FCPS TJ Class of 2024 Press Release - Buried; AA Admits "TS" to Mention

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

Then you would complain the AAP program was racist because it was too hard for you. You would also ask to change the AAP curriculum and have a different grading criteria just for your kids. I guarantee it’s gonna happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

+1000

Let's end discrimination against black students in AAP admissions. Diversity in AAP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

+1000

Let's end discrimination against black students in AAP admissions. Diversity in AAP!

We can all write to the school board members of fcps to ensure this happens asap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

+1000

Let's end discrimination against black students in AAP admissions. Diversity in AAP!

We can all write to the school board members of fcps to ensure this happens asap.

Will On-Line Petition help speed up this process? Should the Committee that makes the placement decisions be contacted as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why stop with high schools, let’s make sure all AAP centers are at least 20 percent African American students. It is more important a student receives quality education early as possible.

This will definitely help black and Hispanic elementary students develop solid foundtion.

+1000

Let's end discrimination against black students in AAP admissions. Diversity in AAP!

We can all write to the school board members of fcps to ensure this happens asap.

Will On-Line Petition help speed up this process? Should the Committee that makes the placement decisions be contacted as well?

Black students should make up at least 35% of the AAP Centers: "...they constituted 35 percent of the student body overall in the 2015-2016 school year."

"Black and Hispanic students have long been underrepresented in the elementary advanced academic program in Fairfax County, which puts students on track for college preparatory work and is crucial for those who aspire to attend Northern Virginia's premier magnet high school.

An Associated Press investigation, published Saturday, reveals part of the problem: Despite universal screening for gifted programs, black and Hispanic families are far less likely than white and Asian counterparts to appeal when their children are deemed ineligible, a process that often means shelling out $500 or more for a psychologist to reevaluate a child.

The result? Of the 1,737 second-graders admitted through the appeals process over the last decade, fewer than 50 were black and Hispanic. Black and Hispanic students constituted 12 percent of those deemed eligible for the highest academic classes in Fairfax County over the last decade, according to the AP."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/why-are-black-and-hispanic-students-underrepresented-in-this-northern-virginia-gifted-program/2018/02/03/1c8cd98a-090f-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This starts early. Look at the middle schools with “too few to list” as their total admits. Those are the ones with the highest black student percentage. Then look at AAP admits by elementary school, and see that whiter parts of the county have more AAP students. It’s not necessarily TJ discriminating, it’s black students lacking early opportunities.

I taught in a middle school with a large percentage of POC. When it came time for TJ admission applications, they didn’t have the resume of ECs and summer camps that the white kids did. We need to start targeting these kids young if we want them to gain admission and be successful at TJ.

Yep, this is the issue.

Black parents need to step it up. The schools are telling Asian parents to prep their kids, get them in AAP, send them to tutoring and so on. They are learning this through word of mouth.

My son is one of the few Hispanic kids that got accepted to TJ this year. I have a PhD and resources, but we opted not to send my son to TJ prep classes. I was confident in his abilities and had no desire to burden him with afterschool or summer classes that didn't align with his extracurricular interests. Plus, we only just moved to the area when he was in 7th grade. We chose FCPS because I had read about TJ. I'm glad I never felt like I wasn't doing enough to get him into TJ as he was growing up because we simply didn't live in this area.

Anyway, I've taught high school and college. I've noticed that student success is tied to their parents' drive to help them be successful. The parents may have been like mine--no college education, but wanting and actually doing something so that their children might be successful. There are better off parents that have been doing the same for generations. I've also had students and classmates (growing up) with wealthy parents, and you could tell that their parents had failed them in some way or another. I don't believe that "the system" fails students or teachers fail students. Students' own parents fail them, and it's not necessarily tied to income.

Now, not getting into TJ is not a failure. But if black and Hispanic kids are not being admitted in greater numbers, the kids may have never had that dream instilled in them. (I read about how Loudoun was considering not renewing their contract to send kids to TJ: https://loudounnow.com/2019/05/28/school-board-keeps-tj-cuts-costs/. There was a second grader that spoke up to keep TJ as an option for Loudoun!) If the kids have at the very least an interest in STEM, how are those interests being nurtured?

Even when I was in grad school and my family and I were on food stamps, I got books in front of my kids, I tutored them in my strong subjects and my wife in her areas. I found a free STEM summer camp in our area, and I got applied for and got scholarships for the other camps that we would send our kids to. We couldn't afford tutoring, but once we could, we got my son an algebra tutor when he was in the 5th grade because he had advanced beyond the point that my wife could teach him. I also volunteered to coach for Science Olympiad at my son's elementary school (I'm a literature guy!), and he placed every year I "coached" him and his classmates. But, really, he's always been the one to school me on scientific subjects.

So, I'll just rephrase what PP said, "Parents need to step it up." If you want to be somebody, you gotta do something. I, as a Hispanic man and an educator, do not see there being any issue with racism in this process at all.

[Anonymous]

If nothing else, that proves that Tigre Dads exist.

And that people generally don't look too far back at those they've left behind.

[Anonymous]

This thread (and others) sums up to one thing: I want free rides. You’re a racist if you don’t sacrifice yourself offering that to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread (and others) sums up to one thing: I want free rides. You’re a racist if you don’t sacrifice yourself offering that to me.

You can keep ignoring the racism but change is coming.

https://twitter.com/fairfaxcounty/status/1270513647320739842?s=21

[Anonymous]

Not all underrepresentation issues are racism. Or else the lack of diversity in NBA and NFL rosters too should be highlighted as “racist outcomes” (which it is not). Arbitrary quotas will either result in many kids drop out after freshman year or result in school standards being diluted (as the administration strives to retain these kids). There should be a concerted attempt at the elementary level to get AA kids interested in STEM. Build extensive after-school facilities with STEM programs. Partner with the many tech companies to make these facilities a big draw for young kids. Recognize the kids who excel. And set yourself a goal of 10% representation of AA kids At TJ in 10 years. And if there is no other money to be had then slash the TJ budget by 10%.

Shutting down TJ or quotas will be a Pyrrhic victory. Promoting mediocrity is not equity. Do not firebomb centers of excellence in the name of equity. Focus on equity of opportunity not equity in outcome. The sad truth is that we worship elitism in this country whether it is TJ, the Ivy League or the NBA. It is not going away. Kill TJ and a new private will take its place - and the underrepresentation issues will remain.

Hopefully the rational folks can see through the agenda of the dedicated anti-TJ provocateur who takes every opportunity to push for TJ’s demise. The current situation is her golden opportunity to meet her life goal.

[Anonymous]

Area residents should be able to have candid discussions about TJ‘S future without those who want to preserve the status quo resorting to such offensive rhetoric. Try to do better, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Area residents should be able to have candid discussions about TJ‘S future without those who want to preserve the status quo resorting to such offensive rhetoric. Try to do better, PP.

If you are wedded to your agenda, anything that does not confirm to your agenda will be offensive. I am not sorry but I am sorry for you.

Of course, area residents should be consulted. But it depends on how you define area. TJ is an area resource - the area being Fairfax county and not just Annandale. Otherwise I would want the DMV moved out of my neighborhood because it brings in unwanted traffic. And the local trauma center brings in emergency vehicles from all over. The point is there ought to be focus on the greater good.

I see issues with equity at TJ that need to be addressed. But this area residents being consulted is an issue only if you are narrowly focused on property values (you know how it works don’t you - well-provisioned TJ becomes a local school boosting property values) Be a bigger better person, PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Area residents should be able to have candid discussions about TJ‘S future without those who want to preserve the status quo resorting to such offensive rhetoric. Try to do better, PP.

If you are wedded to your agenda, anything that does not confirm to your agenda will be offensive. I am not sorry but I am sorry for you.

Of course, area residents should be consulted. But it depends on how you define area. TJ is an area resource - the area being Fairfax county and not just Annandale. Otherwise I would want the DMV moved out of my neighborhood because it brings in unwanted traffic. And the local trauma center brings in emergency vehicles from all over. The point is there ought to be focus on the greater good.

I see issues with equity at TJ that need to be addressed. But this area residents being consulted is an issue only if you are narrowly focused on property values (you know how it works don’t you - well-provisioned TJ becomes a local school boosting property values) Be a bigger better person, PP

There are broader at issues at stake than the property values in the immediate communities near TJ, but since you went there TJ's conversion to a magnet was very negative for that area.

FCPS didn't take the time to adjust the boundaries carefully when Jefferson was shut down. Rather they moved everyone to Annandale thinking that would placate the families who no longer had a school.

Unfortunately, that both overcrowded Annandale and concentrated poverty along Route 236 that previously had been divided between two schools at a single school. And that overcrowded school then had to shed single-family neighborhoods in subsequent years to Falls Church, Lake Braddock, Woodson, and Edison. Some of the Edison students now have to cross both 395 and 495 to get to Edison. Of course all this has been bad for the neighborhoods and those who live in them, as well as the property values.

Meanwhile the TJ students attend a school with a low enrollment (@ 1800) in a renovated facility where they get to take classes and enjoy privileges that students at almost every other school are denied.

FCPS cannot for a minute pretend that it cares about "One Fairfax" and equity if it continues to operate TJ for the benefit of a population that is only 2% FARMS, 4% black and Hispanic, and roughly 30% out-of-county students. This nonsense has gone on far too long and it needs to stop.