TJ to Be Renamed H-FC ASGW?

[Anonymous]

That's the name that a local politician from Fairfax County suggests might be more appropriate for TJ now - the "Herndon-Falls Church Alternative School for the Gifted and Wealthy" (apparently referring to the number of TJ students who come from Carson and Longfellow, the smart kids who are admitted, and the very low number of lower-income students at the school).

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2015/apr/22/thomas-jefferson-class-2019-70-asian-16-black/

I think they probably have to keep calling the school TJ now that we've paid God-knows how much for its very own Rotunda there. But is this a bellweather of increasing political pressure to diversify the student body or convert TJ back into a neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile, here's what Falls Church High School looks like:







TJ gets turned into a mini-U.Va. while FCPS leaves FCHS in this squalid condition. Absolutely and completely shameful.

[Anonymous]

TJ admission breakdown by race is what the Ivies/selective colleges would look like without legacy admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ admission breakdown by race is what the Ivies/selective colleges would look like without legacy admits.

Hardly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ admission breakdown by race is what the Ivies/selective colleges would look like without legacy admits.

Hardly.

Almost. Taking out the international students, UC Berkley has a 29% White student population; Asian Americans are at about 50%.

California has about 13% AA, compared to Fairfax at about 18.5%.

Any further move away from academic merit for admissions will serve to reduce the Asian American student population at TJ pure and simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they probably have to keep calling the school TJ now that we've paid God-knows how much for its very own Rotunda there. But is this a bellweather of increasing political pressure to diversify the student body or convert TJ back into a neighborhood school?

I think that ship sailed a couple of hundred million in renovations ago. Given the amount of specialized equipment and millions of dollars poured into TJ, it will never be available to gen pop. And unless the DOE civil rights investigation goes sideways, there will be no impetus to change anything that is producing a school pretty consistently ranked as one of the top 3 in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they probably have to keep calling the school TJ now that we've paid God-knows how much for its very own Rotunda there. But is this a bellweather of increasing political pressure to diversify the student body or convert TJ back into a neighborhood school?

I think that ship sailed a couple of hundred million in renovations ago. Given the amount of specialized equipment and millions of dollars poured into TJ, it will never be available to gen pop. And unless the DOE civil rights investigation goes sideways, there will be no impetus to change anything that is producing a school pretty consistently ranked as one of the top 3 in the country.

Fairfax is an increasingly diverse, Democratic-leaning county. The politician who sarcastically proposed to rename TJ as H-FC ASGW is a local Democrat who represents an area that feels largely shut out of TJ.

If you want to talk about sailing ships, I'm not sure you know which way the winds are blowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ admission breakdown by race is what the Ivies/selective colleges would look like without legacy admits.

Hardly.

Almost. Taking out the international students, UC Berkley has a 29% White student population; Asian Americans are at about 50%.

California has about 13% AA, compared to Fairfax at about 18.5%.

Any further move away from academic merit for admissions will serve to reduce the Asian American student population at TJ pure and simple.

According to the article FCPS has 10.2% AA not 18.5%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ admission breakdown by race is what the Ivies/selective colleges would look like without legacy admits.

Hardly.

Almost. Taking out the international students, UC Berkley has a 29% White student population; Asian Americans are at about 50%.

California has about 13% AA, compared to Fairfax at about 18.5%.

Any further move away from academic merit for admissions will serve to reduce the Asian American student population at TJ pure and simple.

According to the article FCPS has 10.2% AA not 18.5%.

Is pp using AA to mean Asian American? Normally, AA means African American.

[Anonymous]

It is time for arlingtonton to keep our dollars home. Fix can do what it wants.

[Anonymous]

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't TJ a state magnet school that administratively falls under fcps?

[Anonymous]

That rotunda looks like something in Vegas. What a ridiculous waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That rotunda looks like something in Vegas. What a ridiculous waste of money.

Yes. And do you know what the space will be used for? Nothing, actually. Purely decorative. Given the needs of all of the schools in FCPS it's a scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That rotunda looks like something in Vegas. What a ridiculous waste of money.

Yes. And do you know what the space will be used for? Nothing, actually. Purely decorative. Given the needs of all of the schools in FCPS it's a scam.

My child will probably apply to TJ and I agree that it's an outrageous expenditure given the state of our budget. When I saw the construction last year, I thought that the shape was meant for an observatory. I suggest they cut up a hole in the rotunda and install a telescope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is time for arlingtonton to keep our dollars home. Fix can do what it wants.

It's cheaper for Arlington to send the kids to TJ than for them to attend high school in Arlington.
And for the Fairfax HS poster - you apparently never saw TJ before the renovation. It was in worse condition.