By Erin Wilcox

It all started with an email.  

Last summer, as George Floyd’s death rocked the nation and COVID-19 kept many Fairfax County Public Schools students at home, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology principal Dr. Ann Bonitatibus sent an email urging students and parents to “think of the privileges you hold that others may not.” 

By Harry Jackson

Many TJ parents and students protested the removal of a race-blind admissions process to TJ. When our concerns were dismissed, our only option to protect TJ’s commitment to excellence was to file suit in federal court. We argue that the new subjective race-based admission standards, aimed at achieving a “better” racial balance at TJ, violate the constitutional rights of the school’s Asian students.

Media can download our photos and videos for free use at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1daKLrJjCqrnGkmtmC7ZcXFFNoCNCjKer?usp=sharing. We hope you will know our families and recognize they are ordinary families like all of us.

Watch our March 10, 2021, press conference. Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Erin Wilcox outlined our lawsuit suing Fairfax County Public Schools for discrimination. Hear our parents. 

Download our video for free use by the media.

By Hannah Natanson
Fairfax County Public Schools is facing a second lawsuit over changes officials made last year to the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, its flagship STEM magnet school.The suit, filed in federal court Wednesday, alleges the changes are discriminatory against Asian Americans and therefore violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

By Matthew Barakat

Erin Wilcox, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, said at a press conference Wednesday that the policies themselves are discriminatory, 

but the intent is made even more clear by statements 

from board members who said they want the changes 

to result in a student body with a racial makeup that matches the county's demographics.

By Emily Leayman

The Coalition with TJ's lawsuit claims the admissions changes intend to reduce the number of Asian American students admitted to the school.

On Wednesday, the Coalition for TJ filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the admissions changes at Thomas High School for Science and Technology.

By FOX 5 Digital Team and Sierra Fox

A lawsuit against Fairfax County Public Schools alleges that changes in the admissions process at an elite northern Virginia high school 

were made to purposely reduce the number of 

Asian-American students accepted. 

Nation’s No. 1 High School Poised To Pick Students Based On Race, Not Achievement

Read the emails that document the campaign to overhaul admissions to TJ by TJ Principal Ann Bonitatibus and members and leaders of the TJ Alumni Action Group, a 501c4 lobbying group.