{"id":1455251,"date":"2022-04-27T09:15:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T13:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1455251"},"modified":"2022-04-27T09:16:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T13:16:32","slug":"after-race-based-admissions-to-nations-top-high-school-students-drop-out-and-underperform-at-record-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-race-based-admissions-to-nations-top-high-school-students-drop-out-and-underperform-at-record-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"After Race-Based Admissions To Nation\u2019s Top High School, Students Drop Out And Underperform At Record Rates"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafter-race-based-admissions-to-nations-top-high-school-students-drop-out-and-underperform-at-record-rates%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1455251&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. \u2013 In summer 2017, when Ann Bonitatibus walked through the front doors of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as its new principal, she came with a mission to turn the top-rated school upside down. For her, that meant flipping the school\u2019s racial demographics. At the time, 7 of 10 students came from Asian immigrant families, two of 10 from white families, and one of 10 students came from black, Hispanic, and multiracial families.<\/p>\n<p>On June 7, 2020, after George Floyd\u2019s killing, Bonitatibus <a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/VAEDUFCPS\/bulletins\/28f8d9f\">emailed our mostly minority, immigrant families<\/a>, telling us to check our \u201cprivileges,\u201d expressing her shame at our \u201cColonials\u201d mascot, and outlining her vision for a new racial makeup at the school. Soon Bonitatibus will be able to say \u201cmission accomplished\u201d\u2014courtesy of an unfortunate 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The justices \u201ctemporarily reinstated a woke admissions policy at one of America\u2019s top schools despite a federal judge previously ruling it was racist,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GodE7sV5nN\">UK\u2019s Daily Mail reported bluntly.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>\u2018No. 1 School Has Become the Titanic\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Our legal battle to stop the principal and fellow activists from <em>completely<\/em> hijacking the school as a magnet for advanced students in math and science is far from over. But the decision is bad news for the short-term future of TJ, as the school is called, where freshmen are leaving the school in record numbers and teachers are abandoning ship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur country\u2019s No. 1 school has become the Titanic,\u201d says one person, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the principal. Indeed, U.S. News and World Report just released its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-high-schools\/articles\/us-news-ranks-best-high-schools\">rankings of top schools and TJ is No. 1<\/a> again\u2014but folks wonder for how long.<\/p>\n<p>According to people familiar with the school, the situation has become so bad the principal has instructed counselors to connect her with students considering leaving the school, so she can meet with them and keep her numbers down, something she didn\u2019t do regularly before. Fairfax County Public Schools and Bonitatibus didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h2>Yes, Racism Is Still Unconstitutional in America<\/h2>\n<p>Know this. Our parents are on the correct side of history. On February 28, federal Judge Claude Hilton <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/02\/court-ruling-deals-decisive-blow-to-race-based-admission-policy-at-top-high-school\/\">issued a historic ruling<\/a> in our lawsuit, <a href=\"https:\/\/pacificlegal.org\/case\/coalition_for_tj\/\">Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board<\/a>. Hilton said a new admissions process the school board put in place in December 2020, with the principal\u2019s advocacy, is \u201cpatently unconstitutional\u201d and ordered the school board to immediately return to its previous merit-based, race-blind admissions test system.<\/p>\n<p>Already, the district picked the Class of 2025 through an illegal admissions process, causing the percentage of Asian students admitted last year to plummet from 73 to 54 percent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/07\/02\/purge-asian-american-students-thomas-jefferson-has-begun\/\">in a purge.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On March 10, the judge denied the school board\u2019s request for a \u201cstay\u201d of his order, pending its appeal of his decision. School board officials challenged Judge Hilton\u2019s refusal of the stay in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., and, in a 2-1 split decision, two judges granted the stay.<\/p>\n<p>In response, lawyers for Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the Coalition for TJ, filed an emergency application on April 8 with the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay. Often, judges don\u2019t like to rule on lower-court decisions until they evaluate the merits of a case. Getting three judges to overcome that reticence and vote to overturn the stay says a lot about how seriously they view this constitutional violation. It bodes well for our return to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<h2>Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied<\/h2>\n<p>Now, however, the case heads back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the Fairfax County school board is trying to overturn Hilton\u2019s ruling. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in September. If it reverses the federal judge\u2019s ruling, Pacific Legal Foundation will take the case back to the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the merits.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court ruling clears the way for admissions officers to flip half the school, by allowing next year\u2019s freshman class, the Class of 2026, to be announced any day now through the unconstitutional process. The illegal process will likely be used for another admissions cycle for the Class of 2027 and the selection of three-fourths of the school. Finally, maybe in late 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court may hear the case on its merits.<\/p>\n<p>With justice delayed, it\u2019s children who are paying the price. For months, parents and teachers have been talking about how the freshmen admitted through the lower academic admissions standards are struggling and leaving the school. Even freshmen students are calling the Class of 2024 the \u201clast real class of TJ.\u201d Now the data is in.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Record Numbers of Freshmen Leaving<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/schoolprofiles.fcps.edu\/schlprfl\/f?p=108:42:3836337024964::NO:RP:P42_SCHOOL,P0_EDSL:SUMMARY,0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">school district\u2019s website,<\/a>\u00a0 only 541 students of the 550 students admitted in the Class of 2025 even started in September 2021.\u00a0Several left throughout the school year, in March bringing the Class of 2025 to 529 students from 541.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1-1024x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-271345\" width=\"-218\" height=\"-218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1-1024x1024-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1-300x300-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1-200x200-1.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1-768x768-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra1.jpg 1080w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>That\u2019s 12 students, or a record 2.2 percent of the freshman class, who dropped out of the school. The number may seem small, but consider that only one student dropped out the entire year before from the Class of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Teachers also say the principal has sent a clear message: don\u2019t fail freshmen. The year before, in the freshman Class of 2023, only one student dropped out.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Record Numbers of Unprepared Students<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In February, blaming \u201cpandemic learning gaps,\u201d Bonitatibus had staff announce new after-school \u201cAlgebra Review Sessions\u201d because so many Class of 2025 students were ill-prepared in math.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1-1024x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-271342\" width=\"456\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1-1024x1024-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1-300x300-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1-200x200-1.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1-768x768-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra3-1.jpg 1080w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Furthermore, a <a href=\"https:\/\/asrainvestigates.substack.com\/p\/report-tj-class-of-2025-students?r=1k5zy&#038;s=w&#038;utm_campaign=post&#038;utm_medium=web\">new study by the Fairfax County Association for the Gifted<\/a>, which advocates for advanced academic students, confirms the new admissions process admitted students in the Class of 2025 with less advanced math than the year before. Compared to the TJ Class of 2024, the proportion of students admitted in the Class of 2025 with Algebra 2 or higher completed in 8th grade decreased from 35 to 18 percent.\u00a0Advanced math, like multivariable calculus, lays the foundation for advanced sciences, from artificial intelligence and machine learning, that matter to TJ students (and the school\u2019s mission).<\/p>\n<p>The study also found 38 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools students admitted to the TJ Class of 2025 \u201cwere not participating in the most rigorous coursework available in 8th grade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in response to a FOIA request by a TJ mother, Fairfax County officials revealed that the number of TJ students who had to take geometry\u2014a course that most ninth graders completed before arriving at TJ under merit admissions\u2014skyrocketed to 136 students in the 2021-2022 school year from 11 in 2020-2021 and 15 in 2019-2020.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2-1024x1024-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-271341\" width=\"-159\" height=\"-159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2-1024x1024-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2-300x300-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2-200x200-1.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2-768x768-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Asra2.jpg 1080w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Unfortunately, educrat-activists like Bonitatibus are now busy rewriting their role in this disaster. \u00a0At a Sept. 15, 2020, online <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/n3FS9TY0lcg?t=5205\">school board \u201cwork session,\u201d<\/a> Bonitatibus beamed as she enumerated the many ways she had advanced the new admissions policy that would bring \u201crepresentative demographics\u201d to TJ, according to a recording of the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d \u201cbeen involved\u201d in a special task force that Virginia Education Secretary Atif Qarni had convened in June 2020 to push race-based admissions changes. Bonitatibus, who grew up in Pittsburgh as a Steelers fan, proudly said she had been fielding questions from the superintendent and school district chief operating officer for \u201cseveral weeks\u201d as they worked on a new \u201cmerit lottery\u201d race-based admissions process.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Denying \u2018Any Role\u2019 in Admissions Changes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Last week, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Tya4rWvPJU0\">a new video reveals<\/a>, Bonitatibus stood before parents at a meeting of the school\u2019s Parent Teacher Student Association, or PTSA, and denied her role in the TJ admissions changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear,\u201d Bonitatibus said, sharply, \u201cit is the FCPS school board who makes the decision about TJ admissions and FCPS leadership. I do not make \u2013 nor have I had any role \u2013 in the decision-making for TJ admissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brian Davison, a TJ father who asked Bonitatibus about her advocacy for the new race-based admissions policy, shook his head in disbelief at this. \u201cThe judge called you a racist,\u201d he said, as members of a new rubber-stamping PTSA clapped for the principal.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"IPhmKdx0lFZMrzSmyOhFQXQILE4M12gVyBPGTzDDp36As2BU8qRC5cYv67LfJXqlwn1ApHkRcGt5ikErdYKebV\"><\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cPrincipal Ann Bonitatibus is a liar,\u201d Davison later told me. \u201cShe used her official channels, including the FCPS email system, to say that it is unacceptable for 70 percent of TJ students to be Asian. Bonitatibus owes the community an apology for her indisputable position that Asian students should be replaced solely because they have the wrong skin color.\u00a0How can an avowed racist remain as principal of TJ when over half of her students know she holds racial animus against them?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Get Your Hands Off Me\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, at the PTSA meeting, PTSA President Yvette Rivers moved to have Davison \u201cremoved\u201d for \u201checkling\u201d the principal, as a TJ mother, Kate Carey, who supports the new admissions policy, scrambled to stand in front of Davison and another TJ father, Harry Jackson, who was filming the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Carey then darted to Jackson and, the video reveals, she frantically waved a green PTSA voter\u2019s card in front of Jackson\u2019s phone as he moved it above his head, above her reach. The green card can be seen flashing in front of the camera. Witnesses say Carey pressed against Jackson\u2019s left leg, left shoulder, and left side, desperate to get to the phone.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson, a former U.S. Naval officer and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/03\/10\/thomas-jefferson-high-school-students-parents-are-fighting-changes-admissions-standards-heres-why\/\">supports a return to merit-based admissions<\/a>. He can be heard on camera saying, \u201cGet your hands off of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rivers, who supports the new admissions policy, repeatedly says, \u201cKate, Kate, sit down. Kate, please sit down.\u201d Rivers and PTSA officers didn\u2019t return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>In a curt response, Carey said, in an email, \u201cI never touched Harry. I blocked view [sic].\u201d A few minutes later, a friend of Carey\u2019s emailed, telling me, not-for-attribution, that Carey \u201cdid not touch\u201d Jackson.<\/p>\n<h2>Democrat Activists Drunk on Race Extremism<\/h2>\n<p>Carey and the principal\u2019s other minions symbolize a national network of apoplectic hard-left activists, most of them white, affluent, and affiliated with local Democratic Party chapters. Loudoun County, Va., parent advocate Ian Prior, founder of Fight for Schools, calls them <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/03\/19\/how-writing-a-federalist-article-put-me-on-chardonnay-antifas-cancel-list\/\">\u201cChardonnay Antifa.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, Carey and fellow activists and trolls from the local Fairfax County Democratic Party have spent countless hours, trying to discredit parents (including me) in a <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1QAIY1DzJoPU_SeD8JyOtawgNIZVgCCGM?usp=sharing\">series of rants<\/a>, as \u201cdark money\u201d political operatives, \u201cwhite supremacists\u201d and \u201cright wing\u201d extremists.<\/p>\n<p>Carey targeted me after I wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/04\/20\/indoctrination-no-1-u-s-high-school-pushes-racist-activism-on-students\/\">Federalist column<\/a> chronicling how the TJ principal violated district policies by bringing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com\/\">\u201cBlack Lives Matter at Schools\u201d<\/a> and a film rated TV-MA into a \u201csocial and emotional learning\u201d lesson during school hours, without parental permission slips the school district required. <\/p>\n<p>During the lesson, an activist alum scolded the school\u2019s Asian students about \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d when they salsa dance during a TJ tradition called iNite. I noted at the time that Bonitatibus had lamented in an email, revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request, that there were <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/12\/17\/nations-no-1-high-school-poised-to-pick-students-based-on-race-not-achievement\/\">\u201cso few black and brown children\u201d<\/a> at TJ.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Bonitatibus <a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/VAEDUFCPS\/bulletins\/3130af2\">sent another email<\/a> to parents. This time, she bragged about the school\u2019s celebration for Holi, the Hindu festival of lights, and Model United Nations awards. She signed her email, \u201cProud TJHSST Principal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last night, donning traditional clothes from India, Bonitatibus also danced at the school\u2019s iNite celebration. Recalling the crusade that the principal has led against the school\u2019s Asian students and families, a mother from China watched, aghast.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  A former Wall Street Journal reporter, Asra Nomani writes a regular newsletter, <a href=\"https:\/\/asrainvestigates.substack.com\/\">Asra Investigates<\/a>, with breaking news and analysis on the frontlines of culture and politics. She is cofounder of the Coalition for TJ, a grassroots parent group, and the Pearl Project, an investigative reporting initiative.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. \u2013 In summer 2017, when Ann Bonitatibus walked through the front doors of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as its new principal, she came with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":723,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1455251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/723"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}