Students at McAdams High School staged a protest Thursday over the demotion of principal Bryan Weaver before being released early for spring break, Attala County Superintendent of Education Curtis Burrell said.

“Everything is under control,” Burrell said.

Burrell said Weaver was demoted Wednesday to a teaching position.

“All I can say is that he was reduced to a teacher for just cause,” Burrell said.

He would not elaborate.

Burrell said Detrick Harmon had been named interim principal pending a decision by the school board on a permanent replacement for Weaver.

Sheriff’s deputies were at the school to make sure the protest remained orderly, Burrell said.

Students said the death of the school’s popular basketball coach and the principal’s demotion have taken their toll.

“It’s been a hard school year with the loss of the coach (Chad Jackson) and now this,” LaTracy Griffin, a flag girl with the McAdams Bulldogs Band, said.

Jackson, 33, was shot in the head Nov. 1 near Kosciusko. Jerry Winters, 20, is charged with capital murder in Jackson’s slaying. Winters remains in the Attala County Jail without bond, Sheriff William Lee said Thursday.

Two other men, Jeremy Stewart, 24, and Frederick B. Miller, 17, both of Kosciusko, are charged with accessory after the fact of capital murder. Stewart is free on a $5,000 bond, Lee said, while Miller remains in the jail.