "Jernberg will leave academy". Entrprise Tocsin. March 3, 1988. p. 1.
  8. ↑ Jernberg to be Honored Apr. 2, 2014.
  9. ↑ Mitchell, Jerry (May 14, 2008). "JA Head:Doctorate came from diploma mill". Clarion-Ledger. p. B1.
  10. ↑ "President Clifton L. Kling | Jackson Academy". jacksonacademy.org. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  11. ↑ {{Cite web url=http://jacksonacademy.org/about-us/head-of-school-jack-milne/ {{!}
  12. ↑ Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission  296 F. Supp. 1389 (S.D. Miss. 1969) 
  13. 1 2 3 4 Ruby, Robert (November 30, 1973). "FCC asked to Reconsider". "Delta Democrat Times. p. 16.
  14. ↑ "IRS Revokes tax Status of 14 Schools". Clarion Ledger. October 7, 1970.
  15. ↑ Kay., Mills, (2004). Changing channels : the civil rights case that transformed television. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604736045. OCLC 774384400.
  16. ↑ United States. Federal Communications Commission. FCC Reports, Second Series, Volume 48, August 16, 1974 to October 18, 1974, report, 1976; Washington D.C.; page 810
  17. ↑ "Jackson Academy relocating classrooms to area churches". Clarion-Ledger. April 21, 1979. p. 4.
  18. ↑ Harrist, Ron (September 28, 1982). "Kids takes from Temporary School when Tax Exemption Raise". Hattiesburg American. p. 2.
  19. ↑ "Civil Rights Lawyer Sees Changes". Greenwood Commenwealth. May 2, 1985. p. 7.
  20. ↑ Weaver, Nancy (November 29, 1982). "Race Remains a Factor in School Choice". Clarion Ledger. p. 12.
  21. 1 2 "Jackson Academy Enrolls Black Students". Clarksdale Press Register. September 5, 1986. p. 2.
  22. ↑ Johnson, Hayes (September 5, 1986). "Academy Enrolls Black Student for First Time". Clarion-Ledger. p. 1B.
  23. ↑ "Wendy's High School Heisman". 2010 National Finalists.
  24. ↑ Press, From Associated (1989-10-12). "White School Accused of Barring Black Broadcaster". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-11-19.
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