TJ Failure to Notify Letter of Commendation Winners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the dumbest non-issue I've seen on this board and that's saying a lot.

[phone]

Asra is a complete asshat. I had 3 kids at TJ - 2 NMSF and 1 Commended. I'm pretty sure they googled to find out what their National Merit status was.

BTW the "Commended" kid is the one at an Ivy

You don’t know Commended status until your school notifies you, or, you do the math and determine the selection index number from your score. Not every student is savvy enough to figure that all out. Glad your kids were aware enough to do so, mine was not.
—Signed, lower-middle class mom

Guess your kids aren't at TJ then since TJ kids were actually notified in early November, a week or two after the information arrived at the school. It wouldn't matter what the school did since they'd find it unacceptable. She hates the principal and is looking to make mountains out of molehills.

What's the controversy if the school notified the kids within a week? This is bizarre. What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is the dumbest non-issue I've seen on this board and that's saying a lot.

[phone]

Asra is a complete asshat. I had 3 kids at TJ - 2 NMSF and 1 Commended. I'm pretty sure they googled to find out what their National Merit status was.

BTW the "Commended" kid is the one at an Ivy

You don’t know Commended status until your school notifies you, or, you do the math and determine the selection index number from your score. Not every student is savvy enough to figure that all out. Glad your kids were aware enough to do so, mine was not.
—Signed, lower-middle class mom

Guess your kids aren't at TJ then since TJ kids were actually notified in early November, a week or two after the information arrived at the school. It wouldn't matter what the school did since they'd find it unacceptable. She hates the principal and is looking to make mountains out of molehills.

What's the controversy if the school notified the kids within a week? This is bizarre. What am I missing?

I'm not the pp you are quoting.

It looks like the pp you quoted is wrong--it was a month (not "a week or two) after the information arrived at the school. Because the students were not notified until November, it was too late to include these awards in ED/EA college applications, which are typically due November 1. The information arrived at the school in mid October, so if they had been promptly notified they would have been able to include it.

From the article in the very first post:

On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. The letter included these words in bold type: “Please present the letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students’ only notification.”

National Merit hadn’t included enough stamps on the package, but nevertheless it got to Bonitatibus by mid-October—before the October 31 deadline for early acceptance to select colleges. In an email, Bonitatibus told Yashar that she had signed the certificates “within 48 hours.” But homeroom teachers didn’t distribute the awards until Monday, November 14, after the early-application deadlines had passed. Teachers dropped the certificates unceremoniously on students’ desks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this has now been picked up by the NY Post and so is being shared on FB by knee jerk right wing but jobs in flyover country that see the word “equity” and think the accomplishments of white kids are being suppressed to spare the feelings of underachieving minorities.

The irony.

Personally, I think TJ should be abolished. We shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to run a prep school for the nation’s most elite universities. That’s what private schools are for.

So only private schools should provide world-class education? Isn't that elitist? Defacto privatizing advanced academics mostly benefits white-privileged children.

Yes. The mission of public schools is not to deliver “world class education.” If that’s what you want, pay for it. I don’t want to pay for your child’s extras, especially when the system can obviously be gamed with prepping.

[Anonymous]

To those who are defending the TJ administration for consciously not making it a priority to notify the awardees of their awards in a timely manner....you do realize that there are probably URM's and whites (like my DD) among that group of recipients, right? Does your tune change when you realize that? While the decision not to celebrate the awardees probably wasn't racially motivated (in my opinion) , the callous response by some of you certainly is racist. I doubt you would be so callous and dismissive if all of the recipients were all black, all white, or other non-asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this has now been picked up by the NY Post and so is being shared on FB by knee jerk right wing but jobs in flyover country that see the word “equity” and think the accomplishments of white kids are being suppressed to spare the feelings of underachieving minorities.

The irony.

Personally, I think TJ should be abolished. We shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to run a prep school for the nation’s most elite universities. That’s what private schools are for.

So only private schools should provide world-class education? Isn't that elitist? Defacto privatizing advanced academics mostly benefits white-privileged children.

Yes. The mission of public schools is not to deliver “world class education.” If that’s what you want, pay for it. I don’t want to pay for your child’s extras, especially when the system can obviously be gamed with prepping.

DP. I fully support public schools providing “world class education” IFF it’s available to all kids. Unfortunately, people in FCPS are too cheap to pay for “world class education” for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those who are defending the TJ administration for consciously not making it a priority to notify the awardees of their awards in a timely manner....you do realize that there are probably URM's and whites (like my DD) among that group of recipients, right? Does your tune change when you realize that? While the decision not to celebrate the awardees probably wasn't racially motivated (in my opinion) , the callous response by some of you certainly is racist. I doubt you would be so callous and dismissive if all of the recipients were all black, all white, or other non-asian.

Huh? Race has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So this has now been picked up by the NY Post and so is being shared on FB by knee jerk right wing but jobs in flyover country that see the word “equity” and think the accomplishments of white kids are being suppressed to spare the feelings of underachieving minorities.

The irony.

Personally, I think TJ should be abolished. We shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to run a prep school for the nation’s most elite universities. That’s what private schools are for.

Ahhh - the elitists - they determine what you should know. I was from a poor single mother home - my mother had addiction issues and it was honest hard working blue collar people who looked out for me. I was a National Merit Semifinalist, and it meant a lot to me. No test prep. To this day I am more proud of my academic accomplishments than my athletic ones. And I went to a top 10 school on a full athletic scholarship.

My view on elites is that they by and large have no idea about what makes working class people tick. I was a law review editor at a top 10 school, and used to laugh when effete kids with a prep school background would pontificate about the glories of trade unions. Of course, they never worked in one and had no idea of the pluses and minuses of unions, but of course they knew better than us all. It would rile them that a stupid dumb jock who was a Teamster was second in the class. It wasn’t personal - they just couldn’t spew their narrative with being called on it.

If there was one working class immigrant family that wasn’t notified, that is enough for me. Not enough respect for people who come here and work their asses off for a better life - their kids achievements ought to be celebrated.

As far as getting rid of TJ, there is considerable research that challenging the top 5 percent of IQ people reaps productivity benefits for us all. My university had a talent identification program in the summers for 8th and 9th graders. It was premised on research that about as clear as it gets demonstrated the gains through challenging the gifted (it would likely be deemed racist today by the apparatchiks). I was the athletic counselor for these kids, and my sole goal was to make certain the kids did not impose limits on themselves because they were known as smart. Properly run, schools for the gifted make sense.

I have no axe to grind. My kids - and I did not push them one iota - were both NM finalists with the younger one being told she had the highest score in the state (shared with a few others). Their scores were not a social statement or an ode to test prep - they didn’t do any. The scores were simply a reflection of an achievement- admittedly narrow. There are a number of things I don’t really like about TJ. But that doesn’t mean getting rid of it is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this has now been picked up by the NY Post and so is being shared on FB by knee jerk right wing but jobs in flyover country that see the word “equity” and think the accomplishments of white kids are being suppressed to spare the feelings of underachieving minorities.

The irony.

Personally, I think TJ should be abolished. We shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to run a prep school for the nation’s most elite universities. That’s what private schools are for.

So only private schools should provide world-class education? Isn't that elitist? Defacto privatizing advanced academics mostly benefits white-privileged children.

Yes. The mission of public schools is not to deliver “world class education.” If that’s what you want, pay for it. I don’t want to pay for your child’s extras, especially when the system can obviously be gamed with prepping.

"gamed with prepping?" We don't need to use racist, anti-Asian dog whistles, which is clearly what you meant. As for the avenue to allow children to prosper, not all can afford private education and not all children have equal availability. Which is why we have Governor's schools. Your argument denies a pathway to prosperity for those from the lowest rung in society with grit and determination. It denies them an opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this has now been picked up by the NY Post and so is being shared on FB by knee jerk right wing but jobs in flyover country that see the word “equity” and think the accomplishments of white kids are being suppressed to spare the feelings of underachieving minorities.

The irony.

Personally, I think TJ should be abolished. We shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to run a prep school for the nation’s most elite universities. That’s what private schools are for.

So only private schools should provide world-class education? Isn't that elitist? Defacto privatizing advanced academics mostly benefits white-privileged children.

Yes. The mission of public schools is not to deliver “world class education.” If that’s what you want, pay for it. I don’t want to pay for your child’s extras, especially when the system can obviously be gamed with prepping.

"gamed with prepping?" We don't need to use racist, anti-Asian dog whistles, which is clearly what you meant. As for the avenue to allow children to prosper, not all can afford private education and not all children have equal availability. Which is why we have Governor's schools. Your argument denies a pathway to prosperity for those from the lowest rung in society with grit and determination. It denies them an opportunity.

Dude. There are literally prep cram schools in Korea for kids to come live with their “aunties”

Asians don’t need some special elite publicly-funded school. Pay for private.

[Anonymous]

No controversy here. But the article did get a few parents barking, up the wrong tree. Quite funny actually.

[Anonymous]

What Ann Bonitatubus and Asra Nomani have in common is that they both think TJ should always take up way more attention than it warrants. Bonitatubus wants to perpetuate the fiction that all TJ kids are equally brilliant, and Nomani wants to perpetuate the fiction that TJ would attract the county’s best and brightest kids if only FCPS still rewarded merit.

I’m sick of both of these narcissists and of TJ. It’s become clear at this point that it’s a giant time suck that takes up way too much of FCPS’s limited bandwidth, and that other schools suffer as a result. Make it a full time Academy or a neighborhood school again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No controversy here. But the article did get a few parents barking, up the wrong tree. Quite funny actually.

Not that funny for Asra to create such a toxic environment for the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No controversy here. But the article did get a few parents barking, up the wrong tree. Quite funny actually.

Not that funny for Asra to create such a toxic environment for the students.

No need to blame Asra Nomani for problems created by FCPS and the TJ administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No controversy here. But the article did get a few parents barking, up the wrong tree. Quite funny actually.

Not that funny for Asra to create such a toxic environment for the students.

No need to blame Asra Nomani for problems created by FCPS and the TJ administration.

We absolutely should blame Asra for trying to manufacture faux outrage that hurts the whole community. Such a terrible person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No controversy here. But the article did get a few parents barking, up the wrong tree. Quite funny actually.

Not that funny for Asra to create such a toxic environment for the students.

No need to blame Asra Nomani for problems created by FCPS and the TJ administration.

We absolutely should blame Asra for trying to manufacture faux outrage that hurts the whole community. Such a terrible person.

I would submit Ann Bonitatubus and Brandon Kosatka are doing more damage to the FCPS community through their heavy-handed efforts to deny students and families information to which they were entitled. Both should be terminated from their positions.