They should have judges who do not have children at TJ or not participating in the Fair.

I was a judge a couple of years back and my child did not participate in the Fair ever. At that time, those I rated ended roughly what I expected.

Anonymous wrote:Effort does not equal an award.

Not the point. Parents meddling should not equal an award.

Anonymous wrote:Wait. I thought teachers were judges? I don’t believe the winners were predetermined.

Parent judge here. Few teachers were there but only for students who only had one judge. A couple parent judges were interested in the projects. However, it's possible, and to be frank likely, that parents were colluding.

Anonymous wrote:Crazy. My junior put in over 400 hours on her research. She didn't even get an honorable mention...

Effort does not equal an award.

Please take this garbage to the AAP board.

Just sitting here laughing at people only now realizing the lack of transparency, as well as the toxic environment created by Mukai.

Wait. I thought teachers were judges? I don’t believe the winners were predetermined.

Anonymous wrote:And this comes as a surprise to anyone?

+1

This happened last year as well however this year its only getting worse

DS just showed me a screenshot that is currently all over Discord in which a student said they’ve been in a private WhatsApp group for weeks and that the judges weren’t even checking projects because the winners were predecided,,,

Absolutely disheartening!

I’m a TJ alum and a current parent, and I’ve never seen the environment this toxic. There was a time when the Science Fair was once objective. Mukai is terrified of more discrimination headlines, so he’ll just stay silent while the integrity of the school is flushed down the toilet. I hope the parents of the students who actually earned their spots are ready for their kids to be looked at sideways at Regionals because of some of these kids/parents big mouths and audacity.

Anonymous wrote: I really expected Principal Mukai to prioritize transparency. Apparently, some categories had students pitch for 30 minutes while others didn't even get more than 5 minutes.

Might as well accept that merit is dead at Thomas Jefferson. Their focus was on MSA's kidnapping video disaster. The School and the Science Fair directors have zero accountability. If your DD isn't part of the correct social circle or doesn't have a parent who's friends with multiple parents, she’s invisible. It’s exactly why the national ranking is slipping. We have kids who can’t even explain their own data advancing to Regionals and losing while the actual talent is being pushed aside.

Anonymous wrote:And this comes as a surprise to anyone?

I really expected Principal Mukai to prioritize transparency. Apparently, some categories had students pitch for 30 minutes while others didn't even get more than 5 minutes.

And this comes as a surprise to anyone?

Crazy. My junior put in over 400 hours on her research. She didn't even get an honorable mention...

Is anyone else’s DD/DS coming home with stories about the TJ Science and Engineering Fair? My DD came home yesterday completely discouraged. Apparently, there are some very specific information going around about how the results were picked. She’s heard names of kids who allegedly had their parents vote for each other's children and rig the results. Is the Science and Engineering Fair director or PTSA aware of this?