Cypress Christian School has parted ways with its now-former president, the third top administrator ousted in two weeks.
Potts, who was hired as president of the Houston-area school in 2019, had been on administrative leave since September 30 while the board conducted a review of his leadership.
“The Board of Directors and Dr. Jeff Potts have reached an agreement under which Dr. Potts’s service as President and Head of School has concluded, effective November 6, 2026,” an email to CCS families read.
“The Board has prayerfully and carefully considered the information before it and has acted as a body,” the email stated. “Out of respect for everyone involved, we will not share additional details regarding this personnel matter.”
According to the school’s latest tax filing for 2024, CCS paid Potts a salary of $356,965. In 2020, his first full year at the school, Potts was paid a salary of $258,596.
Patrick Reents, the school’s vice president of academics and varsity football head coach, was appointed as interim head of school while Potts was on leave and will continue in that role while the board searches for a replacement for Potts.
On October 28, Reents fired Kris Hogan, the school’s director of culture and former football coach. Hogan had been on leave for months while the subject of a separate personnel review of undisclosed “concerns” raised over the summer.
Based on the results of that review, the board recommended that Reents terminate Hogan but stated it would not release any details “to protect the privacy of the students, families and staff who participated.”
Hogan, who is also a motivational coach and speaker, was hired by Potts in 2020. The two had worked together for years at Grapevine Faith Christian School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Reents also fired David Swan, the school’s longtime chief financial officer and chief operating officer, effective November 30, for separate reasons that Reents stated he would not discuss.
The leadership shakeup at Cypress Christian School follows the firing and later arrest of a coach at the school accused of sending sexual messages to an underage male CCS student who had moved to Georgia.
Coach Jared Randall Barber, 35, was fired in April and indicted in August by a Georgia grand jury on three child sex crime charges: grooming of a minor, criminal attempt to commit grooming of a minor, and electronically furnishing obscene material to minors.
The indictment alleged that between July 2024 and April 2026, Barber engaged in a “pattern” of sexual communication with a minor under the age of 18, using an electronic device, to “persuade and induce said child to engage in a sexual offense.”
Barber allegedly sent the boy messages discussing the child’s penis size, masturbation, and penile erections. Jurors also accused Barber of sending the boy “obscene” material containing “explicit verbal descriptions” of masturbation and sexual conduct.
A second indictment in November added three more counts, including a charge of cruelty to children in the first degree that is punishable by 5 to 20 years in prison, and led to a warrant being issued for Barber’s arrest.
Barber was picked up last week in Louisiana on a fugitive warrant and will be transferred to Georgia for prosecution.
Coach Barber is a longtime friend of Kris Hogan and worked alongside him at Grapevine Faith in 2017, although school officials stated that Barber did not include Grapevine Faith on his resume when the school hired him in 2023.
The board stated it will host an “information session” for current Cypress Christian School families, faculty, and staff on Thursday, November 19.
“It is a gathering for current CCS families, not a meeting of the School’s Members under the Bylaws, so no business will be conducted and no votes will be taken,” the email stated.
Several families had petitioned for a special meeting of school members to consider “removal of all directors,” but they withdrew their request after the board announced Potts’ ouster.
Reents separately updated families on two “independent reviews” announced in August: an on-site child safety assessment, which he said will take place on November 10-12, and a systems review of the school’s student safety policies and procedures.
