Judge: New admissions policies at Thomas Jefferson High School discriminate

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Judge: New admissions policies at elite school discriminate

The Associated Press

February 25, 2022, 5:18 PM

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school system illegally discriminated against Asian Americans when it overhauled the admissions policies at an elite public school. ... The ruling from U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton found that impermissible “racial balancing” was at the core of the plan to overhaul admissions to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as “TJ.” The school routinely ranks as the best or one of the best public schools in the country, and slots at the school are highly competitive.

In 2020, the Fairfax County School Board significantly revamped the admissions process at the school. A standardized test that had been a linchpin of the admissions process was scrapped in favor of a system that set aside equal numbers of TJ slots at each of the county’s middle schools, among other changes. ... Hilton, in his ruling, wrote, “The discussion of admissions changes was infected with talk of racial balancing from its inception.”

Although the school has enjoyed a stellar academic reputation for decades, Black and Hispanic students were woefully underrepresented in the student body. ... TJ’s current freshman class, the first to be accepted under the new policies, reflected a significant change in racial makeup. Asian representation decreased from 73% to 54%. The percentage of Black students increased from 1% last year to 7%. Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%.

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The Coalition for TJ, the group of parents who challenged the admissions process in court with help from the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a statement that it “is thrilled by Judge Claude Hilton’s clear renunciation of racism and discrimination and his powerful defense of equality.” ... Hilton’s ruling comes roughly a month after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a similar case filed by Asian American families against Harvard University over its admissions policies.

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An earlier version of this story said the school system will appeal. No final decision on an appeal has been made.

Copyright © 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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1. Judge Strikes Down Elite Virginia High School's Admissions Rules

Judge Strikes Down Elite Virginia High School’s Admissions Rules

Thomas Jefferson High School eliminated standardized tests and made other changes to attract more Black and Hispanic students. A judge declared the policy unfair to Asian Americans.

By Campbell Robertson and Stephanie Saul
Feb. 25, 2022

A federal judge on Friday struck down changes that had been made to the admissions process at a magnet school in Virginia that is one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, saying that the new rules left Asian American students “disproportionately deprived of a level playing field.”

The school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as T.J., which sits just outside of Washington, D.C., in Fairfax County, Va., had adopted the admissions protocols in late 2020 with the aim of diversifying the student body. The new rules did not mention race but eliminated a standardized testing requirement and specifically guaranteed eligibility to top students at middle schools that had sent few students to T.J. in the past.

After the rules went into effect, the percentages of Black and Hispanic students in the incoming class more than tripled, while the number of Asian American students fell from 73 percent to 54 percent, the lowest share in years. ... In changing the admissions process, school officials “expressed their desire to remake T.J. admissions because they were dissatisfied with the racial composition of the school,” Judge Claude M. Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote in his decision. ... “A means to accomplish their goal of achieving racial balance,” he wrote, “was to decrease enrollment of the only racial group ‘overrepresented’ at T.J. — Asian Americans. The board employed proxies that disproportionately burden Asian American students.”

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The plaintiff in the suit was an organization called Coalition for TJ, which includes some Asian American parents of prospective TJ applicants and was formed in August 2020 to oppose changes to the admissions process. ... “We hope this ruling sends the message that government cannot choose who receives the opportunity to attend public schools based on race or ethnicity,” Erin Wilcox, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the coalition, said in a statement. The foundation, a 49-year-old conservative legal group based in California, has also filed lawsuits in New York and Maryland.

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School Admissions

Conservatives Open New Front in Elite School Admission Wars
Feb. 16, 2022

How It Feels to Be an Asian Student in an Elite Public School
Jan. 25, 2022

Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Affirmative Action at Harvard and U.N.C.
Jan. 24, 2022

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2. Judge calls Thomas Jefferson High admissions changes illegal

Local Education

Judge calls Thomas Jefferson High admissions changes illegal

The prestigious Fairfax school ‘disproportionately deprived’ Asian Americans of a level playing field, according to the ruling

By Hannah Natanson
Yesterday at 4:41 p.m. EST

A federal judge ruled Friday that a new admissions system for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a prestigious magnet program in Fairfax, discriminates against Asian American applicants and must end.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton concluded that an effort to boost African American and Latino representation at TJ, as the school is known, constitutes an illegal act of “racial balancing.” He added that the school board altered the admissions process — eliminating a notoriously difficult test and a $100 application fee, choosing instead to evaluate students on “experience factors” such as socioeconomic background — in a rushed, sloppy and opaque manner.

Hilton wrote that “emails and text messages between Board members and high-ranking FCPS officials leave no material dispute that, at least in part, the purpose of the Board’s admissions overhaul was to change the racial makeup to TJ to the detriment of Asian-Americans.”

“The proper remedy for a legal provision enacted with discriminatory intent is invalidation,” Hilton wrote, before issuing a stark order: “Defendant Fairfax County School Board is enjoined from further use or enforcement of” its revised admissions system.

[Judge cancels trial in suit against Fairfax schools over TJ admissions, will issue judgment]

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By Hannah Natanson
Hannah Natanson is a reporter covering education and K-12 schools in Virginia. Twitter https://twitter.com/hannah_natanson