National Merit Scholarship awards play a big part in which students will be able to attend the college or university of their choice, and their award status can determine if they qualify for any scholarships or sponsorships.

How'd you like to be the parent of a student who busted their tail to win an award, successfully win it, and then have it quietly withheld to achieve some school bureaucrat's perception of equity in a diversity quota?

Initially it was thought that one principal in one school had dropped the ball in award status notifications, but now, I believe the count is now up to 7 21 25 schools in two three districts.

The real question now is how many more school districts participated in this scheme, and whether this practice has been adopted by school districts outside the beltway?

[Note: multiple hyperlinks found at linked website article.]

====================

Virginia attorney general extends TJ investigation to all Fairfax County schools

BY: NATHANIEL CLINE
JANUARY 9, 2023 7:35 PM

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office has extended its civil rights investigation of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology to all high schools in Fairfax County, claiming officials allegedly withheld National Merit Scholarship honors from their students.

“It’s concerning that multiple schools throughout Fairfax County withheld merit awards from students,” said Miyares in a release Monday. “My office will investigate the entire Fairfax County Public Schools system to find out if any students were discriminated against and if their rights were violated.”

On Jan. 4, Miyares opened a civil rights investigation against the administration at Thomas Jefferson into whether its “withholding of National Merit Scholarship honors from students violated the Virginia Human Rights Act.” The letter also noted his office will investigate whether the school’s admissions policies violate that act.

The cases stem from school officials’ delays in notifying students who received the “commended” designation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Semifinalists, who scored the highest on their standardized tests, are the only participants eligible to advance in the competition for some 7,250 merit scholarship awards, according to the corporation. Students designated as “commended” are not eligible, but may be candidates for special scholarships offered by corporate sponsors.

Thomas Jefferson recorded 132 semifinalists of 238 overall in Fairfax County this fall.

Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid said Monday in a release that the division had learned that students at two other schools, Langley High School and Westfield High School, also “did not receive timely notification” of their awards.

She said staff have been contacting colleges where the students have applied to inform them of the merit commendations.

“We are sincerely sorry for this error,” Reid wrote. “Each and every student, their experience and success, remain our priority.”

On Monday, the attorney general notified the superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools that Langley and Westfield High Schools would be included in the investigation after public reports on Sunday detailed that the schools had failed to notify students of merit scholarship honors.

Thomas Jefferson has been at the center of Virginia’s educational culture wars after the school began overhauling its admissions policies in an attempt to add more Black and Latino students to its rolls. The effort has sparked fierce backlash from some parents and lawmakers, who say the changes discriminate against Asian American students and are an example of equity considerations harming educational quality.

In April 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the new admissions policy to stand while the case continued to be litigated in the lower courts. It is currently pending in the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Edited: to include Pipe Smoker provided info on the expansion of the investigation into Loudoun county schools.

Second edit to include Prince William county

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Modern Day Savage,

quote:

“We are sincerely sorry for this error as disclosure this information, was not intended to EVER become public knowledge,” Reid wrote. “Each and every student teacher & administrator, their experience and success, AND EQUITY of course, remain our only true priority.”

This is racism at its worst and exactly why the US is FAILING education wise. People are being advanced based on the color of their skin, not by the grades they earned or how hard they worked to get them. These awards, as well as job applications should drop all personal data, be replaced with a number, and be based on merit alone. No kid that wants to achieve should be held back to fill demographic quotas.

This cost these kids a lot of money in scholarships. I hope they sue that school district into bankruptcy.

quote:

I hope they sue that school district into bankruptcy.

I would rather see those guilty of this fired and sued personally/individually so us in Fairfax County don't foot the bill for a bankruptcy. Freakin' property taxes are already high enough.

^^^this as it was the individuals and probably their boss's decision to bury the notice.

Until there is individual responsibility future such individuals can "hide behind" the protection of the school districts funds as it does not cost them anything personally.

Also hoping that in November there is a new school board. Dr Brabrand was the superintendent when this shit happened. He was also in charge when FCPS was in the news during the lockdowns for he and the board being the worst. I'm worried there is still a lot of 'equity' BS that has yet to hit the papers still there.

Thomas Jefferson HS is rated as one of the best high schools in the country.

But about 5 years ago they got a new principal.

The school district has a new strategy of "equal outcomes for every student, without exception"

They changed from merit based admission to increase diversity. The director of student services said "We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements".

He and the principal didn't want to hurt the feelings of students who didn't get the award

https://nypost.com/2022/12/23/...s-in-name-of-equity/

^^^
This is how you end up with an idiocracy.

The only fix for this is to take back your government. Good candidates for local offices must be identified, supported, and elected.

Lawsuits won't fix this. Complaining won't fix it. Reporting it won't fix it. We have to fix it by getting involved.

“Error” huh. Right

There is a great charity, which buys our ice cream at cost, to serve to elementary kids and talk to them about compassion.

(We have employees who still remember the talks, many years later)

Every now and then, I make a delivery to the one school, which has the “excused absence” policy, posted where I wait for signatures etc.

It’s enraging. Kids are being conditioned to be slaves in those hell holes, and parents are being forced to accept that their children are the property of the mentally incompetent buffoons who are in public education. (I know, I know. 98% give the rest a bad name)

The very concept of mandatory public education needs to die.

Virginia AG launches probe into 21 schools across two woke districts

“Virginia's Attorney General has launched a probe into 11 schools across two districts after they failed to tell top students that they had received a National Merit award – claiming it could affect the youngster's college scholarships.

Loudoun County Public Schools Acting Superintendent Daniel Smith admitted that four schools failed to inform pupils that they had won the awards.

It comes after an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools was lodged by AG Jason Miyares after discovering that seven of their schools also failed to tell pupils of their awards.

Parents of pupils at the seven Fairfax County schools hit out after the revelations, claiming that the students were deliberately left in the dark, so other students 'feelings were not hurt.' …”

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/11640815

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
The only fix for this is to take back your government. Good candidates for local offices must be identified, supported, and elected.

Lawsuits won't fix this. Complaining won't fix it. Reporting it won't fix it. We have to fix it by getting involved.

Yep

Miyares Hispanic so it’s harder for the leftists to scream racism at him. He’s going after these turds.

When Jefferson first opened it was only a senior, then senior/junior experience. The class of 1990 was the first class to start as freshman and go all 4 years to TJHSST. I was ‘91. My wife was ‘92. We were the first high school to get a supercomputer. It was a fantastic high school experience. 4 of us, including me, went to West Point. 8 to Annapolis. 16 to Princeton. This is out of a class of 424. My wife went to UVA with 105 of her classmates. It was about taking really smart kids and making them smarter. And successful.

That all changed about 10-12 years ago when wokeism and liberalism started to really infect northern Virginia. My oldest son started the Jefferson application process, and when my wife and I saw what it had become we told him we didn’t want him to go. He’s now a biochem/Russian double major in his sophomore year at U of Florida.

It’s a shame what has been done to Jefferson. It’s now a pressure cooker that just kills teenagers. In some cases literally.

So none of this surprised me

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Miyares Hispanic so it’s harder for the leftists to scream racism at him. He’s going after these turds.

I hope he gets a bevvy of wokie scalps.

I was talking to a friend that lives in NOVA about this school scheme and that I suspected that it may extend into Prince William county schools, which border Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and my friend said he thought that it had already been reported. I checked and confirmed, and sure enough PW county schools are now acknowledging that they failed to notify eligible students of their commendations.

Whole lotta supposed accidental lack of notifications by a whole bunch of NOVA schools.

[Note: there is an audio version of this story at the linked website article.]

=================

Dozens of Prince William County students weren’t notified of merit commendations

InsideNoVa.com

January 18, 2023, 9:07 AM

This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.

Prince William County Schools officials say an accidental oversight delayed notification of National Merit commendations for 28 high school students, months after the commendations were originally awarded and schools were supposed to tell students.

According to a school system spokesperson, 28 students at four county high schools were notified months after they should have been, potentially keeping those students from putting the commendation on college applications.

“PWCS believes strongly that all student achievement should be recognized. In September 2022, PWCS had two students named 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists and issued a press release,” a statement from the school system provided to InsideNoVa said. “For the students in PWCS who were among the 34,000 students [nationally] who did not qualify as semifinalists but did receive [a] letter of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Program, PWCS provides recognition annually through personal notifications and annual award ceremonies.”

The statement continues, “Recent updates from the schools today indicate that four out of 13 PWCS high schools made recent notifications to 28 students. This delay was due to an accidental administrative oversight. PWCS regrets this mistake occurred and principals have notified all those impacted.”

A spokesperson for Prince William County Schools said the four schools where students weren’t initially notified were Colgan, Patriot, Battlefield and Forest Park high schools.

The school system’s admission comes after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced an investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in part over concerns from parents about commendations that were withheld from students. Miyares also announced an investigation into revised admissions policies at Thomas Jefferson.

No families, students or school systems have claimed that National Merit Award semifinalists – who can go on to compete for National Merit scholarships based on their PSAT scores – were not notified of their status.

Absolutely reprehensible! Git a rope!

flashguy

Sigh. So tired.