TJ admissions decision - repercussions for Class of 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

So, the class action lawsuit will have not just applicants rejected last year but the entire group of applicants for this year. Make those racist idiots homeless. All of them.

They would not be homeless, you would just bankrupt FCPS. They can't be sued in their individual capacities. You would be suing the board as it pertains to FCPS.

Make fcps bankrupt, they are already morally bankrupt.

And we’re back to the astroturf goal of defunding public schools.

Predictable.

Well when the school board and fcps public school system administration looses moral legitimacy by explictly behaving as racists and discriminatingly treated people as racially too toxic to be admitted to a county-wide school, and defending that practice even after a court finds that behavior unconstitutional and orders them to stop, what do you expect the public should want to have take place? To continue supporting and paying for that? Of course people are extremely angry, especially those who were racially classified as unwanted, at this policy - to gaslight them and "we're back to astroturf" is to support this despicable policy and be part of this racist behavior

54% is hardly "undesirable", especially given that that number approximates the percentage who applied in the first place. But keep crying your crocodile tears.

The level to which people want to oversell the impact of this policy is really embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an idea! Everyone work hard and actually study. The best students regardless of race go to TJ. The new supreme court nominee MS. Jackson is proof the sky is the limit for bright, hard working students.

Here’s another idea: equal access to prep programs.

While I agree in the spirit of, FCPS should provide prep programs (especially at middle schools that don't traditionally have a lot of kids accepted into TJ) "equal access" is going to be hard to truly achieve.

Throwing out TJ, just thinking about regular grades - it's not *fair* that some kids' parents can pay for them to get a tutor when they fall behind in class, and other kids have to babysit their siblings in the evenings and have no time to study. But what can the school do to fix that beyond banning out-of-school tutoring, and how would that be constitutional?

I know. Asian kids have too much to do - baby sitting and studying. I don't know how they do it.

They don't. Due to draconian child policy, babysitting is practically nonexistent.

We are talking about Asian Americans. Hard to believe but they do exist.

Maybe PP is so aroused by the prospect of implementing draconian child policies on Asian Americans that the fantasy became reality in her mind momentarily.

So true. When the entire leadership of one of the richest and the largest school district is openly racist against a minority group and laughing about it what do you expect from the parents in such school district? Fine role models.

Department of Justice should investigate for violations of civil rights and criminally charge appropriate individuals to rot in prison for decades.

It's a federal crime when a person who is acting "under color of any law" (that is, under governmental authority or the pretense of authority) violates another person's civil rights "willfully" (18 U.S.C. § 242).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an idea! Everyone work hard and actually study. The best students regardless of race go to TJ. The new supreme court nominee MS. Jackson is proof the sky is the limit for bright, hard working students.

Here’s another idea: equal access to prep programs.

While I agree in the spirit of, FCPS should provide prep programs (especially at middle schools that don't traditionally have a lot of kids accepted into TJ) "equal access" is going to be hard to truly achieve.

Throwing out TJ, just thinking about regular grades - it's not *fair* that some kids' parents can pay for them to get a tutor when they fall behind in class, and other kids have to babysit their siblings in the evenings and have no time to study. But what can the school do to fix that beyond banning out-of-school tutoring, and how would that be constitutional?

I know. Asian kids have too much to do - baby sitting and studying. I don't know how they do it.

They don't. Due to draconian child policy, babysitting is practically nonexistent.

We are talking about Asian Americans. Hard to believe but they do exist.

Maybe PP is so aroused by the prospect of implementing draconian child policies on Asian Americans that the fantasy became reality in her mind momentarily.

So true. When the entire leadership of one of the richest and the largest school district is openly racist against a minority group and laughing about it what do you expect from the parents in such school district? Fine role models.

Department of Justice should investigate for violations of civil rights and criminally charge appropriate individuals to rot in prison for decades.

It's a federal crime when a person who is acting "under color of any law" (that is, under governmental authority or the pretense of authority) violates another person's civil rights "willfully" (18 U.S.C. § 242).

Didn't the entire board members and Brabrand "willfully" violate Asian applicants' civil rights under governmental authority? Federal judge already ruled as such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an idea! Everyone work hard and actually study. The best students regardless of race go to TJ. The new supreme court nominee MS. Jackson is proof the sky is the limit for bright, hard working students.

Here’s another idea: equal access to prep programs.

While I agree in the spirit of, FCPS should provide prep programs (especially at middle schools that don't traditionally have a lot of kids accepted into TJ) "equal access" is going to be hard to truly achieve.

Throwing out TJ, just thinking about regular grades - it's not *fair* that some kids' parents can pay for them to get a tutor when they fall behind in class, and other kids have to babysit their siblings in the evenings and have no time to study. But what can the school do to fix that beyond banning out-of-school tutoring, and how would that be constitutional?

I know. Asian kids have too much to do - baby sitting and studying. I don't know how they do it.

They don't. Due to draconian child policy, babysitting is practically nonexistent.

We are talking about Asian Americans. Hard to believe but they do exist.

Maybe PP is so aroused by the prospect of implementing draconian child policies on Asian Americans that the fantasy became reality in her mind momentarily.

So true. When the entire leadership of one of the richest and the largest school district is openly racist against a minority group and laughing about it what do you expect from the parents in such school district? Fine role models.

Department of Justice should investigate for violations of civil rights and criminally charge appropriate individuals to rot in prison for decades.

[phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The FCPS TJ admissions website still has the process on their website. I don’t think anything is changing for the class of 2026 folks.

https://www.fcps.edu/registration/thomas-jefferson-high-school-science-and-technology-admissions/tjhsst-freshman

This is very interesting. What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

The school board now is scheduled to have a closed meeting on Monday 3/7 at 1:00 pm. I’m guessing that they will decide then what to do as far as an appeal.

I don’t think that they can change the selection process now for the class of 2026. The problem is that part of the judges opinion deals with the faulty procedural that FCPS used to change the admissions process. They took votes in working sessions and it was unclear what they were actually voting on.

I don’t see how they put the toothpaste back into the tube for the class of 2026. They just need to seat this class and then develop another process with public engagement for the class of 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS still have our decisions during the last 2 cycles despite litigation. This class won’t be affected. The next will.

non compliance will subject Brabrand and the school board members to imprisonment for contempt of court until they comply. They may be stupid but not that stupid.

Except that’s not how things work generally when there’s a court ruling. Unless it’s specifically retroactive, the decision only applies MOVING FORWARD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

Nope. There was nothing in that ruling that said they had to abandon decisions for this year. It’s next year and beyond that will be changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school board now is scheduled to have a closed meeting on Monday 3/7 at 1:00 pm. I’m guessing that they will decide then what to do as far as an appeal.

I don’t think that they can change the selection process now for the class of 2026. The problem is that part of the judges opinion deals with the faulty procedural that FCPS used to change the admissions process. They took votes in working sessions and it was unclear what they were actually voting on.

I don’t see how they put the toothpaste back into the tube for the class of 2026. They just need to seat this class and then develop another process with public engagement for the class of 2027.

They actually had a “special closed meeting” (their words, not mine) yesterday at 10:30 am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

Nope. There was nothing in that ruling that said they had to abandon decisions for this year. It’s next year and beyond that will be changed.

It all depends on the case law of the 4th circuit. I have no idea what happens in the 4th circuit with an order that is issued in the middle of a process.

It seems very murky. If they had announced admissions decisions before the ruling came out, I would think they were on stronger ground to use the new process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

Nope. There was nothing in that ruling that said they had to abandon decisions for this year. It’s next year and beyond that will be changed.

When a party is "enjoined" from something, it doesn't mean next year. It means immediately, unless a stay is issued by the court or a higher court stays the ruling in some fashion. Federal judges are not known for their sense of humor on these points. And federal courts don't just wait around til "next year" to see if you'll maybe, possibly, pretty please address the unconstitutional harm that you have caused.

FCPS cannot use that admissions system unless the 4th Circuit steps in. And the Circuit Court of Appeals will not do so until asked to by FCPS, which even then is not a given and will likely take some time. At this point, FCPS will need to come up with an alternative process regardless unless they wish risking contempt charges. FCPS is running out of time on all fronts.

I feel for the kids involved in this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

Nope. There was nothing in that ruling that said they had to abandon decisions for this year. It’s next year and beyond that will be changed.

When a party is "enjoined" from something, it doesn't mean next year. It means immediately, unless a stay is issued by the court or a higher court stays the ruling in some fashion. Federal judges are not known for their sense of humor on these points. And federal courts don't just wait around til "next year" to see if you'll maybe, possibly, pretty please address the unconstitutional harm that you have caused.

FCPS cannot use that admissions system unless the 4th Circuit steps in. And the Circuit Court of Appeals will not do so until asked to by FCPS, which even then is not a given and will likely take some time. At this point, FCPS will need to come up with an alternative process regardless unless they wish risking contempt charges. FCPS is running out of time on all fronts.

I feel for the kids involved in this process.

Maybe just shut it down. Might be the best option at this point.

[Anonymous]

No one really cares if the proposed changes were clearly intended to remove the barriers for under represented groups. But, from the very start board made changes to explicitly reduce asian kids and even joked/admitted to it in their internal communications. Attending school based quotas instead of base school (even some board members expressed concerns about it), unweighted GPA (its easier to score better GPA by taking easier bare min route), removal of the initial screening test (not a bad thing), removal of teacher recommendations, significant weightage given to essays (subjective and tests writing skills more than STEM), a lot of weightage to additional experience factors (educated/working families in good neighborhoods will essentially score '0' points) etc are all specifically designed to hurt asian kids. This is almost like all the new rules around voter restrictions

Instead, focus on how to generate interest for STEM in under represented groups and only count the factors that kids can accumulate during the normal school and/or with out additional expense. So, fee paid summer school or any other expensive after school activities such as computer/math/science tests shouldn't be factored in as not all kids can afford them. However, being in AAP, advanced math or participating in school offered STEM activities should considered. I am sure that by 5th grade almost all the kids who deserve to be AAP or advanced math will make it either by testing or teacher/principal placement, so school offered advanced course work should be factored in. It may be ok reserve a min number of seats to each geographic area, school pyramid or 'base' (definitely not attending) school provided some criteria is met, but shouldn't be obvious that under performing kids will sneak in. It was a mistake to remove teacher recommendations as teachers generally more about kids than some random person grading essays. If TJ is not supposed to be a magnet school and not required to serve the best and brightest, then we should just dissolve it and simply enhance base schools with advanced course selections that every kid could take advantage of. Quotas (ex: 20% asians should get 20% TJ seats) are racist as hell and bad for the merit which leads to infighting more than anything and leads to significant resentment among different groups of students and they feel one group is more deserved than the other. If kids from an under represented group don't perform well or unable to compete with others, they may get isolated and/or looked down upon. Coming from a country with race based quotas, I have experienced this first hand. I hope we don't end up like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one really cares if the proposed changes were clearly intended to remove the barriers for under represented groups. But, from the very start board made changes to explicitly reduce asian kids and even joked/admitted to it in their internal communications. Attending school based quotas instead of base school (even some board members expressed concerns about it), unweighted GPA (its easier to score better GPA by taking easier bare min route), removal of the initial screening test (not a bad thing), removal of teacher recommendations, significant weightage given to essays (subjective and tests writing skills more than STEM), a lot of weightage to additional experience factors (educated/working families in good neighborhoods will essentially score '0' points) etc are all specifically designed to hurt asian kids. This is almost like all the new rules around voter restrictions

Instead, focus on how to generate interest for STEM in under represented groups and only count the factors that kids can accumulate during the normal school and/or with out additional expense. So, fee paid summer school or any other expensive after school activities such as computer/math/science tests shouldn't be factored in as not all kids can afford them. However, being in AAP, advanced math or participating in school offered STEM activities should considered. I am sure that by 5th grade almost all the kids who deserve to be AAP or advanced math will make it either by testing or teacher/principal placement, so school offered advanced course work should be factored in. It may be ok reserve a min number of seats to each geographic area, school pyramid or 'base' (definitely not attending) school provided some criteria is met, but shouldn't be obvious that under performing kids will sneak in. It was a mistake to remove teacher recommendations as teachers generally more about kids than some random person grading essays. If TJ is not supposed to be a magnet school and not required to serve the best and brightest, then we should just dissolve it and simply enhance base schools with advanced course selections that every kid could take advantage of. Quotas (ex: 20% asians should get 20% TJ seats) are racist as hell and bad for the merit which leads to infighting more than anything and leads to significant resentment among different groups of students and they feel one group is more deserved than the other. If kids from an under represented group don't perform well or unable to compete with others, they may get isolated and/or looked down upon. Coming from a country with race based quotas, I have experienced this first hand. I hope we don't end up like that.

This belongs on the other thread.

THIS thread is about the kids that applied for the class of 2026 and what is happening with that process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could just have a lost year. No 2026.

Nope. There was nothing in that ruling that said they had to abandon decisions for this year. It’s next year and beyond that will be changed.

When a party is "enjoined" from something, it doesn't mean next year. It means immediately, unless a stay is issued by the court or a higher court stays the ruling in some fashion. Federal judges are not known for their sense of humor on these points. And federal courts don't just wait around til "next year" to see if you'll maybe, possibly, pretty please address the unconstitutional harm that you have caused.

FCPS cannot use that admissions system unless the 4th Circuit steps in. And the Circuit Court of Appeals will not do so until asked to by FCPS, which even then is not a given and will likely take some time. At this point, FCPS will need to come up with an alternative process regardless unless they wish risking contempt charges. FCPS is running out of time on all fronts.

I feel for the kids involved in this process.

This is thoughtful.

Could the school board just announce a new process or would they need to go through the normal steps of public comment, community engagement etc?

I agree that they are running out of time.