Chronology of Events

The admissions policy is established by the School Board. The admissions policy at TJHSST has been debated and modified several times to address the diversity issue. 

1985 -- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is established as a gifted school for students excelling in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Prior to 2013 - All admission components were scored separately and those scores were compiled to arrive at a numerical score.  Based on the numerical scores, the top 480 students were offered admission.

2013 - The school board changed the admissions policy which now provides that student semi-finalists undergo a comprehensive, holistic review process to assess their exceptional quantitative skills and interest in STEM, ability to meet the rigors of the TJHSST curriculum and the potential to be effective contributors to the school’s learning experience. The pool of semifinalists is determined strictly by the math, reading & science percentile ranks from the admissions tests and GPA.

2018 - Regulation 3355.13 was taken effect for the purpose of establishing TJHSST as a Fairfax County public school and as one of the Academic Year Regional Governor’s Schools for Science and Technology

Aug 23, 2019 - James F. Lane, Ed.D., Superintendent of Public Instruction, sent a memo (#202-19) to Division Superintendents on the subject, Local Gifted Education Technical Review Process which also includes the review schedule for the plan.

The general assembly asked superintendents responsible for Governor’s Schools to report to the General Assembly and Secretary of Education summarizing goals and additional information regarding diversity at our Governor’s Schools for the Budget Bill, to be submitted on October 1. TJHSST is Northern Virginia’s Governor’s School.

May 19, 2020 - In an email from Mark A Levy, Roanoke Valley Governor’s School for Science and Technology, the equity “report should end up rather simple, sticking closely to the specific wording of the budget language, with some basic data.” He put together a template for the report which “doesn’t have a requirement to be approved by the board.”

June 4, 2020 - TJ alumni started requesting anti-racism be added to TJ’s curriculum and to critically examine TJ’s diversity, and the exclusion of Black, Latino, and low-income students, and make a plan to fix it through emails sent to the TJ’s principal, Dr. Ann Bonitatibus Ed.D. It says TJ failed to adequately teach their students about racism, intersectionality, and privilege in the U.S.

June 7, 2020 - Blue Virginia published a false headline indicating that “ZERO African Americans” had been granted admission at TJ for the class of 2024,  used by a group TJ Alumni Action Group in their campaign to make changes in TJ (and currently supports FCPS’s Proposed Merit Lottery for TJHSST Admissions)

Dr. Bonitatibus sent a letter to TJHSST families with a call to action on racial equity at TJ. She urged parents to check their “privileges.”

I implore you to think about your own journey and discovery of race and economic advantage in America. My parents never had to teach me about what it means to be white. I never have had to worry that someone would look at the color of my skin and think I either may not be smart enough to learn or I should be exceedingly smart in a certain subject. No one has surveilled me in a store while shopping, or locked their cars or front doors out of fear when seeing me in their neighborhood. While I did not come from a family with economic means, the color of my skin has given me privileges that others do not have. Please think of privileges you hold that others may not.

The email sparked discussions and received mixed reactions and several different opinions, positive and negative.

Jun 12, 2020 - Blue Virginia updated the article, admitting that the claim had been false.

June 18, 2020  - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public Comments on TJ admissions and anti-racism curriculum

Jun 25, 2020  - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public Comments on TJ
• 2.03 Topic No. 1: What steps (with timelines and actionable items) can be taken to immediately (short term and long term) to eliminate racism and implicit bias in FCPS? 

Advocacy: With the year-end review of the budget upcoming, I would like the Board to see what immediate, short-term, and long-term actions we can take to improve FCPS with regard to racism and implicit bias. This is an urgent matter with budgetary implications. With the year-end budget review, we have an opportunity to potentially begin to address areas of improvement. This should be considered at a work session. (Cohen) 

Discussion: The Board discussed the time frame, including immediate steps, long and short-term goals. Specific concerns were noted around school renaming, recruitment and hiring practices, and the need for building-wide professional development on racism and cultural competency. The professional development should include the dress code, discipline procedures, restorative justice, racial slurs, the AAP programs, admissions to TJ, and an anti-racist curriculum. Support was expressed for having multiple work sessions, entrenching the concepts in the strategic plan, and developing concrete solutions to build a system that is accommodating for all. 

Consensus: To direct the Superintendent to create an intentional plan, including an assessment of what has been accomplished so far, with short and long-term goals and measurable timelines to combat racism in the Division and create an anti-racist mindset. 

July 9, 2020  - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public comments on TJ
• Speakers on TJHSST: Sean Nguyen, Gurleen Kaur, Tiffany Ji, Susan Danewitz, Ruth Metzel, Vanessa Hall, Reginald Berry, and Julie Kennedy.
• Two speakers gave video testimony: Rachel Lei on Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and Rania Abuirshaid on anti-racist curriculum

July 23, 2020  - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public Comments on TJ

July 24, 2020 - A Diversity Group/Task force was created and started holding Task-force meetings to recommend to the Virginia State Legislature changes to TJ and its admissions process.

August 2020 - Coalition for TJ started their first petition to Governor Ralph S. Northam to keep Merit-Based Admissions at TJHSST.

September 2, 2020  - Public Engagement Committee Meeting

• PEC Charge: To plan strategies, topics, timelines, and other matters related to Board/community dialogue and public engagement with stakeholders.

 AGENDA:

1. How to fulfill the charge for communications:
   1. Create and implement a proactive ongoing strategy for regular communications on major initiatives (to include message, goal, message maps, timeline) working in conjunction with OCCR and strategic communications partner
   2. Create and implement a crisis communications strategy working in conjunction with OCCR and strategic communications partner
2. How to fulfill the charge for community engagement:
3. Citizen participation at Board meetings (continued discussion)
4. Town halls (best practices, standards)
5. Media Training
6. Reviewing committees

• Attachment: Citizen Participation - 7-1-19 PEC

Sept. 3, 2020  - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public Comments on TJ

Sept. 8, 2020 - Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni conducted a “Listening Session” with Students of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science (Alexandria, Va.) and Technology and Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School (Richmond, Va.) regarding ongoing conversation about changing the admissions policies on Governor’s schools.

• Transcript
• Discarded messages

Sept. 15, 2020 - A. FCPS School Board Work Session - Social Studies Curriculum Report

• Agenda Item Details> Agenda>3.02 Anti racism and anti bias education curriculum

Subject:  Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias Education Curriculum

Staff Contact:  Scott Brabrand, Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Other Staff Present:

Frances Ivey, deputy superintendent

Sloan Presidio, assistant superintendent, Instructional Services

Kathleen Walts, executive director, Office of Professional Learning and Family Engagement

Leona Smith, director, Equity & Family Engagement

Noel Klimenko, director, Curriculum and Instruction

Nina Thomas, coordinator, Professional Development & Cultural Responsiveness

Colleen Eddy, coordinator, Social Studies

Deborah March, specialist, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

School Board Action Required: Information

Key Points: This session is in response to the Forum topic discussed on January 9, 2020.  The outcome of that meeting was the following:

FCPS has a robust elective program regarding anti-hate and bias, and the Superintendent will develop plans to expand it, making it part of the core curriculum. The Board will schedule 1-2 work sessions so that Board members can provide feedback on the anti-hate and bias curriculum.

This work session also connects to the June 25, 2020 forum on Eliminating Racism & Implicit Bias in FCPS. Reforming curriculum is one key piece of eliminating racism and implicit bias in the larger system.

The Board reviewed a draft of FCPS goals & framework for anti-racism and anti-bias education, reviewed current FCPS curriculum revision projects with a focus on K-12 social studies, reviewed FCPS professional development actions, and discussed the need for an FCPS anti-racism and anti-bias policy.

• Attachments:

Anti-Racism, Anti-Bias Curriculum Presentation

Design Principals for Cultural Responsiveness

B. FCPS School Board Work Session - TJ Admissions Review

• Full Transcript
• Agenda Item Details>Agenda>4.02 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Admissions

Subject: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Admissions

Staff Contact: Scott Brabrand, Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools

Other Staff Present: Marty Smith, chief operating officer

                                 Fabio Zuluaga, assistant superintendent, Region 2

                                 Ann Bonitatibus, principal, TJHSST

                                 Jeremy Shughart, director of TJHSST Admissions

Meeting Category: September 15, 2020 – Work Session

School Board Action Required: Information and Consensus

• Attachment:

Presentation - TJHSST Admissions Merit Lottery Proposal

• Summary - Recommendations presented to the Board include the elimination of both the admissions test and the $100 application fee.  Lottery pathways based on geographic location will be developed, while the core class GPA will be raised from 3.0 to 3.5.  Selection to TJHSST will be made by merit lottery.  Pathways have been designed to ensure equitable access for students across all regions in FCPS and participating jurisdictions: Arlington County, Falls Church City, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.  These changes will remove many barriers now faced by students from culturally and ethnically diverse socioeconomic backgrounds while ensuring that TJHSST maintains its top-tier academic standards. The proposal would implement the new process for the next admissions cycle. 
• Impact of merit lottery model to diversity in TJ admissions 

Sept. 17, 2020 - FCPS School Board Meeting

• Public Comments on TJ

Sept. 20, 2020 - Students and parents protest proposed admissions changes

• Fairfax County residents assembled on the school’s property around 1 p.m, holding signs that read “Lottery has no place in schools.” Parents and students spoke out about their frustration about the inequality that the new proposal would create through a new lottery-based system.
• Pictures 
• Videos
• Quotes from Live FB video
• Coalition for TJ Facebook content on the protest

Sept. 23, 2020 - FCPS Community Town Hall with Dr. Brabrand - Thomas Jefferson Admissions

• Transcript
• To present the merit lottery proposal and hear feedback.
• Dr. Brabrand: “It's clear that Thomas Jefferson does not reflect the diversity of FCPS, our community or of Northern Virginia, and it doesn't - more importantly - reflect the talent pool that already exists across all of our students. Not the economic diversity that is out there that has merit and talent, not the geographic diversity, and not the racial ethnic diversity. We are missing talent. And we need to get into the talent spotting process, the talent development process, and not have a process that screens talent out, that screens merit out. And standardized testing has and continues. And we've got years of data that Jeremy has to show where the talent is screened out as we administer that standardized test.”

Sept. 29, 2020 - FCPS School Board Work Session Committee Reports

Oct. 6, 2020 - FCPS School Board Work Session TJ Admissions 10-6-20 Full Video

• Full Transcript
• Agenda PDF
• Agenda Item Details>Agenda>2.02 TJ Admissions

Staff Contact: Scott Brabrand, Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools

Other Staff Present: Marty Smith, chief operating officer

           Fabio Zuluaga, assistant superintendent, Region

           Ann Bonitatibus, principal, TJHSST

           Jeremy Shughart, director of admissions, TJHSST

• Presented revisions to merit lottery process 

➢ Highest-evaluated students will be offered an opportunity to fill 20% of available seats (100) based on a holistic review of their application 

➢ Remaining 400 seats will be filled by merit lottery 

➢ FCPS region slots will be proportional to student enrollment 

➢ Rolling admissions to keep a class of 500

➢ The highest-evaluated 100 students would be offered admissions. The remaining students would be selected randomly within their pathway. 

• Attachments:

TJHSST Admissions Revised Proposal 

Next Steps Responses

• The board provided the following:
• Consensus to eliminate the admissions test.
• Consensus to eliminate the $100 application.
• The school board asked for: 
• A more detailed plan on any sort of proposal on the number of set-aside seats to one that is in line with the percentage of highly gifted students nationally normed and normed for Northern Virginia.
• Details on how the admissions will work - asking for a model that includes both a lottery and without a lottery.

Oct. 7, 2020 - FCPS Town Hall Thomas Jefferson HS 10-7-20 Full Video with Dr. Brabrand’s 2nd Town Hall regarding TJ admissions. 

• Transcript
• He presented the holistic review and the proposed process revisions to the merit lottery process that can be seen as an alternative to the original merit lottery.
• Members of the public who spoke at the town hall were divided on the proposed change. Supporters of the plan generally agreed with the need to improve diversity at a school that admits very few Black and Latinx students. A key theme for those opposed was the complaint that the plan would harm the reputation of the elite school. Some have expressed concerns that trying to change the admission process at the last minute during a pandemic is questionable.

Oct. 8, 2020 - FCPS School Board Meeting 10-8-20

• Transcript
• Agenda Item Details>Agenda>3.04 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Admissions

Subject: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Admissions

Staff Contact: Scott Brabrand, Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools

Other Staff Present: Marty Smith, chief operating officer

          Fabio Zuluaga, assistant superintendent, Region 2

          Ann Bonitatibus, principal, TJHSST

          Jeremy Shughart, director of admissions, TJHSST

Meeting Category: October 8, 2020 – Regular Meeting

School Board Action Required: Information and Consensus

Key Points: This presentation provided an update to the September 15, 2020 and the October 6, 2020 work sessions on the effort of continuous improvement of the Admissions Process for TJHSST, and information regarding the current admissions process and proposed changes for future admissions processes.

Board Member proposed motions:

1. I move to direct the Superintendent to develop and implement a public engagement plan regarding TJ admissions prior to bringing the updated TJ plan to the Board in December. This plan should allow for more thorough community input and dialogue on TJ admissions. This public engagement can include public hearings, interviews, panel and focus group discussions and other forms of collaborative discourse. At minimum input should be solicited on how to best determine merit, design an admissions process aimed at ensuring the demographics at TJ are more representative of our regional student demographics, and how to communicate the TJ opportunity to our communities. (Sizemore Heizer/Tholen) — Failed

2. I move to direct the superintendent to develop a plan for establishing policies and procedures for instituting a regional governing board for TJ High School for Science and Technology. The governing board shall be comprised of a proportionate representation of the school boards which send students to the school. The regional board shall be responsible for ensuring current Virginia Board of Education Regulations relative to jointly operated schools and programs are adhered to. The Superintendents plan shall be referred to the Governance Committee no later than March 2021. The Governance Committee will review the Superintendent’s proposed plan and bring its recommendation to the Fairfax County School Board for final approval prior to implementation. (Corbett Sanders) — Approved

3. I move to direct the Superintendent to establish a plan for student talent development and put into action means for student potential identification and outreach. This motion is intended to address the systemic issues that impact diversity at TJ. It is not intended to and shall not impact the immediate need to change the admissions process we are currently addressing. This plan may include but not be limited to:

• Strengthening the equity of access to advanced academic curriculum and strategies for all students regardless of AAP level of service. This will require professional development for all classroom teachers on advanced programs pedagogy;
• Establishing a plan to have a full time Advanced Academic resource teachers in all remaining ES and a .5 in each middle school;
• Increasing administrator and teacher awareness of our Young Scholars program in FCPS and strive to ensure it is administered uniformly and with fidelity with the goal of expanding it to all schools.
• Developing a communications plan to help parents understand how their children can benefit from participation in AAP, and invest in family engagement to facilitate participation of historically underrepresented students in advanced academic programs.
• Providing an analysis of math and science curriculum offering in all elementary and middle schools;
• Providing an analysis of extracurricular STEM opportunities in all elementary and middle schools. 

We would ask for regular reporting from the Superintendent on these items as part of the Strategic Plan Goal reports. (Derenak Kaufax/Tholen)

• Attachment

Oct. 13, 2020 - FCPS School Board Work Session Committee Reports 10-13-20

Oct. 20, 2020 - FCPS School Board Work Session- Legislative Program 10-20-2020

Oct. 22, 2020 - FCPS School Board Meeting 10-22-2020

• Agenda Item Details:
• Public Comments on TJ

Meeting: Oct 22, 2020 - Regular Meeting 

Category: Action Items - 8:30 p.m. 

Subject: Addressing the systemic issues that impact TJ admissions diversity 

Type: Action

I move to direct the Superintendent to establish a plan for student talent development and put into action means for student potential identification and outreach. This motion is intended to address the systemic issues that impact diversity at TJ. It is not intended to and shall not impact the immediate need to change the admissions process we are currently addressing. This plan may include but not be limited to:

• Strengthening the equity of access to advanced academic curriculum and strategies for all students regardless of AAP level of service. This will require professional development for all classroom teachers on advanced programs pedagogy;
• Establishing a plan to have a full time Advanced Academic resource teachers in all remaining ES and a .5 in each middle school;
• Increasing administrator and teacher awareness of our Young Scholars program in FCPS and strive to ensure it is administered uniformly and with fidelity with the goal of expanding it to all schools.
• Developing a communications plan to help parents understand how their children can benefit from participation in AAP, and invest in family engagement to facilitate participation of historically underrepresented students in advanced academic programs.
• Providing an analysis of math and science curriculum offering in all elementary and middle schools;
• Providing an analysis of extracurricular STEM opportunities in all elementary and middle schools.

We would ask for regular reporting from the Superintendent on these items as part of the Strategic Plan Goal reports. (Derenak Kaufax/Tholen)

Oct. 27, 2020 - FCPS School Board Work Session- AAP Report 10-27-2020

- FCPS School Board Work Session- AAP Report part-two 10-27-2020

- FCPS School Board Work Session- Legislative Program 10-27-2020