Reflections on the "TJ Papers"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“ On one hand, the students we're supposed to be helping are the bright, motivated ones who, due to poverty, have no time to invest in their studies. We've heard stories about how they're working odd jobs, babysitting siblings, and so on, meaning that their academics suffer out of practical necessity. At the same time, the students who the system is set up to help are lower income students with perfect GPAs, which seems to catch something entirely different from what the previous example said we were missing.”

I would say we should be helping the poor child with great grades and promise but who due to those extra demands on time and/or fewer family resources is less likely to have paid for test prep and private extracurricular things like higher quality stem camps etc.

This type of quote is from someone living in a pipe dream. If a kid was gifted, he or she would have likely been identified as such and attend an AAP program. Keep in mind, those outside AAP are not even taking Algebra 1 Honors by 8th grade while you have kids already in Calc in some cases. For these kids, there is the STEM program at Edison HS that provides STEM opportunities for those with as interest and passion for STEM, but haven't taken the advanced math courses, and it's open to all FCPS students countywide. Students only have to complete Algebra 2 by 11th grade.

What we have now are students in the class of 2025 that are so woefully underprepared that they had to create an even lower level remedial math course, Math 1. These kids are even on track to complete Calc by their senior year which means that TJ will have to again lower its standards so these kids can graduate.

[Anonymous]

If a kid was gifted, he or she would have likely been identified as such and attend an AAP program.

Not necessarily. You'd be surprised at who can fly under the radar.

[Anonymous]

Oh how many mediocre kids get “ squeezed “ in by pushy parents. Capable Low income kids without powerful squeaky wheel parents will have the opposite problem.

[Anonymous]

Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Wow lots to read but thank you for the summary. Early identification of URM students and early mentoring can help achieve equity without discrimination against another group.

Agreed. But how do we do this? Very important issue so I am truly interested in hearing how this can be achieved.

If you read through the docs, there was a blurb backed with actual stats that there were enough URM black and hispanic kids in level IV centers taking geometry in 8th to fill half a TJ freshman class, but they were not applying for TJ .

If the students are prepared, but not interested, for whatever reason, then lowering the standards to something almost any fcps can meet (algebra in 8th and low GPA cut off for middle school) is a huge mistake.

As a parent of a TJ kid, I think the bolded needs to be looked at. WHY are kids/parents not interested? (And some are overly interested.)

Why is it hard to understand that a 45+ minute commute to high school isn't desirable for a lot of kids especially if it means having to drop sports and activities.

It is almost comical that nobody has brought up the issue of peer groups as a reason why some of these qualified URMs are not choosing to attend TJ. Get a critical mass of URM students in there and then see if that changes the perception of TJ as an Asian/White magnet school.

I wholeheartedly support Dr. Brabrand and the SB on this issue.

No one perceives TJ as “Asian/White.” The student body was consistently 80% Asian, with the remaining 20% a mix of other races.

But in the past, all the TJ students had one thing in common: they were judged and admitted on the content of their academic achievement, rather than on the color of their skin.

Racist new criteria were introduced by Brabrand and the current SB.

How can you possibly support these racists, and their racist policies? It is all out in the open now (not to mention a focus on TJ admissions at the expense of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis).

I think you know the answer to this. This county has a lot of hard-core liberals and Democrats who supported changing TJ admissions, by whatever means necessary, and simply look at the process by which FCPS arrived at that decision, not matter how ugly and contrived, as a distraction that they'll dismiss as the "sausage-making."

I don't think for a second the goal of the White liberals was to increase the number of White students at TJ. It was to increase the number of Black, Hispanic, and FARMS kids at TJ so that they could burnish their own reputations as "allies" of those communities on a much broader range of social issues. Ultimately, it is very much about self-interest, and Asian kids are the sacrificial lambs in the process, but it's not just about increasing the percentage of White kids at TJ. Those families are just as happy to see their kids go to a Langley or a Lake Braddock, because they know their kids enjoy other advantages in life that make attending TJ less important to their future prospects.

So FCPS’s lawyers came up with a contrived statement by Pekarsky to the media about the sausage-making: https://www.wusa9.com/amp/article/news/local/virginia/fcps-lawsuit-over-controversial-admissions-policy-scheduled-court-hearing-next-week/65-b8f95ea4-e728-4712-8bca-5fc81ae58af8

Totally predictable, yet utterly unconvincing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

This doesn't affect you or your senior at all, then. You can stay out of all the drama by getting off this board. Why are you even here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

This doesn't affect you or your senior at all, then. You can stay out of all the drama by getting off this board. Why are you even here?

Because my kids loved TJ and it is sad to see so much drama and conflict about it. So is there a Math 1 this year? I am guessing you don’t know because you have no relationship with the school except to try to agitate around it on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

TJ always has at least one Math 1 class. There are a few more this year. It's really not a big deal in any way.

[Anonymous]

Basically the rich parents who can afford to test prep their kids from 1st grade NNAT up until the TJ test are all pissed that they no longer can reliably get their kids a quality private high school education with public dollars. Why we are spending public money on a school like TJ and at the same time all the other schools are overcrowded and can't afford to pay enough to keep teachers and subs will never make sense to me.
My son's 2nd grade teacher told us that over half the kids were in Kumon, Sunshine Academy, and other math prep (and CogAT prep) courses when she asked if kids had seen questions like these during the CogAT pre-test examples a couple years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ On one hand, the students we're supposed to be helping are the bright, motivated ones who, due to poverty, have no time to invest in their studies. We've heard stories about how they're working odd jobs, babysitting siblings, and so on, meaning that their academics suffer out of practical necessity. At the same time, the students who the system is set up to help are lower income students with perfect GPAs, which seems to catch something entirely different from what the previous example said we were missing.”

I would say we should be helping the poor child with great grades and promise but who due to those extra demands on time and/or fewer family resources is less likely to have paid for test prep and private extracurricular things like higher quality stem camps etc.

This type of quote is from someone living in a pipe dream. If a kid was gifted, he or she would have likely been identified as such and attend an AAP program. Keep in mind, those outside AAP are not even taking Algebra 1 Honors by 8th grade while you have kids already in Calc in some cases. For these kids, there is the STEM program at Edison HS that provides STEM opportunities for those with as interest and passion for STEM, but haven't taken the advanced math courses, and it's open to all FCPS students countywide. Students only have to complete Algebra 2 by 11th grade.

What we have now are students in the class of 2025 that are so woefully underprepared that they had to create an even lower level remedial math course, Math 1. These kids are even on track to complete Calc by their senior year which means that TJ will have to again lower its standards so these kids can graduate.

- which is exactly what most of us feared would happen with Brabrand/the SB’s race-based “overhaul” of a school that was already 80% minority/BIPOC.

Brabrand/ the SB lowered standards and were racist against Asian/Indian kids too. Yes - an election is coming in 2023.

But will the SB at least do the honorable thing and resign?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

TJ always has at least one Math 1 class. There are a few more this year. It's really not a big deal in any way.

I don’t think they have had it in the past. It is a big deal because the advanced math classes that TJ offers will end if there are not enough students to take them. So if there a few classes of Math 1 this year, that means those kids wouldn’t be eligible for those classes and reduce the numbers who would. In a few years, the course offerings will significantly change leaving no opportunities for the kids who would like to take those classes and should be able to at TJ. The advanced and interesting classes are a huge part of TJ and things my kids (who didn’t do Kumon, Sunshine Academy or any other prep classes) really enjoyed about TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, TJ has Math 1 this year? That’s ridiculous! My kid is a senior and I am trying to stay out of all the drama over this.

TJ always has at least one Math 1 class. There are a few more this year. It's really not a big deal in any way.

I do not believe that is true. Do you have any proof to support your claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basically the rich parents who can afford to test prep their kids from 1st grade NNAT up until the TJ test are all pissed that they no longer can reliably get their kids a quality private high school education with public dollars. Why we are spending public money on a school like TJ and at the same time all the other schools are overcrowded and can't afford to pay enough to keep teachers and subs will never make sense to me.
My son's 2nd grade teacher told us that over half the kids were in Kumon, Sunshine Academy, and other math prep (and CogAT prep) courses when she asked if kids had seen questions like these during the CogAT pre-test examples a couple years ago.

Bc there are actually "rich" parents who can afford/know about tutoring and test prep yet don't do it bc their kid is genuinely gifted in STEM and TJ is where their educational needs can be met. You wouldn't take away special needs education bc not everyone is in it would you? Or is your argument that bc parents might have the resources to supplement they should. Let's apply this across the board to any sort of special needs education and see how that goes over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basically the rich parents who can afford to test prep their kids from 1st grade NNAT up until the TJ test are all pissed that they no longer can reliably get their kids a quality private high school education with public dollars. Why we are spending public money on a school like TJ and at the same time all the other schools are overcrowded and can't afford to pay enough to keep teachers and subs will never make sense to me.
My son's 2nd grade teacher told us that over half the kids were in Kumon, Sunshine Academy, and other math prep (and CogAT prep) courses when she asked if kids had seen questions like these during the CogAT pre-test examples a couple years ago.

Bc there are actually "rich" parents who can afford/know about tutoring and test prep yet don't do it bc their kid is genuinely gifted in STEM and TJ is where their educational needs can be met. You wouldn't take away special needs education bc not everyone is in it would you? Or is your argument that bc parents might have the resources to supplement they should. Let's apply this across the board to any sort of special needs education and see how that goes over.

Their needs can be met through a base school and duel enrollment classes once they run out of math classes at their base school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basically the rich parents who can afford to test prep their kids from 1st grade NNAT up until the TJ test are all pissed that they no longer can reliably get their kids a quality private high school education with public dollars. Why we are spending public money on a school like TJ and at the same time all the other schools are overcrowded and can't afford to pay enough to keep teachers and subs will never make sense to me.
My son's 2nd grade teacher told us that over half the kids were in Kumon, Sunshine Academy, and other math prep (and CogAT prep) courses when she asked if kids had seen questions like these during the CogAT pre-test examples a couple years ago.

Bc there are actually "rich" parents who can afford/know about tutoring and test prep yet don't do it bc their kid is genuinely gifted in STEM and TJ is where their educational needs can be met. You wouldn't take away special needs education bc not everyone is in it would you? Or is your argument that bc parents might have the resources to supplement they should. Let's apply this across the board to any sort of special needs education and see how that goes over.

The language of special education was co-opted by those demanding special privileges for kids who are slightly advanced. It became a tool for segregation under the guise of accommodation. There is no continued need for TJ, especially now that it’s just a glorified spoils system carried forward to enable pols like Ricardy Anderson and Karen Corbett Sanders to tell their constituents they are bringing home the bacon.