TJ Commended Student Emails Released - Who is really responsible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, he screwed up, finally admitted it and seemingly is working to fix things.

+1
This. It's unfortunate but for sure I've dropped the ball occasionally in my own job and I imagine everyone has at some point as well. Sounds like he forgot about the packet for a few weeks. Also perhaps notable re: timing - TJ only has advisory on Mondays I believe. No school 10/24 or 10/31 so prior to 11/14 there was just one other Monday: 11/7 and it too was after the 11/1 cut-off. Naturally they could have figured out some other way to hand them out but really it seems like just an error. One that's been apologized for, that TJ's working to help clean up with outreach to colleges, and that he already said they would handle it differently moving forward.

Agreed. He indeed messed up and made it worse by trying to cover it up. When certain parents' names pop up in the email, he should be more prepared when crafting the answers. Anyway, the remediation methods have been taken, and most importantly, there is no real impact on the kids, the kids probably won't even care.

Is it warrant an apology from the school? Yes, an Attorney General's investigation? No.

BTW, I am just one of the NORMAL Asian parents in TJ, who don't think this is a big deal, and it is definitely not an act of racism.

But the Attorney General's office didn't know about these emails prior to the release yesterday, did they?

And the AG's involvement, and the national attention, forced FCPS (Miyares) to announce that their office of civil rights was doing an investigation and appointing an outside investigator. Actions have consequences.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a big deal or not.

Youngkin and the other RWNJs want press to build faux outrage.

It all feeds off each other.

When you have an all-Democrat School Board that give consultants $500K to advocate for “equal outcomes for all students, without exception,” don’t be surprised when the conservatives look for every opportunity to push back, especially if it involves TJ.

Common sense left the room a long time ago in FCPS. Everyone happily fights the culture wars while basic things like academics and facilities get overlooked.

So your plan is to implode TJ rather than let in a slightly more diverse group? Destroy FCPS because they want a more diverse group to succeed?

So vile.

I have no plan when it comes to TJ. I am tired of the non-stop bickering and how it sucks all the oxygen out of the room, and wouldn’t be sad to see it go.

The flip side of the question you posed is “So your plan is to ignore all the other schools in FCPS until everyone with a stake in TJ is satisfied that TJ admissions are fair?”

Totally agree.

TJ takes far far too much time and energy from FCPS leaders. And does about 1/3 of the school not even live in Fairfax County?

FCPS is already to big and complex. Time to cut back and focus on the basics. Closing TJ should be up for discussion.

Absolutely. Republicans have created an impossible situation in which a public school system must constantly spend massive amounts of money to fight baseless, nuisance lawsuits funded by fringe rightwing dark money groups, from the Koch Brothers and the Federalist Society to the Pacific Legal Foundation. The only solution is to close TJ and remove the need for these insane expenditures that go into a void. it's time to devote the school system's very limited resources to educating students rather than fighting a losing battle against media-weaponized lies in a Republican-funded culture war.

They are intent on burning it all down. Democracy, laws, education, even facts.

Democrats in FCPS are hypocrites when it comes to equity or basic fairness, but sincere when it comes to hating on merit.

You’re just pissed it’s finally catching up to them and many are vulnerable this fall.

The certificates were just delayed. This has nothing to do with “equity” or “merit”.

Faux outrage to push your politics. Abusing these kids to push your politics. Disgusting.

Don’t think Dr. Reid would be running around from school to school to meet with parents, or requiring principals to send notes to parents and pledge to contact colleges and universities, if this was just about delays, but keep trying to spin. Hilarious.

Certificates for commended students were delayed.

Some number of clueless students who strangely weren’t aware of their NM status *and* who happened to have ED applications for 11/1 *and* who had space for academic awards may have been impacted. But TJ already reached out to relevant colleges.

Didn’t affect scholarships.

It’s certainly not worthy of a state investigation FFS.

Faux outrage to push your politics. You continue to abuse these poor kids to push your politics. Disgusting.

Calling any commended kids “clueless” is on par with the TJAAG crowd’s approach of denigrating generally kids who were in the top 3% but not top 1% of PSAT test takers.

It’s amazing how you folks could be so elitist yet ostensibly so committed to equity at the same time. You are lacking in both common sense and political acumen, and hopefully it will come back and bite you all in the ass this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things that are true:

- The DSS at TJ failed to distribute, for whatever reason, the notices of Commended status until a month after they were placed on his desk by Dr. Bonitatibus. He should have done it and there’s really no reason for him not to.

- The DSS lied to a parent about the responsibility of the school and attempted to deflect his personal responsibility by making up some nonsense about hurt feelings and equity. (To me, this is a 100% fireable offense.)

Things that are false/unsupported by any facts or reason:

- There was a school decision to withhold these recognitions intentionally. If this were the case, the principal would not have turned them over to the DSS for distribution.

- Students were harmed in any way by this oversight. “Commended Student” status confers essentially zero realistic benefit to even a well below-average TJ student.

- This matter in any way amounts to an attack on merit. You’d have an argument here if we were talking about Semifinalists, Finalists, or Scholars - but we’re not.

- The existence of a majority-Asian population at TJ makes this matter a racially motivated attack on Asian students and families. If you believe this, you’re monumentally stupid. The people pushing the story don’t believe this - they are trying to get you to vote Republican in School Board elections so that they can defund public schools and replace them with for-profit institutions.

- The principal has anything to do with this issue. She doesn’t. Yes, the DSS is a subordinate, but a matter like this is so simple and insignificant as to not even warrant follow-up.

- TJ students care at all about this designation. They don’t, and for the most part neither do their parents. You’ll notice essentially zero TJ students or alumni who are quoted as having a problem with this.

The hurt feelings comment was about stopping the ceremony, not handing out certificates.

It was about both as indicated in the later email from Yashar. The first one referenced the ceremonies (and the “greater conversation at the school”) while the later email tied the distribution of the certificates to the feelings question.

Maybe it caused some hesitation but he DID distribute them. So ultimately not.

Do we have his side of the conversation?

His side is a phone call with Yashar that she documented.

It didn’t cause any hesitation - he used it as a BS excuse once he got caught having screwed up. That’s why he deserves to be fired. Hurt feelings had nothing to do with why they weren’t distributed, but he said they did.

That's fine and all, but I'd rather hear it in his own words. She probably paraphrased or glossed over some of his thoughts, and it would be nice to see exactly what came out of his mouth/keyboard.

Equity excuse is obvious BS though. No disagreements there. I just think the email chain (that we have access to) is a bit cherry-picked.

She’s a lawyer. Pretty sure she was thorough and wouldn’t misrepresent anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things that are true:

- The DSS at TJ failed to distribute, for whatever reason, the notices of Commended status until a month after they were placed on his desk by Dr. Bonitatibus. He should have done it and there’s really no reason for him not to.

- The DSS lied to a parent about the responsibility of the school and attempted to deflect his personal responsibility by making up some nonsense about hurt feelings and equity. (To me, this is a 100% fireable offense.)

Things that are false/unsupported by any facts or reason:

- There was a school decision to withhold these recognitions intentionally. If this were the case, the principal would not have turned them over to the DSS for distribution.

- Students were harmed in any way by this oversight. “Commended Student” status confers essentially zero realistic benefit to even a well below-average TJ student.

- This matter in any way amounts to an attack on merit. You’d have an argument here if we were talking about Semifinalists, Finalists, or Scholars - but we’re not.

- The existence of a majority-Asian population at TJ makes this matter a racially motivated attack on Asian students and families. If you believe this, you’re monumentally stupid. The people pushing the story don’t believe this - they are trying to get you to vote Republican in School Board elections so that they can defund public schools and replace them with for-profit institutions.

- The principal has anything to do with this issue. She doesn’t. Yes, the DSS is a subordinate, but a matter like this is so simple and insignificant as to not even warrant follow-up.

- TJ students care at all about this designation. They don’t, and for the most part neither do their parents. You’ll notice essentially zero TJ students or alumni who are quoted as having a problem with this.

The hurt feelings comment was about stopping the ceremony, not handing out certificates.

It was about both as indicated in the later email from Yashar. The first one referenced the ceremonies (and the “greater conversation at the school”) while the later email tied the distribution of the certificates to the feelings question.

Maybe it caused some hesitation but he DID distribute them. So ultimately not.

Do we have his side of the conversation?

His side is a phone call with Yashar that she documented.

It didn’t cause any hesitation - he used it as a BS excuse once he got caught having screwed up. That’s why he deserves to be fired. Hurt feelings had nothing to do with why they weren’t distributed, but he said they did.

That's fine and all, but I'd rather hear it in his own words. She probably paraphrased or glossed over some of his thoughts, and it would be nice to see exactly what came out of his mouth/keyboard.

Equity excuse is obvious BS though. No disagreements there. I just think the email chain (that we have access to) is a bit cherry-picked.

She’s a lawyer. Pretty sure she was thorough and wouldn’t misrepresent anything.

Sounds like you don't know many lawyers, lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things that are true:

- The DSS at TJ failed to distribute, for whatever reason, the notices of Commended status until a month after they were placed on his desk by Dr. Bonitatibus. He should have done it and there’s really no reason for him not to.

- The DSS lied to a parent about the responsibility of the school and attempted to deflect his personal responsibility by making up some nonsense about hurt feelings and equity. (To me, this is a 100% fireable offense.)

Things that are false/unsupported by any facts or reason:

- There was a school decision to withhold these recognitions intentionally. If this were the case, the principal would not have turned them over to the DSS for distribution.

- Students were harmed in any way by this oversight. “Commended Student” status confers essentially zero realistic benefit to even a well below-average TJ student.

- This matter in any way amounts to an attack on merit. You’d have an argument here if we were talking about Semifinalists, Finalists, or Scholars - but we’re not.

- The existence of a majority-Asian population at TJ makes this matter a racially motivated attack on Asian students and families. If you believe this, you’re monumentally stupid. The people pushing the story don’t believe this - they are trying to get you to vote Republican in School Board elections so that they can defund public schools and replace them with for-profit institutions.

- The principal has anything to do with this issue. She doesn’t. Yes, the DSS is a subordinate, but a matter like this is so simple and insignificant as to not even warrant follow-up.

- TJ students care at all about this designation. They don’t, and for the most part neither do their parents. You’ll notice essentially zero TJ students or alumni who are quoted as having a problem with this.

The hurt feelings comment was about stopping the ceremony, not handing out certificates.

It was about both as indicated in the later email from Yashar. The first one referenced the ceremonies (and the “greater conversation at the school”) while the later email tied the distribution of the certificates to the feelings question.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh, no, there are more commended students at TJ than semifinalists. He wanted to protect the feelings of the 20% or so of TJ students who were neither semifinalists nor commended.

THIS. And it states so in the emails

[Anonymous]

The thing is, the issue is not whether the school administrators think there is value to being a NM Commended Student. That is not their role. The students earned that distinction the day they took their PSATs and the scores and cutoffs were established. The school’s only role is to distribute the letters to the students and let the student decide whether there is value in adding that award to their college and scholarship applications.

You may believe that it is a waste of resources for the state to investigate the handling of these commendations because you feel they are trivial. But what happens when the school withholds awards or information about your student because it is deemed trivial before the student (or you) have the opportunity to even see it? What happens if the administrator making the call doesn’t happen to share your worldview and values?

[Anonymous]

Not just TJ. There goes the conspiracy theories. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/fairfax-county-national-merit-award-controversy-langley-high-school-westfield-high-school/65-523b4cba-f20a-40d6-a9f4-0396c205f4a8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not just TJ. There goes the conspiracy theories. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/fairfax-county-national-merit-award-controversy-langley-high-school-westfield-high-school/65-523b4cba-f20a-40d6-a9f4-0396c205f4a8

The difference is TJ has been withholding these awards from students for years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just TJ. There goes the conspiracy theories. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/fairfax-county-national-merit-award-controversy-langley-high-school-westfield-high-school/65-523b4cba-f20a-40d6-a9f4-0396c205f4a8

The difference is TJ has been withholding these awards from students for years!

Looks like it. The principal for Langley said, “I must apologize that certificates were not distributed to these Langley High School students in the usual way this past fall.”

[Anonymous]

'Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many Asian American students – one focus of the investigation.'

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-principals-admit-to-withholding-national-merit-awards-from-students/article_2e5ed028-8f01-11ed-997c-37c69ccfb584.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:'Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many Asian American students – one focus of the investigation.'

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-principals-admit-to-withholding-national-merit-awards-from-students/article_2e5ed028-8f01-11ed-997c-37c69ccfb584.html

This whole bruhaha makes no sense. Kids got the certificates for a minor award a week late, so what's the big deal? College apps aren't due for months; even if someone felt this was necessary to mention on an ED, they can update their app online after the due date. There was 0 harm here, so I don't see the problem, but this is more about creating issues for TJ as payback for making the admissions process fair by eliminating the widespread cheating that allowed wealthy parents to game admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many Asian American students – one focus of the investigation.'

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/area-principals-admit-to-withholding-national-merit-awards-from-students/article_2e5ed028-8f01-11ed-997c-37c69ccfb584.html

This whole bruhaha makes no sense. Kids got the certificates for a minor award a week late, so what's the big deal? College apps aren't due for months; even if someone felt this was necessary to mention on an ED, they can update their app online after the due date. There was 0 harm here, so I don't see the problem, but this is more about creating issues for TJ as payback for making the admissions process fair by eliminating the widespread cheating that allowed wealthy parents to game admissions.

Part of Yashar’s complaint was that some schools (she mentioned UMD, Michigan, and UIUC specifically) don’t have places to update the admissions committee with this information. However, Kosatka took care of that, so that’s solved in this specific instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just TJ. There goes the conspiracy theories. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/fairfax-county-national-merit-award-controversy-langley-high-school-westfield-high-school/65-523b4cba-f20a-40d6-a9f4-0396c205f4a8

The difference is TJ has been withholding these awards from students for years!

Any evidence for that? From what Arsa wrote, the last instance is during the pandemic (Sep 2020), when the kids got the email notification from Naviance and the certificate the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, the issue is not whether the school administrators think there is value to being a NM Commended Student. That is not their role. The students earned that distinction the day they took their PSATs and the scores and cutoffs were established. The school’s only role is to distribute the letters to the students and let the student decide whether there is value in adding that award to their college and scholarship applications.

You may believe that it is a waste of resources for the state to investigate the handling of these commendations because you feel they are trivial. But what happens when the school withholds awards or information about your student because it is deemed trivial before the student (or you) have the opportunity to even see it? What happens if the administrator making the call doesn’t happen to share your worldview and values?

TJ did distribute the certificates. They just did it a little too slowly for any possible ED applications (for the rare kids who didn't already know their status).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Uh, no, there are more commended students at TJ than semifinalists. He wanted to protect the feelings of the 20% or so of TJ students who were neither semifinalists nor commended.

THIS. And it states so in the emails

Ultimately, he did distribute them so his opinion about the "feelings" is moot.