Reply to NAACP, Local Advocates File Discrimination Complaint Against FCPS

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[quote=Anonymous]Article in the Vienna Patch -- the argument is that FCPS is discriminatory not only at TJ but in AAP since the majority of TJ students are only from four middle schools with AAP Centers.

http://vienna.patch.com/articles/naacp-cots-file-discrimination-complaint-against-fcps

NAACP, Local Advocates File Discrimination Complaint Against FCPS
Discrimination in Thomas Jefferson admissions process begins even before applications are due, complaint to U.S. Department of Education says
By Nicole Trifone

A complaint filed Monday by two local advocacy groups alleges Fairfax County Public Schools is perpetuating discrimination against black, Latino and disabled students through the admission process for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST).

The Coalition of the Silence (COTS), a group former school board member Tina Hone founded to seek equity for all students within FCPS, and the Fairfax branch of the NAACP filed the discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, asserting FCPS has committed "clear violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

At press time, FCPS had not yet had time to review the complaint, spokesman John Torre said.

While black and Hispanic students make up about 10 percent and 22 percent of the FCPS student body, respectively, they make up 1.5 percent and 2.7 percent of the TJHSST student body, the complaint says.

The complaint, written by Hone and NAACP-Fairfax County's Education Chair Charisse Espy Glassman, comes two business days after a Fairfax County School Board work session on the TJHSST admission process. At the work session, the board discussed both the lack of diversity and the declining math scores at the the Governor's School for science and technology in recent years. The board has charged FCPS staff to begin researching how to improve in both areas.

But the work session did not satisfy those who argue the process is discriminatory long before a student chooses to apply to the prestigious school, which recently earned No. 2 on U.S. News and World Report's annual ranking of U.S. high schools.

Sixty-four percent of students admitted to TJHSST attend middle schools with Level 4 Advanced Academic Middle School Centers. Most of the centers have limited diversity, carrying minority populations that don't reflect the county's demographic makeup, the complaint says.

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