Posted on 03/11/2021 4:06:22 PM PST by KingofZion
Fairfax County Public Schools is facing a second lawsuit over changes officials made last year to the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, its flagship STEM magnet school.
The suit, filed in federal court Wednesday, alleges the changes are discriminatory against Asian Americans and therefore violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Some of the plaintiffs are also part of the initial lawsuit.
Thomas Jefferson High, known as TJ, often ranks as the best public high school in the nation — but is also nationally known for struggling to admit Black and Hispanic students, who have comprised single-digit percentages of the student body for decades. By contrast, Asian American students made up 70 percent of the student body in 2019-2020, although Asian families accounted for 30 percent of Fairfax County’s population in 2019.
*** Fairfax Superintendent Scott Brabrand spent months workshopping changes to the admissions process in a bid to boost diversity. In the fall, the school board agreed to nix a long-standing, rigorous admissions test, as well as a $100 application fee.
About a month later, 17 families — many of them Asian American — filed suit alleging that the removal of the test was illegal under Virginia law and had inflicted “irreparable” harm on their children, some of whom are TJ hopefuls.
In late December, the board approved a “holistic review” process that invites qualified eighth-graders — those with a grade-point average of at least 3.5 and enrolled in various honors courses — to apply by completing an essay and a “Student Portrait Sheet.” The new system requires Fairfax evaluators to take into account factors such as students’ socioeconomic status, whether children have disabilities and whether they come from households that do not speak English.
*** MORE
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Stupid! If they don’t speak English they have no business in the school. Beyond that, the school should take the most qualified students regardless of all other factors.
You’ve gotta love the WaPo’s weak-d*ck sentence...”...but is also nationally known for struggling to admit Black and Hispanic students, ...”
Why struggle? Either students can hack it or they cannot. Why not start a special prep school for students who are not prepared? Note that the ONLY left wing solution is to lower standards. In other words, they are the prejudiced ones in that they do not believe that certain races can hack it. Sorry, but they can, if they had a real school containing real teachers, not a publik skool with unionized ‘eddikators’.
May ALL liberals be forced to fly on airlines that are forced to hire pilots who never get past those darned instrument approaches, stall avoidance and recovery, complex airline systems, etc. Well see how these marshmallow spined easily offended little dorks feel when they are spiraling out of control looking forward to a very unpleasant reduction in velocity.
I saw what you did...LOL.
“Washington Pos”
Lawsuit aside, do they know Thomas Jefferson was slave owner?
the school board agreed to nix a long-standing, rigorous admissions test, as well as a $100 application fee.
The admissions test should stay, if they want to continue to have “the best public high school in the nation”. On the other hand if ‘diversity’ is more important, then let ‘TJ’ sink to the level enjoyed by the Baltimore Public Schools.
“*** Fairfax Superintendent Scott Brabrand spent months workshopping changes to the admissions process in a bid to boost diversity.”
Replace “boost diversity” with “discriminate”
Exactly. I made almost exact same comment on a thread about NYC magnet schools. The solution should never be to drag down those who excel and achieve but instead to give everyone an opportunity to do the same.
It's really an indictment on the larger public education system than it is about anything else. Unfortunately the establishment just cannot admit that to themselves or others. It's hard to admit when everything you believe in, stand for and do is just plain wrong.
Better yet, the LA Lakers will have:
7 white guys
2 Latinos
2 blacks
1 Asian
It’s for fairness....you know.
Why can’t midgets have a stake in this as well?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.