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Immigrant Mom to School Officials: “Treat Children as Humans, Not Identities”
4/23/2021
4/23/2021
On April 17, Suparna Dutta sent the following email to Ann Bonitatibus, principal of Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology (“TJ”). Dutta’s email included a plea to Lisa Williams, the school district’s “chief equity officer.”
Ms. Bonitatibus,
On March 19th, as I sat in a hospital in India caring for my ailing mother, I got frantic texts from my child about offensive material being shown as part of 8th period mandatory social and emotional learning lessons. My child, who was very upset, sent me the slides and videos that the class was being subjected to. I was shocked to see videos of leaders of a very small but radical leftist 501(c)(4) group TJAAG, telling FCPS children that TJ is racist and indoctrinating them with far-left ideology at taxpayers’ dime. These were ideas right out of the Marxist “equal outcomes” Critical Race Theory ideology. These activists said “America is not the land of equality,” “have to be actively anti-racist; not simply not being racist, not doing bad things isn’t an option,” “take an active stance in calling out your classmates.” Adults should not be allowed to hold children as captive audience and subject them to psychological harm. That is what happened to my child. This is tantamount to child abuse at TJ under YOUR watch.
I shared these videos with other parents who are also upset about this. As the principal you are ultimately responsible for this radical propaganda. Who created this lesson? Do not try to hide behind our children by saying that this was created by them. Who approved this lesson? Why were parents not notified about this beforehand? Why were there no diverse viewpoints expressed? Since when does a school have the role of teaching morality to my child? That is my sacred job as a parent. You should stick to your job to provide a rigorous factual academic experience to my child. Let children be free thinkers by letting them express their opinions in a free and open dialogue without the fear of repercussions by activist educators, not by limiting ideas.
As most TJ parents now know from FOIA requests, you have been in bed with the radical activist TJAAG members for a long time, plotting to destroy the haven of meritocracy that TJ has offered children. TJ used to be the alternative to private schools, which most of us cannot afford. You wrote to mostly minority TJ parents last year questioning our privilege. You spoke of “lessons and activities that will need to be infused across our entire TJ program of study in all content areas.” You have demonized the hard working Asian American students by insinuating that they cheated their way into TJ by paying up to “$15,000,” which is an utter lie. While the rest of the world forges ahead in STEM education, and the US lags behind, your priority is to not bolster academic excellence but to teach kids to be radical activists. This is a dereliction of duty and you ought to be fired.
Ms. Williams,
Most parents don’t expect much of Superintendent Brabrand after the debacle over TJHSST and FCPS distance learning. But it is disappointing to see that as the equity lead, you have joined this divisive fray at FCPS. My chosen home, America, has been the beacon of freedom and hope in the world. “Anti-racist” ideology pits people against each other, divides them into oppressors and oppressed warring factions based on immutable factors. Everything gained since the civil rights movement is being lost now, with this cancerous Marxist ideology being inculcated in the youth. It encourages hatred and discrimination. A core tenet of CRT claims “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.”
I hope you don’t indulge in the bigotry of low expectations against some groups, like Ms. Bonitatibus does. She said in an email last year that there are “so few black and brown children” at TJ. She also said at a TJPTSA meeting that when she pokes her head into classrooms at TJ, she’s saddened that the demographics do not reflect the geographic area. Imagine how that makes the parents feel?! Treat children as humans, NOT identities or objects to be experimented with.
I’m worried about the misguided and regressive path FCPS is taking. What will you do to assuage the concerns of parents who are very concerned about the indoctrination of CRT, couched in euphemisms like “culturally responsive,” which inflicts real emotional harm in our innocent children?
Very disappointed in FCPS,
Suparna Dutta
On April 19, Dutta received the following response from Bonitatibus.
Dear Ms. Dutta,
Thank you for reaching out to share your and your daughter’s experience relative to the content in the SEL lesson on March 19. I am sorry that your daughter felt offended and we will respect your request to excuse your child from remaining SEL lessons this year. Also, I am sorry to hear your mother was ailing and hope your time at her side was one of comfort.
I would like to take this opportunity to provide one point for clarity on an issue you raise. Please be aware that there is no partnership that TJ as a school or I as an individual share with TJAAG. TJ student leaders working on the project wanted current and former TJ voices. They reached out to alumni of their choosing, none of whom in the video were identified as members of TJAAG, nor did they speak to that organization.
I would also offer that you and I have never spoken personally about our shared beliefs and values, especially the sacred right you hold as a parent teaching morality to your child. If you would want to speak one-on-one about your concerns, I am always open to do so. We most likely would learn from each other and develop a stronger mutual respect and understanding.
Regards,
Ann N. Bonitatibus, Ed.D.
To date, the embattled Bonitatibus has not resigned, nor has she been terminated from her role at TJ. While Bonitatibus’s email fails to apologize for the March 19 incident, she does offer to excuse Dutta’s child from “remaining SEL lessons this year.” Other parents, across Fairfax County, might want to request the same for their own children, if they don’t want them exposed to similar Critical Race Theory indoctrination sessions.
A Lawsuit Challenges TJ Admission Changes
Parents sue to stop TJ’s admission policy changes, alleging anti-Asian race discrimination.
By Mercia Hobson
3/19/2021
The Fairfax County School Board and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Brabrand face a new lawsuit filed against them last week in United States District Court in Alexandria. The lawsuit alleges race discrimination against Asian-American students by the School Board and the superintendent in changing the admissions process to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as “TJ.” The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the civil suit on Wednesday, March 10, on behalf of their client, Coalition for TJ, a group of mostly concerned parents at the high school.
#“This type of racial balancing is unconstitutional,” said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Erin Wilcox at a press conference held that morning outside the courthouse.
#The Plaintiffs allege FCPS’ recently-implemented overhaul of the TJ admissions process changes, which eliminated the long-standing race-neutral standardized admissions test, is specifically aimed to reduce the number of incoming Asian-American students to racially balance the school according to the racial demographics of the school. “Up until this year, admissions to TJ have been race-blind,” said Wilcox. “Unfortunately, Fairfax County Schools officials apparently believed that this is too many Asian students,” she said.
Pacific Legal Foundation holds a press conference on March 10 announcing that they filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School Board and Superintendent Scott Brabrand on behalf of their client, Coalition for TJ, challenging recent changes to the admissions policy at Thomas High School for Science and Technology.
#THE COMPLAINT alleges that without the court issuing an injunction, the number of Asian-American students in the incoming TJ Class of 2025 is likely to be cut in half due to the “defendants’ stated desire to manipulate TJ’s demographics.” “The discriminatory intent they’ve shown is intertwined and an inseparable part of the policies they put in place,” Wilcox said.
#According to the lawsuit, in the fall of 2020, Superintendent Brabrand and the School Board saw a reporting requirement by the Virginia Department of Education to include the racial/ethnic make-up and socioeconomic diversity of its students, faculty, and applicants as an opportunity “to completely overhaul the TJ admissions process in order to racially balance the school’s demographics, going far beyond the minimal reporting requirements.”
#Located in Alexandria, TJ is a regional Virginia state-chartered magnet school operated by FCPS with students eligible for admission from Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, and the City of Falls Church. TJ is ranked the number one public high school in the 2020 National Rankings.
#The School Board voted to eliminate the TJ merit-based admissions test at its Oct. 6 work session with no public comment opportunity. The complaint quotes Brabrand during the discussion at the work session with the Board to say that eliminating the merit admissions test “eliminat[es] the testing component that squeezed out talent and squeezed out diversity in our system.” Board members said they hoped the new process increased Black and Hispanic representation in the student body.
#On Dec. 17, the School Board voted and adopted, with immediate implementation, further changes to the TJ admissions policy applicable to the incoming TJ freshman Class of 2025 and to future years. The Board adopted the challenged admissions policy that limits the number of students accepted from each county feeder middle school to the top 1.5 percent who meet the minimum evaluation criteria-GPA, student portrait sheet, problem-solving essay, and experience factors: including economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, or special education students.
#The lawsuit alleges that coupled with the high concentration of Asian-American students at four middle schools – Carson, Kilmer, Rocky Run, and Longfellow – and their history of sending large numbers of students to TJ, racial balancing could be accomplished.
#According to the complaint, the plaintiffs sought “to vindicate the rights of Asian-American public school children in and around Fairfax County, Virginia, to compete on an equal footing for admission to the nationally-ranked Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) without regard to their race.” Overall, Plaintiffs’ data analysis reported in the complaint that the student body at TJ, at approximately 73 percent Asian-American students under the merit-based race-blind admissions system would drop to 31 percent under the new racial-balancing admissions system for the Class of 2025 with “no other racial group projected to lose seats.”
#The lawsuit alleges changes to admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment “…a promise that government at every level will treat every American as an individual, not simply as a member of his or her racial group. Policies like the one implemented by FCPS stand in direct opposition to that promise.”
#THE PLAINTIFFS requested entry of an order requiring the Defendants to return to the admissions procedure for entry into TJ in the fall of 2020. “The Coalition for TJ is not going to stand for this kind of discrimination against Asian-American students and they are here to fight for equal protection for their children,” said Wilcox.
#Julia McCaskill, an immigrant, and parent of a TJ student and students in grades 8 and 6, said at the March 10 press conference that TJ does not belong to a certain race or certain group of people. Low admission rates at TJ for Black and Hispanics are the failure of the FCPS Board, according to McCaskill. “They failed those under-represented areas over the decades instead of fixing the pipeline issue. The authorities are stirring up hate against Asian-Americans hoping to slash the number of Asian-American students will fix the overdue school problem.”
#Asra Nomani, a cofounder of Coalition for TJ and parent of a senior at TJ, said during the press conference that she came to the United States at age four from India. Nomani said she was proud to be working the past nine months with families who came to the United States from communist China and eastern Europe, India, and other places where they faced injustice. “They never could have imagined that they would face injustice in America,” she said.
#A Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson provided a statement saying, “The process continues to be race-neutral and merit-based… As a Governor’s school, we value diversity and believe that it contributes to the richness of the education at TJHSST.”
#Parents of 17 middle school students filed the initial lawsuit in November 2020 to overturn the School Board’s decision to eliminate the standardized admission test for TJ and the $100 application fee. On Feb. 2, a Fairfax Circuit Court Judge John M. Tran denied the parents’ request to require mandatory standardized testing in the admissions process. Tran said, “The debate over standardized testing belongs to educational professionals.”
#On Friday, March 12, Wilcox said that the next step would be the defendants’ response, either an Answer or a Motion to Dismiss, in approximately 60 days. “I’ve seen in various news articles that FCPS issued a statement on Wednesday. Their legal response to our complaint will be one of the documents mentioned,” Wilcox said.
Source: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2021/mar/19/lawsuit-challenges-tj-admission-changes/
Judge declines to halt elite school’s admissions changes
2/04/2021
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday refused to issue an injunction to stop an elite northern Virginia high school from changing its admissions policies.
Fairfax County Public Schools is overhauling the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which has been ranked as the top public high school in the country.
The school board hopes the changes will increase diversity at the school, which has long failed to attract Black and Hispanic students. Standardized tests that have long been part of the admissions process have been scrapped in favor of a more holistic review.
Supporters of the existing system sued, citing state regulations designating TJ as a school for the gifted and stating that giftedness should be measured by a standardized test.
Circuit Court Judge John Tran declined to issue an injunction that would immediately bar the changes from taking effect, but the lawsuit itself can still go forward.
A conservative legal group is also weighing a challenge based on racial discrimination against Asian Americans who currently make up a majority of the student body.
Students, Parents Challenge TJ Admissions Changes
Coalition for TJ | Press Release
11/07/2020
Seventeen parents filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County School Board and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand for illegally changing the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
TJ, as the school is known, is the nation’s top-ranked public high school, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1985, the STEM-focused Governor’s School has long maintained rigorous, merit-based, race-blind admissions standards that include the administering of a set of standardized tests. In an October 6 work session, however, the Fairfax County School Board voted to abolish the school’s admissions tests, and the superintendent abruptly eliminated the tests from this year’s admissions process.
The lawsuit alleges that the school board and superintendent violated state laws and regulations requiring that a “nationally norm-referenced aptitude test” be used as part of the TJ admissions process to identify gifted learners with an aptitude for STEM. As a Governor’s School, TJ provides services to gifted students, or advanced academic learners, and receives special funding from the Commonwealth for this purpose.
Today, the Coalition for TJ held a press conference outside the Fairfax County Courthouse, announcing that the 17 parents had filed a lawsuit against school officials. “The basis for the complaint against Fairfax County School Board and Scott Brabrand is relatively simple,” Coalition for TJ co-founder Glenn Miller said at the news conference. “Virginia law, which is the superior law and controls the actions of Fairfax County and its school board, contains specific requirements that must be followed in order to admit students to TJ. Fairfax County and its school board violated those laws. As such, the Fairfax County School Board and the superintendent acted beyond their authority and acted arbitrarily and capriciously.”
The abolition of TJ’s standardized admissions tests will invariably reduce the number of Asian students at the school. The lawsuit’s 17 plaintiffs are families of current middle schoolers who are disadvantaged by the admissions changes. Plaintiff James Pan, father of a gifted middle schooler, spoke at today’s press conference. “FCPS is using the pretext of banning the test for their goal of reducing Asians at TJ,” Pan said. “The government is using a process that is plain old bigotry.”
Plaintiff and middle school parent Srinivas Akella said that he chose to live in Fairfax County for its program for gifted students and for TJ, in particular. “The school board and FCPS arbitrarily made changes to the admissions process in violation of state law,” Akella said today. “I have faith in our judiciary, and I am petitioning them as a last avenue since there was no other recourse left for me to pursue.”
Following the plaintiffs’ remarks at today’s press conference, Coalition for TJ co-founder Asra Nomani spoke of the opportunities that TJ has afforded generations of immigrants in Fairfax County. “My father came here for the American Dream. My son pursued it here in this country and is now a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology,” Nomani said. “We should not allow anyone — including the Fairfax County School Board and Superintendent Scott Brabrand — to stand in the way of justice. We are all here for the justice that America provides, and I applaud these courageous families.”
WATCH:
•Nov 5, 2020
