Louisiana Voice

As is usually the case, the messenger is getting the blame for the debacle at Mt. Olive Christian School up in Claiborne Parish in which the school’s former principal, Nathan Jump, has been arrested for sexual misconduct involving students at the school.

The school’s administration, aka Jump’s in-laws who own and operate the school, are rolling out “witnesses” to the former principal’s good name while beginning the usual piling on of the accuser—and LouisianaVoice for having the audacity to report it. We’re okay with criticism. It ain’t our first rodeo, but it’s patently unfair to gang up on underage female sexual victims.

The latest development has one Megan Lindsey, who purportedly works or at least maintains a high profile at the school, claiming online that she “just happened” to be in Jump’s office at the time the sheriff’s office called on him to turn himself in.

Lindsey also claims that her own daughter, a student at the school, told her after the arrest of Jump that the same girl now accusing him also accused a coach at the school of inappropriate behavior more than a year before.

Now, that gives rise to a couple of obvious questions. First, if the young lady knew of this a year before, why is she only now informing her mother? Second, if a coach—or anyone on the school staff—is accused of any offense, anyone else with knowledge of the complaint is required by law to report same, so why didn’t Principal Jump report the offense a year ago and conduct an investigation or notify law enforcement?

Whether it was Nathan Jump or an unnamed coach, it nevertheless was not the first reports of sexual misconduct between a student and a teacher at the school. Seven years ago, almost to the day, a 25-year-old choir and fine arts teacher at Mt. Olive was arrested for “prohibited sexual conduct between educator and student.”

Of course, the Gantt family (parents of Nathan’s wife, Tammy Jump) wants to do everything they can to salvage their daughter’s current campaign for election as district attorney for the 2^nd JDC which is comprised of the parishes of Claiborne, Bienville and Jackson—and no one faults them for rallying to the support of their daughter; you do that with family.

But we’re curious to see who else comes forward as a character witness