Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 13:05     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The best part is in the email they had to make sure to talk of the former failed principals fake promotion to gatehouse! Lmao "following Dr. Ann Bonitatibus' promotion to a central office position."

Here is a better article calling out how awful the previous tj principal was pushing racial quotas causing TJ to fall form #1 in the nation to 14.


You are spreading RWNJ misinformation.

There are no quotas.

And TJ went from #5 to #14 out of 25,000 schools on the USNWR rankings. It was only #1 twice in the preceding decade.



It was #1 at least two years in a row before the admission change and then fell to #5, and then #14, and we’ll see where it ends up when this years rankings comes out in April. You and your #fakenews


It was #5 using data from before the admissions change.


And rank #20 in some year in the past.

No. The purported #20 ranking in 2017 that you're referencing was a mistake by a poster in another thread who later corrected their error. TJ's actual 2017 ranking was #6. TJ was always in the top ten over the last decade prior to last year.


Yup. That was my error.

2015 #3
2016 #5
2017 #6
2018 #6
2019 #10
2020 #4 (I believe this was first year that utilized data from bonitatibus' term)
2021 #1
2022 #1
2023 #5
2024 #14 (first year that utilized data from the new admissions process)


The rankings are mostly hairsplitting. No doubt TJ will be #1 again soon. I wouldn't give these much weight or read anything into it.


DP
I agree, the rankings are meaningless but the drop in test scores and average student quality is not.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 12:36     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.

#FAKENEWS

That's precisely why it's a race-blind process. Further, the actual data shows that selection mirrors applications. When the C4TJ folks tried to make these outlandish claims in court, their lawsuit was rejected for a complete lack of evidence.


If the actual achievement levels and aptitudes among the applicants aren't similar, yet the selection is, then the process is discriminating against the higher achieving cohort. From SOL data, it looks like some groups have much higher pass advanced rates in higher level math classes than other groups. Yet, the admissions rates are nearly identical.


Again that's false. They are selecting the top students from each school. This is a vast improvement over the old process that just selected students from a few wealthy feeders where parents invested heavily in elite prep.


Why is it an improvement to channel the highest achieving kids to AAP centers and then have the same quotas for each middle school, including those with few high achieving kids? Sounds like a patronage system, not a way to provide opportunities to the most qualified.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 12:31     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:"In a June 7, 2020, email laying out her racial vision for the school, Bonitatibus said she sought to “close the equity gap” so the school would “reflect the racial composition in FCPS.” That year, the school had about 70% Asian students, about 20% white students and about 10% Black and Hispanic students. During the 2023-2024 school year, FCPS had different racial demographics, mirroring the distribution in the years earlier: 36% white, 29% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 10% Black, 6% multiple races, 0.3% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

She challenged TJ’s racially and ethnically diverse families, some of whom had survived the Cultural Revolution in China and economic poverty in India, to “think of privileges you hold that others may not.” With the new admissions changes, the percentage of Asian students dropped dramatically, with small increases in the number of Black and Hispanic students and larger increases in the number of white students.

Under her leadership, TJ recently fell from its long-held position as the nation’s No. 1 high school to No. 14. Bonitatibus’ tenure was also marked by the controversial withholding of student National Merit awards. This issue drew sharp global criticism. In addition, during her watch, the TJ community was struck by the first suicides of TJ students in the school’s history, with two students tragically passing away in 2018 and 2020.

In September, the number of students recognized as National Merit semifinalists decreased to 81 in the Class of 2025, the first class enrolled in the school after the new admissions changes, from 165 the year before.

The following month, Bonitatibus sent an email to TJ's parents announcing she had “pursued and accepted” a “promotion” to a role in the Fairfax County Public Schools Department of Human Resources as “Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Management,” a move that was met with widespread skepticism considering a slew of staff and teacher departures from TJ that had marked her stewardship of the school."

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fcps-selects-tjhsst-alum-michael-mukai-to-be-new-principal/article_675df76c-cee9-11ef-9b2a-ab958f33eb91.html

A professional epitaph if I've ever seen one.



Fairfax Times is pushing RWNJ lies.

1. She had no role in TJ admissions.
2. Affluent families have privilege.
3. TJ did not hold the #1 rank often. It was #5 before admission changes.
4. The reform efforts are trying to make TJ less toxic and lower student stress. The race to nowhere only hurts kids.
5. Students were notified about commendations via email. And for college applications they would have known if they were commended several months earlier based on the cut off.


Republicans are lying sacks of sht.


#1. She may not have reviewed individual applications but she was very much part of the effort to change TJ admissions policy.

#2. Sounds like class warfare agit prop.

#3. TJ was regularly, if not always, ranked as the top public school in the country. We won’t have to worry about that any longer.

#4. TJ can now be quite stressful for kids who are in over their heads and face imposter syndrome. If you’re worried about kids challenging themselves, why bother with a STEM magnet (unless your agenda is simply to dole out rewards in the form of TJ admission to the less qualified)?

#5. Not a big deal but clearly what happened was that TJ under AB was more worried about the hurt feelings of TJ students were neither NMSF nor commended than recognizing the achievement of commended students. Again, no longer an issue since now the majority of TJ students are neither NMSF nor commended.

The issues around TJ transcend party affiliation. It’s funny you bash Republicans since TJ wouldn’t exist but for the advocacy of local Republican officials in the 1980s.


1. She has no role in admissions process - either defining it or implementing it.
2. It's just how the world works. Why the hesitancy to admit it?
3. TJ was ranked one of the top public HSs in the US. It still is today. It's still ranked higher than 99.44% of the pubic HSs.
4. A healthy amount of challenge would be best for all.
5. It was delayed mail and human error - not some big conspiracy.

The "article" is all BS RWNJ propaganda. Republicans love pushing lies.
DP

1. She still had a role in changing the admissions process.
2. Not being on free and reduced lunch is not the same as affluent.
3. Rankings are not really important but the decline in the academic ability of the bottom half fo the school is.
4. The top quartile of the class is experiencing significantly less stress at the expense of the bottom quartile of the class.
5. Probably just error but still a bad a look from an administration that is waging a war on merit.


1. Braband proposed changes to the admissions process; the school board tweaked and approved it. She did not and can not change the admissions process. She sent an email to the TJ community asking them to reflect on race.
2. There is a spectrum of "privilege".
3. Where is this data on the "bottom quartile"?
4. Someone will always have it easier and someone is always have it harder.
5. It's misinformation to claim it was intentional.


Interesting data point for those people who actually care about the rankings: TJ was NOT at #1 when Bonitatibus started in 2017. She brought it up to #1 for two years. Suck it, haters.



1. She participated in the FCPS board meeting and endorsed brabrand's racism.
2. And there is nothing special about middle class privilege that it needs to be truncated.
3. The ones that have it harder all seem to mostly come from the same schools.
4. You are setting some kids up for failure while denying more opportunities to other kids that can benefit the most from those opportunities.
5. It wasn't misinformation. It was a fck up that resonated with people because it had become cleasr that FCPS was putting DEI before merit.

Bonitatibus lost the confidence of the students, faculty and parents.
Her attitude towards asians (the majority of her students) made it difficult for her to continue in her position.


1. Lots of people participated in school board meetings. It doesn't mean they can create the new admissions policies.
2. Acknowledging privilege isn't "truncating" anything.
3. Again...where is your data? Pulling out of your butt?
4. I think we could add 7th grade math and science SOL scores as additional data points in the admissions process.
5. Making up an reason is a lie. Misinformation 101.

Wanting to increase representation of URMs does not mean she has a negative attitude towards Asian students. GMAFB. More misinformation.

FCPS has been compelled to do something to address TJ's drastic decline, and recognize it's a long way to return to meritocracy. DEI shenanigans are fading across sectors including K-12 education. The first and easiest action that FCPS took was to bring in a solid principal who understands meritocracy. Bonitatibus was just a stooge who FCPS didnt mind keeping while the DEI was in its full swing, but the easiest one to get rid of in a snap in the mid school year. Absolutely, no one cares about her exit as she was completely ineffective in her role. As it always happens with puppets, when the season concludes they are discarded.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:54     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:"In a June 7, 2020, email laying out her racial vision for the school, Bonitatibus said she sought to “close the equity gap” so the school would “reflect the racial composition in FCPS.” That year, the school had about 70% Asian students, about 20% white students and about 10% Black and Hispanic students. During the 2023-2024 school year, FCPS had different racial demographics, mirroring the distribution in the years earlier: 36% white, 29% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 10% Black, 6% multiple races, 0.3% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

She challenged TJ’s racially and ethnically diverse families, some of whom had survived the Cultural Revolution in China and economic poverty in India, to “think of privileges you hold that others may not.” With the new admissions changes, the percentage of Asian students dropped dramatically, with small increases in the number of Black and Hispanic students and larger increases in the number of white students.

Under her leadership, TJ recently fell from its long-held position as the nation’s No. 1 high school to No. 14. Bonitatibus’ tenure was also marked by the controversial withholding of student National Merit awards. This issue drew sharp global criticism. In addition, during her watch, the TJ community was struck by the first suicides of TJ students in the school’s history, with two students tragically passing away in 2018 and 2020.

In September, the number of students recognized as National Merit semifinalists decreased to 81 in the Class of 2025, the first class enrolled in the school after the new admissions changes, from 165 the year before.

The following month, Bonitatibus sent an email to TJ's parents announcing she had “pursued and accepted” a “promotion” to a role in the Fairfax County Public Schools Department of Human Resources as “Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Management,” a move that was met with widespread skepticism considering a slew of staff and teacher departures from TJ that had marked her stewardship of the school."

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fcps-selects-tjhsst-alum-michael-mukai-to-be-new-principal/article_675df76c-cee9-11ef-9b2a-ab958f33eb91.html

A professional epitaph if I've ever seen one.



Fairfax Times is pushing RWNJ lies.

1. She had no role in TJ admissions.
2. Affluent families have privilege.
3. TJ did not hold the #1 rank often. It was #5 before admission changes.
4. The reform efforts are trying to make TJ less toxic and lower student stress. The race to nowhere only hurts kids.
5. Students were notified about commendations via email. And for college applications they would have known if they were commended several months earlier based on the cut off.


Republicans are lying sacks of sht.


#1. She may not have reviewed individual applications but she was very much part of the effort to change TJ admissions policy.

#2. Sounds like class warfare agit prop.

#3. TJ was regularly, if not always, ranked as the top public school in the country. We won’t have to worry about that any longer.

#4. TJ can now be quite stressful for kids who are in over their heads and face imposter syndrome. If you’re worried about kids challenging themselves, why bother with a STEM magnet (unless your agenda is simply to dole out rewards in the form of TJ admission to the less qualified)?

#5. Not a big deal but clearly what happened was that TJ under AB was more worried about the hurt feelings of TJ students were neither NMSF nor commended than recognizing the achievement of commended students. Again, no longer an issue since now the majority of TJ students are neither NMSF nor commended.

The issues around TJ transcend party affiliation. It’s funny you bash Republicans since TJ wouldn’t exist but for the advocacy of local Republican officials in the 1980s.


1. She has no role in admissions process - either defining it or implementing it.
2. It's just how the world works. Why the hesitancy to admit it?
3. TJ was ranked one of the top public HSs in the US. It still is today. It's still ranked higher than 99.44% of the pubic HSs.
4. A healthy amount of challenge would be best for all.
5. It was delayed mail and human error - not some big conspiracy.

The "article" is all BS RWNJ propaganda. Republicans love pushing lies.
DP

1. She still had a role in changing the admissions process.
2. Not being on free and reduced lunch is not the same as affluent.
3. Rankings are not really important but the decline in the academic ability of the bottom half fo the school is.
4. The top quartile of the class is experiencing significantly less stress at the expense of the bottom quartile of the class.
5. Probably just error but still a bad a look from an administration that is waging a war on merit.


1. Braband proposed changes to the admissions process; the school board tweaked and approved it. She did not and can not change the admissions process. She sent an email to the TJ community asking them to reflect on race.
2. There is a spectrum of "privilege".
3. Where is this data on the "bottom quartile"?
4. Someone will always have it easier and someone is always have it harder.
5. It's misinformation to claim it was intentional.


Interesting data point for those people who actually care about the rankings: TJ was NOT at #1 when Bonitatibus started in 2017. She brought it up to #1 for two years. Suck it, haters.



1. She participated in the FCPS board meeting and endorsed brabrand's racism.
2. And there is nothing special about middle class privilege that it needs to be truncated.
3. The ones that have it harder all seem to mostly come from the same schools.
4. You are setting some kids up for failure while denying more opportunities to other kids that can benefit the most from those opportunities.
5. It wasn't misinformation. It was a fck up that resonated with people because it had become cleasr that FCPS was putting DEI before merit.

Bonitatibus lost the confidence of the students, faculty and parents.
Her attitude towards asians (the majority of her students) made it difficult for her to continue in her position.


1. Lots of people participated in school board meetings. It doesn't mean they can create the new admissions policies.
2. Acknowledging privilege isn't "truncating" anything.
3. Again...where is your data? Pulling out of your butt?
4. I think we could add 7th grade math and science SOL scores as additional data points in the admissions process.
5. Making up an reason is a lie. Misinformation 101.

Wanting to increase representation of URMs does not mean she has a negative attitude towards Asian students. GMAFB. More misinformation.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:36     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.


You're in luck!

TJ admissions is already race blind. And no one is "keeping Asians down" - at least based on the acceptance rate and enrollment of Asian students in TJ.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:30     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.

#FAKENEWS

That's precisely why it's a race-blind process. Further, the actual data shows that selection mirrors applications. When the C4TJ folks tried to make these outlandish claims in court, their lawsuit was rejected for a complete lack of evidence.


If the actual achievement levels and aptitudes among the applicants aren't similar, yet the selection is, then the process is discriminating against the higher achieving cohort. From SOL data, it looks like some groups have much higher pass advanced rates in higher level math classes than other groups. Yet, the admissions rates are nearly identical.


False. Asian admission rates varied significantly.

Hispanic 21.02%
Asian 19.47%
White 16.94%
Black 14.33%
Other* 13.11%

Math achievement is one factor for consideration, but not the only one.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:24     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:"In a June 7, 2020, email laying out her racial vision for the school, Bonitatibus said she sought to “close the equity gap” so the school would “reflect the racial composition in FCPS.” That year, the school had about 70% Asian students, about 20% white students and about 10% Black and Hispanic students. During the 2023-2024 school year, FCPS had different racial demographics, mirroring the distribution in the years earlier: 36% white, 29% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 10% Black, 6% multiple races, 0.3% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

She challenged TJ’s racially and ethnically diverse families, some of whom had survived the Cultural Revolution in China and economic poverty in India, to “think of privileges you hold that others may not.” With the new admissions changes, the percentage of Asian students dropped dramatically, with small increases in the number of Black and Hispanic students and larger increases in the number of white students.

Under her leadership, TJ recently fell from its long-held position as the nation’s No. 1 high school to No. 14. Bonitatibus’ tenure was also marked by the controversial withholding of student National Merit awards. This issue drew sharp global criticism. In addition, during her watch, the TJ community was struck by the first suicides of TJ students in the school’s history, with two students tragically passing away in 2018 and 2020.

In September, the number of students recognized as National Merit semifinalists decreased to 81 in the Class of 2025, the first class enrolled in the school after the new admissions changes, from 165 the year before.

The following month, Bonitatibus sent an email to TJ's parents announcing she had “pursued and accepted” a “promotion” to a role in the Fairfax County Public Schools Department of Human Resources as “Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Management,” a move that was met with widespread skepticism considering a slew of staff and teacher departures from TJ that had marked her stewardship of the school."

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fcps-selects-tjhsst-alum-michael-mukai-to-be-new-principal/article_675df76c-cee9-11ef-9b2a-ab958f33eb91.html

A professional epitaph if I've ever seen one.



Fairfax Times is pushing RWNJ lies.

1. She had no role in TJ admissions.
2. Affluent families have privilege.
3. TJ did not hold the #1 rank often. It was #5 before admission changes.
4. The reform efforts are trying to make TJ less toxic and lower student stress. The race to nowhere only hurts kids.
5. Students were notified about commendations via email. And for college applications they would have known if they were commended several months earlier based on the cut off.


Republicans are lying sacks of sht.


#1. She may not have reviewed individual applications but she was very much part of the effort to change TJ admissions policy.

#2. Sounds like class warfare agit prop.

#3. TJ was regularly, if not always, ranked as the top public school in the country. We won’t have to worry about that any longer.

#4. TJ can now be quite stressful for kids who are in over their heads and face imposter syndrome. If you’re worried about kids challenging themselves, why bother with a STEM magnet (unless your agenda is simply to dole out rewards in the form of TJ admission to the less qualified)?

#5. Not a big deal but clearly what happened was that TJ under AB was more worried about the hurt feelings of TJ students were neither NMSF nor commended than recognizing the achievement of commended students. Again, no longer an issue since now the majority of TJ students are neither NMSF nor commended.

The issues around TJ transcend party affiliation. It’s funny you bash Republicans since TJ wouldn’t exist but for the advocacy of local Republican officials in the 1980s.


1. She has no role in admissions process - either defining it or implementing it.
2. It's just how the world works. Why the hesitancy to admit it?
3. TJ was ranked one of the top public HSs in the US. It still is today. It's still ranked higher than 99.44% of the pubic HSs.
4. A healthy amount of challenge would be best for all.
5. It was delayed mail and human error - not some big conspiracy.

The "article" is all BS RWNJ propaganda. Republicans love pushing lies.
DP

1. She still had a role in changing the admissions process.
2. Not being on free and reduced lunch is not the same as affluent.
3. Rankings are not really important but the decline in the academic ability of the bottom half fo the school is.
4. The top quartile of the class is experiencing significantly less stress at the expense of the bottom quartile of the class.
5. Probably just error but still a bad a look from an administration that is waging a war on merit.


1. Braband proposed changes to the admissions process; the school board tweaked and approved it. She did not and can not change the admissions process. She sent an email to the TJ community asking them to reflect on race.
2. There is a spectrum of "privilege".
3. Where is this data on the "bottom quartile"?
4. Someone will always have it easier and someone is always have it harder.
5. It's misinformation to claim it was intentional.


Interesting data point for those people who actually care about the rankings: TJ was NOT at #1 when Bonitatibus started in 2017. She brought it up to #1 for two years. Suck it, haters.



Impressive. Good to know that Dr. B is actually the one who brought TJ to #1.


Yep, they did so much good for TJ and the county as a while by making this program available to all residents not just wealthy ones.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:23     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.

#FAKENEWS

That's precisely why it's a race-blind process. Further, the actual data shows that selection mirrors applications. When the C4TJ folks tried to make these outlandish claims in court, their lawsuit was rejected for a complete lack of evidence.


If the actual achievement levels and aptitudes among the applicants aren't similar, yet the selection is, then the process is discriminating against the higher achieving cohort. From SOL data, it looks like some groups have much higher pass advanced rates in higher level math classes than other groups. Yet, the admissions rates are nearly identical.


Again that's false. They are selecting the top students from each school. This is a vast improvement over the old process that just selected students from a few wealthy feeders where parents invested heavily in elite prep.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 11:17     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:"In a June 7, 2020, email laying out her racial vision for the school, Bonitatibus said she sought to “close the equity gap” so the school would “reflect the racial composition in FCPS.” That year, the school had about 70% Asian students, about 20% white students and about 10% Black and Hispanic students. During the 2023-2024 school year, FCPS had different racial demographics, mirroring the distribution in the years earlier: 36% white, 29% Hispanic, 19% Asian, 10% Black, 6% multiple races, 0.3% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

She challenged TJ’s racially and ethnically diverse families, some of whom had survived the Cultural Revolution in China and economic poverty in India, to “think of privileges you hold that others may not.” With the new admissions changes, the percentage of Asian students dropped dramatically, with small increases in the number of Black and Hispanic students and larger increases in the number of white students.

Under her leadership, TJ recently fell from its long-held position as the nation’s No. 1 high school to No. 14. Bonitatibus’ tenure was also marked by the controversial withholding of student National Merit awards. This issue drew sharp global criticism. In addition, during her watch, the TJ community was struck by the first suicides of TJ students in the school’s history, with two students tragically passing away in 2018 and 2020.

In September, the number of students recognized as National Merit semifinalists decreased to 81 in the Class of 2025, the first class enrolled in the school after the new admissions changes, from 165 the year before.

The following month, Bonitatibus sent an email to TJ's parents announcing she had “pursued and accepted” a “promotion” to a role in the Fairfax County Public Schools Department of Human Resources as “Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Management,” a move that was met with widespread skepticism considering a slew of staff and teacher departures from TJ that had marked her stewardship of the school."

https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/fcps-selects-tjhsst-alum-michael-mukai-to-be-new-principal/article_675df76c-cee9-11ef-9b2a-ab958f33eb91.html

A professional epitaph if I've ever seen one.



Fairfax Times is pushing RWNJ lies.

1. She had no role in TJ admissions.
2. Affluent families have privilege.
3. TJ did not hold the #1 rank often. It was #5 before admission changes.
4. The reform efforts are trying to make TJ less toxic and lower student stress. The race to nowhere only hurts kids.
5. Students were notified about commendations via email. And for college applications they would have known if they were commended several months earlier based on the cut off.


Republicans are lying sacks of sht.


#1. She may not have reviewed individual applications but she was very much part of the effort to change TJ admissions policy.

#2. Sounds like class warfare agit prop.

#3. TJ was regularly, if not always, ranked as the top public school in the country. We won’t have to worry about that any longer.

#4. TJ can now be quite stressful for kids who are in over their heads and face imposter syndrome. If you’re worried about kids challenging themselves, why bother with a STEM magnet (unless your agenda is simply to dole out rewards in the form of TJ admission to the less qualified)?

#5. Not a big deal but clearly what happened was that TJ under AB was more worried about the hurt feelings of TJ students were neither NMSF nor commended than recognizing the achievement of commended students. Again, no longer an issue since now the majority of TJ students are neither NMSF nor commended.

The issues around TJ transcend party affiliation. It’s funny you bash Republicans since TJ wouldn’t exist but for the advocacy of local Republican officials in the 1980s.


1. She has no role in admissions process - either defining it or implementing it.
2. It's just how the world works. Why the hesitancy to admit it?
3. TJ was ranked one of the top public HSs in the US. It still is today. It's still ranked higher than 99.44% of the pubic HSs.
4. A healthy amount of challenge would be best for all.
5. It was delayed mail and human error - not some big conspiracy.

The "article" is all BS RWNJ propaganda. Republicans love pushing lies.
DP

1. She still had a role in changing the admissions process.
2. Not being on free and reduced lunch is not the same as affluent.
3. Rankings are not really important but the decline in the academic ability of the bottom half fo the school is.
4. The top quartile of the class is experiencing significantly less stress at the expense of the bottom quartile of the class.
5. Probably just error but still a bad a look from an administration that is waging a war on merit.


1. Braband proposed changes to the admissions process; the school board tweaked and approved it. She did not and can not change the admissions process. She sent an email to the TJ community asking them to reflect on race.
2. There is a spectrum of "privilege".
3. Where is this data on the "bottom quartile"?
4. Someone will always have it easier and someone is always have it harder.
5. It's misinformation to claim it was intentional.


Interesting data point for those people who actually care about the rankings: TJ was NOT at #1 when Bonitatibus started in 2017. She brought it up to #1 for two years. Suck it, haters.



Impressive. Good to know that Dr. B is actually the one who brought TJ to #1.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 10:46     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The best part is in the email they had to make sure to talk of the former failed principals fake promotion to gatehouse! Lmao "following Dr. Ann Bonitatibus' promotion to a central office position."

Here is a better article calling out how awful the previous tj principal was pushing racial quotas causing TJ to fall form #1 in the nation to 14.


You are spreading RWNJ misinformation.

There are no quotas.

And TJ went from #5 to #14 out of 25,000 schools on the USNWR rankings. It was only #1 twice in the preceding decade.



It was #1 at least two years in a row before the admission change and then fell to #5, and then #14, and we’ll see where it ends up when this years rankings comes out in April. You and your #fakenews


It was #5 using data from before the admissions change.


And rank #20 in some year in the past.

No. The purported #20 ranking in 2017 that you're referencing was a mistake by a poster in another thread who later corrected their error. TJ's actual 2017 ranking was #6. TJ was always in the top ten over the last decade prior to last year.


Yup. That was my error.

2015 #3
2016 #5
2017 #6
2018 #6
2019 #10
2020 #4 (I believe this was first year that utilized data from bonitatibus' term)
2021 #1
2022 #1
2023 #5
2024 #14 (first year that utilized data from the new admissions process)


The rankings are mostly hairsplitting. No doubt TJ will be #1 again soon. I wouldn't give these much weight or read anything into it.

No, not with SOL exam failures. There were more TJ SOL exam failures in 2022-23 than in 2021-22, so the 2025 USNWR ranking for TJ may well be lower than the 2024. TJ's ranking will likely face additional pressure in 2027 because the 12th grade AP scores used in USNWR rankings will be the first-year post-admission changes; students that are failing SOL exams are likely to have weak AP scores as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 09:46     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.

#FAKENEWS

That's precisely why it's a race-blind process. Further, the actual data shows that selection mirrors applications. When the C4TJ folks tried to make these outlandish claims in court, their lawsuit was rejected for a complete lack of evidence.


If the actual achievement levels and aptitudes among the applicants aren't similar, yet the selection is, then the process is discriminating against the higher achieving cohort. From SOL data, it looks like some groups have much higher pass advanced rates in higher level math classes than other groups. Yet, the admissions rates are nearly identical.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 09:30     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/news/student-principal-michael-mukai-comes-full-circle-new-leader-thomas-jefferson-high-school


Anyone know anything about him?


They will have some big shoes to fill. The former principal did so much good. TJ is far less toxic and diverse today than it was especially when it was dominated by a few wealthy feeders.


You are quite the broken record with the misleading references to the “few wealthy feeders,” and obviously you don’t even bother to read what you’re writing before posting.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 09:29     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.

#FAKENEWS

That's precisely why it's a race-blind process. Further, the actual data shows that selection mirrors applications. When the C4TJ folks tried to make these outlandish claims in court, their lawsuit was rejected for a complete lack of evidence.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 09:27     Subject: New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The best part is in the email they had to make sure to talk of the former failed principals fake promotion to gatehouse! Lmao "following Dr. Ann Bonitatibus' promotion to a central office position."

Here is a better article calling out how awful the previous tj principal was pushing racial quotas causing TJ to fall form #1 in the nation to 14.


You are spreading RWNJ misinformation.

There are no quotas.

And TJ went from #5 to #14 out of 25,000 schools on the USNWR rankings. It was only #1 twice in the preceding decade.



It was #1 at least two years in a row before the admission change and then fell to #5, and then #14, and we’ll see where it ends up when this years rankings comes out in April. You and your #fakenews


It was #5 using data from before the admissions change.


And rank #20 in some year in the past.

No. The purported #20 ranking in 2017 that you're referencing was a mistake by a poster in another thread who later corrected their error. TJ's actual 2017 ranking was #6. TJ was always in the top ten over the last decade prior to last year.


Yup. That was my error.

2015 #3
2016 #5
2017 #6
2018 #6
2019 #10
2020 #4 (I believe this was first year that utilized data from bonitatibus' term)
2021 #1
2022 #1
2023 #5
2024 #14 (first year that utilized data from the new admissions process)


The rankings are mostly hairsplitting. No doubt TJ will be #1 again soon. I wouldn't give these much weight or read anything into it.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2025 09:26     Subject: Re:New TJ principal announced

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the pages of this thread but my kids go to a different FCPS high school and I could care less who the principal of TJ is. I have no idea why this email was sent county wide. What a waste. We got a new principal a few years ago, how come an email was not sent to the whole county?


They're trying to send a message to the whole county because the shit that went down with TJ admissions is correctly seen as DEI run amok.
Most decent people don't attribute asian academic success to cheating, they see how hard they work, they should probably learn not to park their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle at costco but they generally think asians deserve their academic success.
Most decent people don't think academic opportunities should be allocated based on skin color.
Most decent people don't think keeping asians down is a good way to lift everyone else up.
Fairfax is mostly decent people.