Jackson Preparatory School (Mississippi)
| Jackson Preparatory School | |
|---|---|
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| Address | |
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3100 Lakeland Drive Jackson, Mississippi United States |
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| Coordinates | 32°19′59″N 90°6′30″W / 32.33306°N 90.10833°WCoordinates: 32°19′59″N 90°6′30″W / 32.33306°N 90.10833°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent |
| Motto | Scholarship, Service, Character, Leadership |
| Established | 1970 |
| Grades | 6 through 12 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Campus size | 74 acres (30 ha) |
| Color(s) | Blue and Red |
| Mascot | Patriots |
| Nickname | Prep |
| Yearbook | Precis |
| Affiliations | National Association of Independent Schools, Southern Association of Independent Schools, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, The College Board, National Association of College Admissions Counselors, Southern Association of College Admissions Counselors, Cum Laude Society and the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. |
| Literary Magazine | Earthwinds |
| Tuition | Approximately $14,649 per year (before book costs) |
| Website | Homepage |
Jackson Preparatory School (Jackson Prep) is an independent, coeducational, day school enrolling 820 students in grades six through twelve. The school is located in Flowood, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, and has a controversial history as a segregation academy.
The school was founded in 1970 as a segregation academy. A biography of James Meredith cited the school’s creation as part of the campaign of massive resistance against the Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering racial integration of public schools.
At the time of its founding, a local member of the White Citizen's Council remarked that schools like Jackson Prep were established because the "educational results of such forced interracial congregation are disastrous for children of both the white and black races".
In 1981, Jackson Prep headmaster Jesse Howell said the school was established because the "upheaval" white parents experienced from desegregation "caused a need for stability, for a place to send their children. We've tried to provide that." Howell claimed not to know why Jackson Prep had never enrolled any black students.
As of 1986, Jackson Prep had never enrolled a black student. The headmaster, Jesse Howell, told a newspaper that the lack of diversity was because “black communities don’t choose to attend our school.” A black parent disagreed, saying that he didn’t enroll his sons because “Jackson Prep was formed in 1970 to try to maintain segregation.”
In a 1995 article in the Clarion Ledger, former headmaster Jesse Howell said that "There was resistance from both sides" to school integration. Gail Sweat, a student who had attended Jackson Preparatory before transferring back to a racially integrated public school, said that, in 1970, "initially there was panic, and most whites bailed out and went to private schools." However, leaving Jackson Preparatory was what "prepared her to live in a diverse society." Sweat added that, after leaving Jackson Preparatory "it wasn't that big a deal, blacks and whites going to school together."
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