Reply to Why is there always some kind of issue/concern/problem with TJ?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FCPS created the definition of a scarce good when it created TJ so it’s a case study in supply-induced demand. Fights ensue.

That - plus it’s a testament to the hypocrisy of the current School Board that they constantly blather about “equity” but spend a disproportionate amount of time tinkering with processes at a school that is only attended by 3% of FCPS students in high school.  The last thing in the world they actually care about are equal outcomes; they just want preferential outcomes distributed in a way that benefits them at the polls. [/quote]

First of all, they don't spend a disproportionate amount of time tinkering with the process. The TJ Admissions Office does that - because it's their job.

The School Board would love nothing more than to stop talking about TJ and its admissions process, but a small group of parents looking to make a quick buck or launch their political careers continue to make an issue out of it.[/quote]

Such BS on your part.  Obviously you are happy with what you think the new process is at TJ, but you're delusional if you think TJ would just hum merrily along but for a "small group of parents."

Scott Brabrand was losing his support among the School Board for his overall incompetence when he seized upon the idea of changing TJ admissions as a way to work himself back into the good graces of the School Board.  The School Board then spent countless hours in work sessions debating the TJ admissions change, and a TON of staff time was required to try and map out what the potential impacts of different options might be.  Meanwhile other pressing issues in FCPS - learning loss due to Covid, severe overcrowding at some schools - went entirely unaddressed.  All because people always see TJ as a vehicle to demonstrate their political chops and bona fides.

You folks want to claim the controversy all started with the Coalition for TJ and Asra Nomani, but it long predates that.  Before the Coalition for TJ, there was the Fairfax NAACP filing a complaint with the federal Department of Education demanding an investigation into TJ's admissions practices.  And before that there were other challenges.  It's always something, and people will still be finding things to fight about over TJ as long as it's a selective magnet, and long after the Coalition for TJ and Asra Nomani have moved on to something else.  [/quote]

So many issues with this response.

1) Regardless of any political preferences, it was not an option to use the old process for the selection of the Class of 2025. Administering an in-person exam for the number of students required would not have been feasible in any way during a part of the pandemic when it was manifestly unsafe to put kids in school together, and there would have been no way to administer the exam online without introducing a huge possibility of cheating. Assessing the free-response Student Information Sheet was possible because of the subjective nature of its evaluation, but doing the Quant-Q or ACT Aspire exams was not. Therefore, inarguably, they were going to have to come up with a different process and the extreme interest of certain groups in TJ meant that that process was going to be fraught no matter how they went about it. So much for that point.

2) Agree with you that many people do see TJ as a vehicle to demonstrate their political chops. Suparna Dutta certainly did as much before her nomination to the Virginia BOE was rejected yesterday - thank goodness. Harry Jackson is trying to do as much but is getting roundly rejected by voters in his own district... too bad, so sad.

3) The NAACP filed several complaints. None of them went anywhere. I'm not even sure an actual investigation took place. A lot of people [i]demand[/i] things in this part of the world but that doesn't mean they actually happen.

4) If the Coalition and Asra are going to move on to something else, would they mind very much just going ahead and doing it already? It's hard to see them pulling together enough School Board votes to make a change, and Dr. Reid certainly doesn't seem in any rush to move on the current process.[/quote]

There are just as many issues with your response.

1) Whatever shortcuts were adopted for the Class of 2025 due to Covid-related exigencies, they would not have become permanent features of a new admissions process unless a group of highly motivated, left wing politicians and their allies saw Covid not as a crisis, but instead as an opportunity to effect longer-term changes to TJ admissions.

2) Dutta and Jackson are two examples of Republican activists who have centered their activism around objections to the TJ admissions changes; there are just as many on the left (Vanessa Hall, Jorge Torrico, Makya Little, Sujatha Hampton, Karen Keys Gamarra) who have centered their activism and sought to raise their profiles by rallying behind the changes.  The original point is that the controversy never ends, and that those who simply wish for that to be case because they are happy with the current state of play are engaging in wishful thinking of the highest order.

3) The Fairfax NAACP complaints led to a federal DOE investigation in 2012, but not to adverse findings.  https://patch.com/virginia/fallschurch/education-dept-investigating-discrimination-complaint62b6e496cf  Subsequently, the Fairfax NAACP renewed its complaints.  All this predated the 2020 changes to TJ's admissions policies and the lawsuits filed in state and federal court by the Coalition for TJ and affiliated groups.  Again, TJ has been a political hot potato for many years, and there's no indication this will cease.

4) The groups like the Coalition for TJ are not counting on the FCPS School Board to change the new/current TJ admissions policy.  They are looking to get a few members on the board in the fall 2023 elections who can publicly rail against the other members for not reinstituting a more rigorous TJ admissions process, but looking to the federal courts to overturn the policy adopted by the School Board in 2020.  They may be tilting at windmills insofar as the courts are concerned, but for sure they will see what can be mined from the upcoming Supreme Court decisions in the cases involving Harvard and UNC, which are expected by most observers to uphold the plaintiffs' claims of anti-Asian discrimination, that might support their own lawsuit.  It's totally disingenuous to suggest they should walk away now with their tails between their legs just because the current School Board and Michelle Reid are mum for now.

So, again, as long as there is a single magnet STEM school in FCPS, various groups will always be fighting over the spoils.  The only difference now is that the partisans are harsher in their rhetoric towards each other, and they have more social media platforms to express themselves.  But the school itself has been highly divisive from its inception, and always will be. [/quote]

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