New TJ Lawsuit Filed 3/10/21 by Pacific Legal Foundation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

Overwhelming evidence...just like how Trump won by a landslide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

Twitter: This claim lacks evidence and may be fraudulent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

Twitter: This claim lacks evidence and may be fraudulent

I

I'm pretty sure FCPS Board admits this - the only way to get more URM in is to make room for them, which means fewer Asian students will be admitted than are currently admitted each year. Are people really trying to deny this as being accurate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

By definition increasing URM numbers at TJ will decrease Asian and White numbers- the math is really simple there. You're basically saying that desegregation is a per se violation of the equal protection clause because it necessarily disadvantages one race- good luck with that

+1. This lawyer who wrote the Hill op-Ed piece is either a staggeringly poor lawyer or a staggeringly brilliant businesswoman. These families are going to end up paying gobs and gobs of legal fees - both their own and FCPS’ if the case is even heard - and it’s only going to get worse the further up they appeal.

And for what? If you’re the type of kid who is helped by the old admissions process, you’re also the type of kid whose college admissions prospects will be hurt by going to TJ over your base school. It just doesn’t add up.

They are taking a stand against discrimination against them that is getting worse and worse. You would have told Rosa Parks she was wasting her time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

By definition increasing URM numbers at TJ will decrease Asian and White numbers- the math is really simple there. You're basically saying that desegregation is a per se violation of the equal protection clause because it necessarily disadvantages one race- good luck with that

+1. This lawyer who wrote the Hill op-Ed piece is either a staggeringly poor lawyer or a staggeringly brilliant businesswoman. These families are going to end up paying gobs and gobs of legal fees - both their own and FCPS’ if the case is even heard - and it’s only going to get worse the further up they appeal.

And for what? If you’re the type of kid who is helped by the old admissions process, you’re also the type of kid whose college admissions prospects will be hurt by going to TJ over your base school. It just doesn’t add up.

They are taking a stand against discrimination against them that is getting worse and worse. You would have told Rosa Parks she was wasting her time.

It’s not discrimination to remove a flawed metric that has little predictive value and conveys a demonstrable advantage to a particular cohort. It’s not discrimination to end de facto segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

Twitter: This claim lacks evidence and may be fraudulent

I

I'm pretty sure FCPS Board admits this - the only way to get more URM in is to make room for them, which means fewer Asian students will be admitted than are currently admitted each year. Are people really trying to deny this as being accurate?

That’s.... just not true. If TJ’s class of 2025 were 70% Asian, 20% white, 5% Black and 5% Hispanic, that would be a huge win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against Brabrand and the School Board today in federal district court on behalf of a primarily Asian advocacy group alleging the changes to the TJ admissions process were racially motivated and violate the Equal Protection Clause.

https://pacificlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Coalition-for-TJ-v.-Fairfax-County-School-Board.pdf

This one will require more resources to defend than the one filed in local court. Why is Brabrand subjecting FCPS to such litigation risk over and over again? He got hired saying "the main thing was the main thing." People naively thought he meant academics; instead, it's turned out to be "equity" initiatives that invite judicial challenges.

This, like the other lawsuits, is going absolutely nowhere. The families of the eighth graders are not going to get their injunctive relief - it was already denied in another case - and once the die is cast in the admissions process and students are admitted, they will almost certainly remove their names from the lawsuit. (By the way, several of the litigants are almost certain to gain admission.)

FCPS is many things, but one thing they're not is willing to put themselves at risk of litigation. The entire reason this process took so long was because Brabrand was ironing out any possibility of legal challenge. By far the most effective department in FCPS is Legal, and it has to be because of nonsense like this.

I'd like to ask this question: Why is admission to TJ so important to these communities?

Education was seen as a way to escape extreme poverty? In imperial china anyone who passed a series of exams could join the civil service and gain wealth and power for a period of 2000 years. It was the first and longest lasting meritocracy. These people were known as scholars.

I'm not familiar enough with indian History to answer your question.

In both communities STEM is viewed as a more respectful occupation than in other cultures. For example you will find that many government officials in east asia have a stem background rather than a law background. Also in both societies they have a national examination system, and as such you have to test in to certain schools. Test scores are everything rather than the "balanced" student US universities and high school look for.

At least in east asia this testing system exists for public high schools as well. Everyone wants to be in the best high school so they are better prepared for entry to the best college.

Tests are not necessarily the best way to show “merit.” Tests are limited in how much they can reveal about a person, they only give information about one day in a person's life, and they are easily gamed.

It is worthwhile to utilize an admissions process that is based on more factors and on a variety of information that develops a fuller picture of the candidate, rather than one that assigns a high value to a test.

Other cultures disagree.

[Anonymous]

You have board members demeaning students’ hard work and families’ sacrifices as “pay to play.”

You have another board member stereotyping the majority Asian-American TJ’s culture as “toxic” for Black students.

You have Atif Qarni comparing test prep to “performance enhancement drugs.”

Then you have State Delegate Mark Keam accusing Asian-American parents of the “unethical ways” Asian Americans “push their kids into [TJ],” when those parents are “not even going to stay in America.”

This kind of language is expected on twitter and dcum.

You cannot say these kind of things and promote stereotypes about citizens you are expected to serve and represent.

Imagine if the targeted racial demographic was black, and the board members was spouting language stereotyping black people. Somehow it's ok to stereotype Asians?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have board members demeaning students’ hard work and families’ sacrifices as “pay to play.”

You have another board member stereotyping the majority Asian-American TJ’s culture as “toxic” for Black students.

You have Atif Qarni comparing test prep to “performance enhancement drugs.”

Then you have State Delegate Mark Keam accusing Asian-American parents of the “unethical ways” Asian Americans “push their kids into [TJ],” when those parents are “not even going to stay in America.”

This kind of language is expected on twitter and dcum.

You cannot say these kind of things and promote stereotypes about citizens you are expected to serve and represent.

Imagine if the targeted racial demographic was black, and the board members was spouting language stereotyping black people. Somehow it's ok to stereotype Asians?

Interesting. Mark Keam is a Korean-American. Born in South Korea, lived in Viet Nam and Australia. I think he knows a bit about Asian Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against Brabrand and the School Board today in federal district court on behalf of a primarily Asian advocacy group alleging the changes to the TJ admissions process were racially motivated and violate the Equal Protection Clause.

https://pacificlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Coalition-for-TJ-v.-Fairfax-County-School-Board.pdf

This one will require more resources to defend than the one filed in local court. Why is Brabrand subjecting FCPS to such litigation risk over and over again? He got hired saying "the main thing was the main thing." People naively thought he meant academics; instead, it's turned out to be "equity" initiatives that invite judicial challenges.

This, like the other lawsuits, is going absolutely nowhere. The families of the eighth graders are not going to get their injunctive relief - it was already denied in another case - and once the die is cast in the admissions process and students are admitted, they will almost certainly remove their names from the lawsuit. (By the way, several of the litigants are almost certain to gain admission.)

FCPS is many things, but one thing they're not is willing to put themselves at risk of litigation. The entire reason this process took so long was because Brabrand was ironing out any possibility of legal challenge. By far the most effective department in FCPS is Legal, and it has to be because of nonsense like this.

I'd like to ask this question: Why is admission to TJ so important to these communities?

Education was seen as a way to escape extreme poverty? In imperial china anyone who passed a series of exams could join the civil service and gain wealth and power for a period of 2000 years. It was the first and longest lasting meritocracy. These people were known as scholars.

I'm not familiar enough with indian History to answer your question.

In both communities STEM is viewed as a more respectful occupation than in other cultures. For example you will find that many government officials in east asia have a stem background rather than a law background. Also in both societies they have a national examination system, and as such you have to test in to certain schools. Test scores are everything rather than the "balanced" student US universities and high school look for.

At least in east asia this testing system exists for public high schools as well. Everyone wants to be in the best high school so they are better prepared for entry to the best college.

Tests are not necessarily the best way to show “merit.” Tests are limited in how much they can reveal about a person, they only give information about one day in a person's life, and they are easily gamed.

It is worthwhile to utilize an admissions process that is based on more factors and on a variety of information that develops a fuller picture of the candidate, rather than one that assigns a high value to a test.

Other cultures disagree.

But we live here in the US, not in some other culture. It makes sense to use the methods chosen in the country where the school is.

When in Rome, do as the Romans and all that.

[Anonymous]

We all know there are a lot of posts on threads like these from White people telling Asians to suck it up because the USA is a country where Whites want to atone for past injustices against Blacks and Hispanics, even if it comes at the expense of Asians. And especially if it also benefits Whites in the process.

The legal wanna-be who keeps asserting concerns about "de facto segregation" justify any actions may know a few phrases, but knows little about the Constitution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have board members demeaning students’ hard work and families’ sacrifices as “pay to play.”

You have another board member stereotyping the majority Asian-American TJ’s culture as “toxic” for Black students.

You have Atif Qarni comparing test prep to “performance enhancement drugs.”

Then you have State Delegate Mark Keam accusing Asian-American parents of the “unethical ways” Asian Americans “push their kids into [TJ],” when those parents are “not even going to stay in America.”

This kind of language is expected on twitter and dcum.

You cannot say these kind of things and promote stereotypes about citizens you are expected to serve and represent.

Imagine if the targeted racial demographic was black, and the board members was spouting language stereotyping black people. Somehow it's ok to stereotype Asians?

Interesting. Mark Keam is a Korean-American. Born in South Korea, lived in Viet Nam and Australia. I think he knows a bit about Asian Americans.

Doesn’t matter where he’s from. What Mark said is clearly racist.

Some of these people sound like they have an axe to grind. They’re crafting processes designed to handicap a group they’re making demeaning comments about. They haven’t tried to appear neutral and did their best to shut out community input.

Regardless of the benefits, this is not how you craft policy, and it deserves to be challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

By definition increasing URM numbers at TJ will decrease Asian and White numbers- the math is really simple there. You're basically saying that desegregation is a per se violation of the equal protection clause because it necessarily disadvantages one race- good luck with that

Actually, white numbers will increase substantially under the new policy. It is literally only the Asian numbers that will decrease. I don't have a problem with each middle school getting an allotment of seats, or a true lottery, but let's not pretend either method won't result in TJ no longer being a school of the best and brightest of Northern Virginia. Maybe it's time to stop caring about that and make TJ just a STEM focus school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against Brabrand and the School Board today in federal district court on behalf of a primarily Asian advocacy group alleging the changes to the TJ admissions process were racially motivated and violate the Equal Protection Clause.

https://pacificlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Coalition-for-TJ-v.-Fairfax-County-School-Board.pdf

This one will require more resources to defend than the one filed in local court. Why is Brabrand subjecting FCPS to such litigation risk over and over again? He got hired saying "the main thing was the main thing." People naively thought he meant academics; instead, it's turned out to be "equity" initiatives that invite judicial challenges.

This, like the other lawsuits, is going absolutely nowhere. The families of the eighth graders are not going to get their injunctive relief - it was already denied in another case - and once the die is cast in the admissions process and students are admitted, they will almost certainly remove their names from the lawsuit. (By the way, several of the litigants are almost certain to gain admission.)

FCPS is many things, but one thing they're not is willing to put themselves at risk of litigation. The entire reason this process took so long was because Brabrand was ironing out any possibility of legal challenge. By far the most effective department in FCPS is Legal, and it has to be because of nonsense like this.

I'd like to ask this question: Why is admission to TJ so important to these communities?

Education was seen as a way to escape extreme poverty? In imperial china anyone who passed a series of exams could join the civil service and gain wealth and power for a period of 2000 years. It was the first and longest lasting meritocracy. These people were known as scholars.

I'm not familiar enough with indian History to answer your question.

In both communities STEM is viewed as a more respectful occupation than in other cultures. For example you will find that many government officials in east asia have a stem background rather than a law background. Also in both societies they have a national examination system, and as such you have to test in to certain schools. Test scores are everything rather than the "balanced" student US universities and high school look for.

At least in east asia this testing system exists for public high schools as well. Everyone wants to be in the best high school so they are better prepared for entry to the best college.

Tests are not necessarily the best way to show “merit.” Tests are limited in how much they can reveal about a person, they only give information about one day in a person's life, and they are easily gamed.

It is worthwhile to utilize an admissions process that is based on more factors and on a variety of information that develops a fuller picture of the candidate, rather than one that assigns a high value to a test.

Other cultures disagree.

But we live here in the US, not in some other culture. It makes sense to use the methods chosen in the country where the school is.

When in Rome, do as the Romans and all that.

Not all "Romans" agree that affirmative action is the right method to choose here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overwhelming public evidence exists that the new TJ admissions process was adopted with the purpose of disadvantaging Asian-American students and reducing Asian American enrollment at TJ. As such, these changes violate the Equal Protection Clause.

Helping URMs is a noble goal, but you cannot be biased against Asian Americans in the process. The board essentially gerrymandered the application process to kneecap Asian Americans. The intent is clear.

The application process needs to be redesigned by a board that doesn't hold stereotypes against Asian Americans. The board didn't even pretend to be neutral.

By definition increasing URM numbers at TJ will decrease Asian and White numbers- the math is really simple there. You're basically saying that desegregation is a per se violation of the equal protection clause because it necessarily disadvantages one race- good luck with that

Actually, white numbers will increase substantially under the new policy. It is literally only the Asian numbers that will decrease. I don't have a problem with each middle school getting an allotment of seats, or a true lottery, but let's not pretend either method won't result in TJ no longer being a school of the best and brightest of Northern Virginia. Maybe it's time to stop caring about that and make TJ just a STEM focus school.

TJ won’t be nearly as good as Langley in a few years. The School Board fortunately doesn’t mess around with any social engineering there and lets it continue to serve the elite areas of the county.