A Virginia woman is battling the Fairfax County School District and specifically, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, for allegedly reducing the number of Asians it admits, making its student demographics more closely aligned with the makeup of the county.
“(The school) needed to fix its admissions process so it fit the demographics of the county, which meant a purge of Asians,” Parents Defending Education Vice President Asra Nomani said during Tim Pool’s “Timcast IRL” podcast Monday night. “Everybody in America needs to wake up. We have a real threat in this country (in education).”
The magnet school in the Fairfax County School District admits high performing students in math, science, and technology and has been named one of the top schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report.
Nomani’s son graduated from the high school this year, and she said they were “survivors” of the “toxicity” that is being introduced and taught in schools throughout the country.
An opponent of critical race theory, Nomani said the school recently moved to reduce the number of Asian students it admitted so that more students of other minority groups could be represented, instead of simply basing admissions on the student’s merit.
“This past year, school leaders bemoaned a lack of ‘diversity’ at TJ and launched a crusade to change admissions,” Nomani wrote in the Washington Post with fellow parent activist Erin Wilcox. “The student body is 80% minority, but the wrong kind of minority for school officials, with about 70% Asian and about 10% of the minority students Black, Hispanic and multiracial.”
In a June 23 press release, the district said it had revised its admissions process by eliminating the standardized admissions test and the school’s $100 application fee, while raising the required grade point average, and expanding the number of freshman seats available from 480 to 550.
The district said the changes resulted in “a significant increase” in access for groups that previously faced “barriers” to being admitted, including special education students, those eligible for free or reduced lunches, and those who were learning English as a second language.
“Last year, Fairfax County Public Schools moved to ensure increased access and opportunity to TJ for students with an aptitude and passion for STEM,” Superintendent Scott S. Brabrand said. “The data around TJ’s prospective freshmen class speaks volumes to the fact that when we truly center our work on equity, all of our students have an opportunity to shine.”
The district said its admission process was still merit based and “race blind.”
According to the school’s numbers, however, Asian students were the only demographic that had the number of accepted applications decrease for the class of 2025.
This fall’s freshman class will have 299 Asian students compared to a six-year average of 339 students being accepted.
That compared to increases for white students, 123 compared to an average of 100, Black students, 39 compared to 11, and Hispanic students, 62 compared to an average in the last six years of 22.
Nomani said she wants the school, and others throughout the country to base achievement on each student regardless of ethnic background rather than a government imposed “racial equity” formula.
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