Former Liberty Christian Academy Principal Sentenced to Five Years After Charges Reduced in Tennessee

Jason Kennedy, 47, was the principal of Liberty Christian Academy in McMinn County, Tennessee. Reports describe him as a former principal who also served as a teacher and pastor connected to the school. According to MinistryWatch, the original charges involved an underage female who had previously been a student at the school. Kennedy was arrested last year and posted a $60,000 bond the following August. Reports say police arrested him on two counts of sexual assault by an authority figure and one count of solicitation of a minor.

In January 2023, a McMinn County Grand Jury indicted the principal of Liberty Christian School in Athens on several new counts, according to newschannel9.com. Reports describe these as 11 new charges. Dayton247now.com and the New York Post reported the same indictment. MinistryWatch’s headline stated that more victims had come forward, but the article text available to this report does not provide further detail on those claims. Oxygen reported that Kennedy was arrested again the previous week and listed the new counts as four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child, one count of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of solicitation of a minor to observe sexual conduct. The Oxygen list totals eight counts, while the other reports describe 11, and this report cannot resolve that difference from the sources.

Reports also differ on the status of the original case. Local3news.com reported that the court reduced certain charges, including “sexual battery by an authority” to “sexual battery” and “aggravated sexual battery” to “sexual battery.” Local3news.com’s report is labeled as an update, and it does not state when the reduction was ordered. Those reductions concern the charges as described in the court proceedings; the reports do not describe the underlying allegations in greater detail.

Those in positions of trust over young people are charged with protecting them, a duty central to this case (Psalm 82:3).

A newschannel9.com report from 2022 said Kennedy had been sentenced to five years in prison after the charges against him were reduced. The reports available for this article do not provide the date of sentencing or fully reconcile the timing of the 2022 sentencing report with the January 2023 indictment reports. Kennedy’s guilt on the reduced charges and the new counts is not established in the sources beyond the court outcomes described above.