TJ Failure to Notify Letter of Commendation Winners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it, don’t you know whether you are a nmsf or commended based on your score? Why would you need your school to tell you?

Not everyone is jumping on Reddit to find out the relevant cut-offs. It was clearly incumbent on the school to notify the commended students promptly and the school officials failed to do so.

[Anonymous]

NM Commended is an award you put on college apps. And this affects 1/2 the senior class.

It’s a big screwup. My kid was a 2020 grad. The principal is awful and certainly nowhere to be found when there is a screw up. it doesn’t shock me no one there is saying: this is a screwup, we own it, and we will contact colleges on behalf of ED/EA affected students who ask us to do so.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to believe that commended is anything that a TJ student would put down on a college app.

TJ has never mentioned even semifinalists and finalists. Other schools make a big deal about these announcements but not TJ.

I think they should’ve handed out the certificates but this oversight seems to be not a deal at all, let alone a big deal.

As a TJ parent, I strongly dislike the principal and the admissions changes but this seems a story blown way out of proportion by the coalition folks.

[Anonymous]

2020 Grad parent again. Lots of villains here. Asra is a RWNJ sometimes Fox New talking head. Kostaka is downright awful to deal with. My 2020 Grad (under the new principal) had the letter mailed home. There was definitely no recognition at the school.

And the “we didn’t want to make the other students feel bad” is a joke. TJ does nothing but promote kids who win every competition under the Sun. They certainly promote their NMSF kids. Just not the ones who miss NMSF by literally 1-2 questions.

I have very complicated feeling about TJ. It gave my kid things he needed. The price was high though. My kid also has a lot of credit and a lot of criticism for the school. When he graduated, he took the magnet off the cars and said that part of his life was a mixed bag and he want to move on.

The only thing that shocks me about a TJ not informing kids is that it is used in college admissions. And they are very proud of their admissions record (as they should be).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2020 Grad parent again. Lots of villains here. Asra is a RWNJ sometimes Fox New talking head. Kostaka is downright awful to deal with. My 2020 Grad (under the new principal) had the letter mailed home. There was definitely no recognition at the school.

And the “we didn’t want to make the other students feel bad” is a joke. TJ does nothing but promote kids who win every competition under the Sun. They certainly promote their NMSF kids. Just not the ones who miss NMSF by literally 1-2 questions.

I have very complicated feeling about TJ. It gave my kid things he needed. The price was high though. My kid also has a lot of credit and a lot of criticism for the school. When he graduated, he took the magnet off the cars and said that part of his life was a mixed bag and he want to move on.

The only thing that shocks me about a TJ not informing kids is that it is used in college admissions. And they are very proud of their admissions record (as they should be).

FCPS is run by LWNJs and overseen by an incompetent bunch of total hypocrites on the School Board. It's no surprise they keep giving Asra things to write about that draw widespread condemnation, even if she inflates their significance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That article is really poorly written and confusing.

To me it sounds like the school *did* give out the commended certificates to the students, but just didn't do enough fan fare to make this mom happy.

Not sure what article you read but the one I read is clear:

1. On September 16th, National Merit sent a letter to the head of student services at TJ with the names of 240 students who were recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists and gave the following instructions, “Please present the letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students’ only notification.”

2. Bc National Merit hadn’t included enough stamps, it wasn’t received by the director of student services until mid Oct, when he claims he signed them within 48 hours but homeroom teachers didn’t distribute the awards til November 14, after the early-application deadlines had passed.

If this is something that could have affected the student’s admission or merit award somewhere and the school knew from National Merit it was vital the school distribute them asap so the students know of their award, that’s shameful. How is this hard? It’s passing out pieces of paper- which took about a month to do.

So then the very first sentence of the article is wrong: "For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families..."

They absolutely should have given out the certificates in mid-October when they got it. But they didn't withhold the info from parents for two years, as she claims.

I have no dog in this fight - we live in Maryland. From what I've heard the TJ administration leave a LOT to be desired. But this seems like a bit of drama for drama's sake. Colleges know the kid's PSAT and SAT scores - that's what counts, not the extra "commended" designation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That article is really poorly written and confusing.

To me it sounds like the school *did* give out the commended certificates to the students, but just didn't do enough fan fare to make this mom happy.

Not sure what article you read but the one I read is clear:

1. On September 16th, National Merit sent a letter to the head of student services at TJ with the names of 240 students who were recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists and gave the following instructions, “Please present the letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students’ only notification.”

2. Bc National Merit hadn’t included enough stamps, it wasn’t received by the director of student services until mid Oct, when he claims he signed them within 48 hours but homeroom teachers didn’t distribute the awards til November 14, after the early-application deadlines had passed.

If this is something that could have affected the student’s admission or merit award somewhere and the school knew from National Merit it was vital the school distribute them asap so the students know of their award, that’s shameful. How is this hard? It’s passing out pieces of paper- which took about a month to do.

So then the very first sentence of the article is wrong: "For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families..."

They absolutely should have given out the certificates in mid-October when they got it. But they didn't withhold the info from parents for two years, as she claims.

I have no dog in this fight - we live in Maryland. From what I've heard the TJ administration leave a LOT to be desired. But this seems like a bit of drama for drama's sake. Colleges know the kid's PSAT and SAT scores - that's what counts, not the extra "commended" designation.

Colleges do not know PSAT scores. And lots of TJ kids applying to UC schools which are test blind— they will not allow submission of test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That article is really poorly written and confusing.

To me it sounds like the school *did* give out the commended certificates to the students, but just didn't do enough fan fare to make this mom happy.

Not sure what article you read but the one I read is clear:

1. On September 16th, National Merit sent a letter to the head of student services at TJ with the names of 240 students who were recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists and gave the following instructions, “Please present the letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students’ only notification.”

2. Bc National Merit hadn’t included enough stamps, it wasn’t received by the director of student services until mid Oct, when he claims he signed them within 48 hours but homeroom teachers didn’t distribute the awards til November 14, after the early-application deadlines had passed.

If this is something that could have affected the student’s admission or merit award somewhere and the school knew from National Merit it was vital the school distribute them asap so the students know of their award, that’s shameful. How is this hard? It’s passing out pieces of paper- which took about a month to do.

So then the very first sentence of the article is wrong: "For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families..."

They absolutely should have given out the certificates in mid-October when they got it. But they didn't withhold the info from parents for two years, as she claims.

I have no dog in this fight - we live in Maryland. From what I've heard the TJ administration leave a LOT to be desired. But this seems like a bit of drama for drama's sake. Colleges know the kid's PSAT and SAT scores - that's what counts, not the extra "commended" designation.

I read the article, and it described a failure to notify the author's son in the Class of 2021, confirmation that students in prior classes had not been notified by the school, and a delayed notification to other students in the Class of 2023.

Perhaps you should have read the article and not simply gone by the summary of what happened this fall in the PP.

I think the article exaggerates the import of the lack of notification, but it speaks to the mindset of the TJ administrators. They want to be in charge of an elite public magnet school that denies admission to most applicants, but then they want to define merit and success on their own terms so that the "outcomes" for every TJ student appear to be the same - even when they are not.

[Anonymous]

But they did tell the semifinalists (although they never celebrate them like other schools do) so it’s not some conspiracy to make every kid look the same. It’s Kosatka’s incompetence.

[Anonymous]

This is the way it works:

rogram Recognition
Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either Commended Students or Semifinalists.

So 50k out of 1.5 million are the top 99.66+ Percent of kids. That is absolutely amazing!

Then 1/3 of that group goes in to be semi-finalists and 2/3 are commended. The cut-offs vary by state. So you can score in Virginia the same as someone in Montana but because Virginia is a competitive state you only get commended. It is unbelievable TJ is not recognizing these kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "city journal. org?" Never heard of it.

Can't address the content, so you attack the site. Typical elitist prick behavior.

It's a apparently this wonderful fringe news site that publishes alternative facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "city journal. org?" Never heard of it.

Can't address the content, so you attack the site. Typical elitist prick behavior.

It's a apparently this wonderful fringe news site that publishes alternative facts.

With contributing editors who are tenured professors at Ivy League universities. You might want to dig deeper before you fall back on your usual tactics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "city journal. org?" Never heard of it.

Can't address the content, so you attack the site. Typical elitist prick behavior.

It's a apparently this wonderful fringe news site that publishes alternative facts.

Do you say the same thing about WTOP? https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2022/12/fairfax-county-public-schools-didnt-notify-tjs-national-merit-commended-students-school-system-says-working-to-remedy-situation/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the way it works:

rogram Recognition
Of the 1.5 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either Commended Students or Semifinalists.

So 50k out of 1.5 million are the top 99.66+ Percent of kids. That is absolutely amazing!

Then 1/3 of that group goes in to be semi-finalists and 2/3 are commended. The cut-offs vary by state. So you can score in Virginia the same as someone in Montana but because Virginia is a competitive state you only get commended. It is unbelievable TJ is not recognizing these kids!

It is the top 3%, not .3%.

[Anonymous]

How long have they had this commended status? I don't remember it when I was in school. It feels like they added it after watching Godfather III.