
Nope. He (perhaps...you? Although the above is more in Glenn's voice than Harry's): - made fun of an autistic kid performing the national anthem at a School Board meeting, claiming he didn't know the kid was autistic as if that would have made it any better; - got caught red-handed creating a Twitter profile for a dead toddler and tweeted at his mom on the anniversary of his death; - falsely accused a TJ alum of "grooming" while colluding with a guy who has been banned from TJ's campus to invite high school students to private chatrooms for "unfiltered discussion" Yeah, what KKG did was abhorrent and she got appropriately called out for it. Probably should have lost her office or resigned as a result. But she hasn't rescinded her apology or doubled down on some excuse for what she did. The fact that Harry Jackson happens to be Black doesn't excuse him for being a consistently horrible human being. One of these days I hope he realizes he would be better served by being forgotten and irrelevant. But I've got my popcorn ready for everything that will come out when he's officially a candidate. |
Not everyone agrees with the "public opinion" that a 1.5% for each MS approach is the wrong concept to break up the fact that like 2 or 3 pyramids were sending almost all the kids. |
There were never "like 2 or 3 pyramids * * * sending almost all the kids." Now you're just actively pushing misinformation in a way consistent with the observation that the change was motivated by a sad combination of racial animosity and rank populism. Claiming 2 or 3 pyramids with a lot of Asian kids (Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run) were "sending almost all the kids" to TJ, which is just false, doesn't sound all that different from hateful anti-Semitic remarks made in other contexts. If FCPS had first put AAP in every middle school and screened consistently for AAP, and then had a 1.5% quota for middle school, it would have been more defensible. Encouraging more talented kids to attend AAP centers, but then having the same quota for kids at both AAP centers and non-AAP centers, was ridiculous, given TJ's purpose. |
Kids living in the south and eastern parts of the county never had any representation at TJ, now they at least have some. Good luck convincing those voters that the new policy is a problem |
These are two separate items. I am the most vocal and well-informed pro-reform advocate on this board, and I will be the first to tell you that the process to get to this change was VERY problematic and that the current system is far from perfect. I've actually suggested a number of reforms to the admissions system (re-engineered teacher recommendation forms, 1% allocations, optional exam submissions) that have been broadly popular on this site even amongst folks who profess to be anti-reform. But the process was absolutely adopted on a blank slate by my definition because it bears no resemblance to the old process. Yes, there was a political backdrop, but there was also a practical backdrop - an exam could not have been assessed in any realistic way during the worst depths of the pandemic or the ensuing Delta variant without putting thousands of kids and administrators in harm's way. So they had to start from scratch, and that is the blank slate to which I'm referring. The behavior of the School Board is one thing and has been QUITE sloppy to say the least, but the admissions process as currently constructed stands on its own and was narrowly tailored to withstand legal scrutiny. The "factual basis for their concerns" that you reference is the obvious reality that Brabrand put his foot in his mouth several times when he shouldn't have and made numerous miscalculations in the rollout of both the Merit Lottery and present process that could be easily read as anti-Asian when in fact they were pro-access. |
I haven't heard word one to suggest that any of those folks are considering a run for the School Board. And I know a couple of them personally. |
Another lie. There have always been kids in the southern and eastern parts of the county at TJ, although the quota system boosts their numbers. Otherwise, you're just confirming that the TJ admissions changes were done for political rather than pedagogical reasons. TJ is nowbasically a spoils system - a benefit to be allocated across pyramids like pork-barrel projects in a Senate appropriation bill - and no longer a school intended to serve the students with the most STEM aptitude and achievements. However, given how few county students overall attend or benefit from TJ, it's fanciful to suggest voters from, say, the Mason and Mount Vernon districts, are going to turn out in droves to support Democratic candidates because there are now 13 kids from Glasgow in a freshman class at TJ rather than 3 or 4. The overwhelming majority of students will still be at other schools, some of which are struggling mightily yet largely ignored. |
^ That's not to say most voters in Mason and Mount Vernon won't vote for Democratic-endorsed candidates because, well, that's the lever they always pull. But most won't do it out of any big sense of gratitude over admissions changes at TJ. |
Punishing, setting back, excluding or demoting anybody with equal or greater accomplishments based on the features on their head or skin color is illegal . |
There have never been kids from the Lee or south county districts in any significant numbers prior to the change and it isn't fanciful to suggest that an area that generally feels ignored and neglected by county government (come out to any of our public hearings, and that is usually the main complaint) will vote for representatives who are doing something for the kids living in their district. |
Irrespective of the actual motivations behind the changes, it's important to note that there are absolutely pedagogical benefits to a class of students that has meaningful racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and experiential diversity. That's not up for debate among people who are seriously invested in education policy for the benefit of students. The white and Asian students at TJ will receive incalculable benefits from simply existing in spaces with students from backgrounds to which they've never been exposed, both inside and outside the classroom. No longer will you have TJ students whose first experience with more than one Black student in a classroom comes in college. And the Black students at TJ won't have to spend their entire careers never sharing a classroom with someone who looks like them. A fair reminder of how stark the Black representation problem was prior to the admissions changes: The number of Asian students in the Class of 2024 alone was larger than the total number of Black students who had ever been admitted to TJ in its 35-year history, and by a significant margin. |
As with any decision about how to vote, it will be motivated by several factors, of which this is certainly one. Not having their kids go to schools that are named after Confederate generals - which conservatives love to rail about but was a relatively small drop in the bucket in terms of time and resources - is another big factor. |
Nope. He (perhaps...you? Although the above is more in Glenn's voice than Harry's):
Valid criticism. He didn't know. The performance interrupted the live stream and no one knew what was going on or why that performance was being played.
This is a bald-faced lie. Do you have ANY evidence that he ever did this or is this merely a projection of your unconstrained rage towards a person who is a minority not toeing to Marxist ideology?
I don't think so. Google 'Jorge Torrico AND Pedophile' and the search results are interesting. Keep in mind, Jorge came after Harry and he only defended himself in the court of law. "Torrico had made a pass at a high school senior, inquiring about “equity” in a leadership event aimed at middle schoolers. Torrico gave his email to the high school senior to apparently help coordinate the event with children" https://bigleaguepolitics.com/soros-backed-prosecutor-hits-black-father-with-criminal-charges-for-calling-out-grooming-of-children-in-virginia-high-school/ https://wp-updates.dailywire.com/news/dad-facing-criminal-charges-for-accusing-woke-activist-of-grooming "Soros-Backed Prosecutor Hits Black Father with Criminal Charges for Calling Out ‘Grooming’ of Children in Virginia High School" https://www.maga.black/articles/soros-backed-prosecutor-hits-black-father-with-criminal-charges-for-calling-out-grooming-of-children-in-virginia-high-school https://headlineusa.com/soros-da-brings-charges-against-pta-dad-over-grooming-accusation/ |
I appreciate what you're saying here and don't doubt for an instant that FCPS had lawyers involved trying to help them craft a new process that would withstand judicial scrutiny. However, at the end of the day, courts can and do "look behind" a particular policy and consider the factual background. So you can define "blank slate" however you see fit for your purposes, but it does not mean the court has to follow your definition or is precluded from considering the factual background, which included not only the instances where, as you say, "Brabrand put his foot in his mouth," but also other exchanges where FCPS officials mapped out the anticipated racial impact of different alternatives under consideration. |
So you've gone from "no representation" to "never * * * in any significant numbers"? I'm sure pork-barrel politicians like Anderson, Corbett Sanders and Derenak Kaufax (if they run again) will try to make it sound like a big coup that more kids from Mason, Mount Vernon, and Franconia are now at TJ. But it won't move the needle much because most of the voters in those districts automatically vote Democratic without much understanding of school issues and, to the extent they do focus on school issues, what's happening (or is not being addressed, as the case may be) at Annandale, Justice, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, West Potomac, South County, Hayfield, Lewis or Edison matters a hell of a lot more to them than the latest wrinkle at TJ. The School Board members made TJ a big deal, because it matters a lot to the highly partisan FCDC members who control the Democratic endorsements for School Board, but TJ isn't that relevant to the average resident or voter. |