Fairfax Schools Hide Academic Awards from Families — Another Update

In December 2022 it was revealed that the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (“TJ”) in Fairfax County, Virginia, had withheld National Merit “commended student” awards from students and their parents.   TJ’s leaders explained at the time that they did this so the feelings of other students wouldn’t be hurt; they added: “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus of their achievements.”  National media coverage ensued.   Could it really be that the school system’s single-minded focus on “equity” had created a war on merit?

Fairfax County Public Schools (“FCPS”) administrators initially dismissed the incident as an innocent one-time human error, but when other area high schools admitted they had similarly withheld recognition of the National Merit awards, the Superintendent of FCPS announced there would be an independent investigation, with full transparency.   The results of the official inquiry haven’t yet been revealed, but others have pursued the matter on their own.  Earlier this week, the reporter who broke the story in December, Asra Nomani, published an article in the National Review, disclosing her findings from documents obtained under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.  The documents show that the actions of TJ’s leaders were deliberate, not accidental, and that they were systemic, not an isolated incident.  The article is here:

Fairfax Virginia Schools’ War on Merit Turns to Systemic Injustice   

The story won’t go away until FCPS’ leaders disclose what, if anything, they will do in response.  Will they continue to brush the matter aside as an insignificant, innocent, one-time oversight?  Will anyone be disciplined?  Will FCPS’ leaders issue a clear and emphatic directive to all school personnel that individual accomplishments of students are to be openly praised, not hidden in the name of “equity”?  Will the “equity training” sessions for teachers and other employees be amended to stress that excellence is always the predominant goal?

FCPS doesn’t seem to recognize, or at least it hasn’t acknowledged so far, that downgrading merit is an almost inevitable consequence of enshrining “equity” as the overriding focus of public education.  The last FCPS Superintendent, Scott Braband, proudly announced in August 2020 that “equity” would thereafter not just be “a” thing at FCPS; it would be “the” thing.  That approach hasn’t been repudiated by the current administration or the School Board.  Until it is, and until excellence is reinstated as “the” overriding goal, we can expect more incidents in which merit gives way to other objectives.

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