Liberal or Communist?

[afghan whigs]

Parents of students at one of the nation's top-ranked high schools are demanding its principal be fired after she and other officials delayed informing students that they had qualified for a national award.

The decision by brass at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia, was reportedly part of a new school strategy meant to provide 'equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions.'

That is another way of describing current woke buzzword 'equity,' which prioritizes equal outcomes, instead of equal opportunities.

As a result of the deception, pupils whom had been named 'commended students' by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation purposely left in the dark as to not 'hurt the feelings of' other students.

Only learning of the distinction a few months ago in the fall, the student body and their families are irate - and were seen outside the school Friday airing their displeasure.

Parents demand principal of US' top public school be fired after she withheld prestigious awards

 

[shu09]

Absurd and scary. I'm old enough to remember shaking my head when every kid got a trophy. It has only gotten worse since then. The dumbing down and softening of America. It will have serious consequences for our country's future.

 

[HALL85]

 

[Pirata]

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure…” – Winston Churchill

 

[cernjSHU]

Well, that makes very little sense. Pretty terrible decision by the school.

 

[Merge]

Well, that makes very little sense. Pretty terrible decision by the school.

Seems there was actually a delay because the letter sent to the school from the national merit board did not have enough postage which was likely because so many kids at the school received the letter (240+)

The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission...

www.city-journal.org

Also like the school official (incorrectly) believed notifications were sent by email, and the school has since corrected the error by contacting all of the schools the students applied to to add the honor.

Maybe this would be something the school would celebrate if they had a few kids who received the award, but being the top high school in the US, maybe the “commended status” (top 50k) is so common there, they only celebrate those who win the award? (Top 7,500)

 

[cernjSHU]

Seems there was actually a delay because the letter sent to the school from the national merit board did not have enough postage which was likely because so many kids at the school received the letter (240+)

The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission...

www.city-journal.org

Also like the school official (incorrectly) believed notifications were sent by email, and the school has since corrected the error by contacting all of the schools the students applied to to add the honor.

Maybe this would be something the school would celebrate if they had a few kids who received the award, but being the top high school in the US, maybe the “commended status” (top 50k) is so common there, they only celebrate those who win the award? (Top 7,500)

Who cares about celebrating the student. They withheld information. why? Notify the students so that they can put it in their college application. Not to do that is BS. I am not saying celebrate but they should be informed on a timely basis and to withhold that information is just wrong.

 

[Merge]

Who cares about celebrating the student. They withheld information. why? Notify the students so that they can put it in their college application. Not to do that is BS. I am not saying celebrate but they should be informed on a timely basis and to withhold that information is just wrong.

In past years apparently the students did receive a notification by email. This year they did not. So maybe someone just messed up rather than someone intentionally withheld information?

I’m not saying it’s ok, but an unintentional error by the school is very different than intentionally hiding the information as presented in the article above.

The more I have read into this story, it seems more like it was an unintentional error and the school has acted on behalf on the kids who received “commended status” by contacting all of the schools the kids applied to.

So far the county also says their understanding is that it was an error.

https://www.fcps.edu/news/statement...e-and-technology-delay-sharing-national-merit

 

[Pirata]

"Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award."

 

[Merge]

"Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award."

Right. They choose to not make a big deal of it.
The school used to have a breakfast ceremony but attendance was low so they stopped doing it.

Kosatka told another parent there was a balance as to whether a ceremony would be appropriate because nearly the entire class received the honor. He also told that parent that he believed notifications were sent by email.

So they intentionally didn’t make a big deal of it, but believed the notification had been sent and the letter was just ceremonial.

 

[silkcitypirate]

Right. They choose to not make a big deal of it.
The school used to have a breakfast ceremony but attendance was low so they stopped doing it.

Kosatka told another parent there was a balance as to whether a ceremony would be appropriate because nearly the entire class received the honor. He also told that parent that he believed notifications were sent by email.

So they intentionally didn’t make a big deal of it, but believed the notification had been sent and the letter was just ceremonial.

Sounds like some type of elite private prep school where you said almost the entire class gets some type of honors . Sounds like a non story to me and to lead the thread with Liberal or Communist is WAY OUT of LINE .

 

[Merge]

Sounds like some type of elite private prep school where you said almost the entire class gets some type of honors . Sounds like a non story to me and to lead the thread with Liberal or Communist is WAY OUT of LINE .

It's actually the top public high school in the US.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/rankings-overview

52% of their students got commended status. 29% got semi finalist status which will move on to the next round.

That's 81% that got commended status or higher. (insanely high compared to most schools)
The commended status is almost a participation trophy at that school.

It's a complete non story other than the students were not notified the way they were in prior years so they could add "commended status" to their college applications and the school has taken steps to correct that error.

This story was just written by an activist who has been fighting against the school's change in admission policy a couple years ago so it wasn't just based on test score results. She is making it seem like this was an intentional act in the "war on merit"

From what I read, it does not seem like this was intentional.

 

[SHUSA]

It's actually the top public high school in the US.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/rankings-overview

52% of their students got commended status. 29% got semi finalist status which will move on to the next round.

That's 81% that got commended status or higher. (insanely high compared to most schools)
The commended status is almost a participation trophy at that school.

It's a complete non story other than the students were not notified the way they were in prior years so they could add "commended status" to their college applications and the school has taken steps to correct that error.

This story was just written by an activist who has been fighting against the school's change in admission policy a couple years ago so it wasn't just based on test score results. She is making it seem like this was an intentional act in the "war on merit"

From what I read, it does not seem like this was intentional.

boooooo

 

[Pirata]

I say (quote) again.

"Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award."

The key sentence there is that they didn't want to hurt the feelings of the students who didn't get the award.

 

[HALL85]

I say (quote) again.

"Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award."

The key sentence there is that they didn't want to hurt the feelings of the students who didn't get the award.

An actual quote vs “from what I read, it seems….”… lol

 

[Merge]

I say (quote) again.

"Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award."

The key sentence there is that they didn't want to hurt the feelings of the students who didn't get the award.

I agree the school chose not to celebrate that award that almost the entire class received. That is how they have handled this award in the past as well. Nothing there has changed and they are the top school in the country... Seems like their approach isn't hurting the achievements of their students being the top high school in the country. Is that the Communisim we should be afraid of? Not celebrating the runners up enough?

I do not agree with the original post here that "pupils whom had been named 'commended students' by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation purposely left in the dark"

That part based on what I have read does not seem to be true. You can see in the summary of the conversation that one parent e-mailed back to Dr. Kosatka

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23466063/national-merit-tjhsst-emails.pdf

"You confirmed that TJHSST did not notify students of their National merit Letters of the Commendation prior to avisory period on November 14th. This was because TJHSSTStudent Services had assumed the College Board had already notified students via e-mail as they had done in previous years so TJHSST viewed the cards signed by Dr. Bonitabibus as merely ceremonial and were not themself a notification."

 

[Merge]

An actual quote vs “from what I read, it seems….”… lol

That's not an actual quote though. That is what a parent presented a quote from someone else of a conversation they had with a 3rd person.

Nice try though...

From what you read - you just assumed it was all true and replied with a meme. Cool.

 

[HALL85]

That's not an actual quote though. That is what a parent presented a quote from someone else of a conversation they had with a 3rd person.

Nice try though...

From what you read - you just assumed it was all true and replied with a meme. Cool.

It’s a quote from someone a lot closer than you, who seems to think…

 

[Merge]

It’s a quote from someone a lot closer than you, who seems to think…

Right and I have read items from her and other parents as well to get an understanding of what happened rather than just post a knee jerk response…

I posted a summary above of another parents conversation which explains that the school believed that notifications were sent by email as they had been in prior years.

Don’t be immature about it. Just read what happened.
The lack of notification was an unintentional mistake.

The lack of celebration was because too many kids at the school get the award and have not cared about it in the past.

Maybe you think they should give out trophies to 81% of the class.. but again, given they are the #1 high school in the US, maybe their approach works?

 

[Pirata]

I quote articles. You can decide for yourself if Yashar is lying, embellishing, or otherwise misrepresenting.

To me, I read thay they got caught. and now they are spinning.

When questioned, Kosatka, according to Yashar, explained the school's side - that staffers had wanted to hand the letters out 'discreetly' to avoid hurting the feelings of students who failed to garner the distinction.

According to Nomani, Kosatka and the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, added to Yashar they didn't want to "hurt" the feelings of any students who didn't get the award.

'There’s not a lot of kids who didn’t get either award, and we didn’t want them to feel bad about it,' Yashar credited Kosatka as saying.

 

[HALL85]

Right and I have read items from her and other parents as well to get an understanding of what happened rather than just post a knee jerk response…

I posted a summary above of another parents conversation which explains that the school believed that notifications were sent by email as they had been in prior years.

Don’t be immature about it. Just read what happened.
The lack of notification was an unintentional mistake.

The lack of celebration was because too many kids at the school get the award and have not cared about it in the past.

Maybe you think they should give out trophies to 81% of the class.. but again, given they are the #1 high school in the US, maybe their approach works?

You're right in that in that I have not done any more research beyond this thread because it's a non-story that IMO deserved nothing more than a meme to highlight the absurdity. You have decided to do a deep dive and float your conspiracy theory on it...you do you. Just from this thread, there were different views (including the last quote Pirata posted) to support that this is another case of over-sensitive leadership.

 

[Pirata]

"The misconduct comes after Fairfax County Public Schools recently adopted a new strategy that aims to provide "Equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions." "

Let's see what the Younkin's investigation yields.

Youngkin calls on Virginia AG to investigate high school that withheld merit-based awards

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is calling for an investigation into a high school that delayed informing students of their merit awards in the name of equity.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Pirata]

Three parents have gone on the record.

Harry Jackson
Shawn Yashar
Asra Homani

Jackson claims it went on for years.

"This was not a one-time error," said father Harry Jackson on "Fox & Friends" Monday.

"This is actually a systemic pattern of injustice that's been occurring since 2017, where students have been withheld those honors from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, where they have not been notified."

Virginia parents outraged at high school withholding merit awards in name of 'equity': 'Sabotage'

Thomas Jefferson High School parent Harry Jackson says the withholding of academic awards serves as "sabotage" and "injustice" for students' college and career futures.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Merge]

I quote articles. You can decide for yourself if Yashar is lying, embellishing, or otherwise misrepresenting.

To me, I read thay they got caught. and now they are spinning.

When questioned, Kosatka, according to Yashar, explained the school's side - that staffers had wanted to hand the letters out 'discreetly' to avoid hurting the feelings of students who failed to garner the distinction.

According to Nomani, Kosatka and the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, added to Yashar they didn't want to "hurt" the feelings of any students who didn't get the award.

'There’s not a lot of kids who didn’t get either award, and we didn’t want them to feel bad about it,' Yashar credited Kosatka as saying.

But then you also have to just ignore that there is other context we have from another parent which shows that the Kosatka told them they don’t celebrate this because no one attended when they used to.

Again, commended status is runner up. In a school where almost everyone gets that… it just isn’t going to be that important there.

 

[Pirata]

I'd like to see all you wokers defend this when your kid doesn't get into the school of their of choice or loses out on a scholarship. College admissions are highly competitive.

You would all be the first to cry.

 

[Merge]

Three parents have gone on the record.

Harry Jackson
Shawn Yashar
Asra Homani

Jackson claims it went on for years.

"This was not a one-time error," said father Harry Jackson on "Fox & Friends" Monday.

"This is actually a systemic pattern of injustice that's been occurring since 2017, where students have been withheld those honors from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, where they have not been notified."

Virginia parents outraged at high school withholding merit awards in name of 'equity': 'Sabotage'

Thomas Jefferson High School parent Harry Jackson says the withholding of academic awards serves as "sabotage" and "injustice" for students' college and career futures.

www.foxnews.com

Keep going. You’ll see that notifications were sent by email in prior years. These parents are upset that their child was not celebrated at the school for an award almost everyone received there which was a runner up.

Again… the number 1 high school in the country. Maybe they are doing it right?

 

[Merge]

I'd like to see all you wokers defend this when your kid doesn't get into the school of their of choice or loses out on a scholarship. College admissions are highly competitive.

You would all be the first to cry.

Commended status means you don’t qualify for the scholarship. All it means is that your PSAT score was in the top 50,000.

We agree the school made an error because notifications were not sent like they were in prior years and they have taken action to correct that error by contacting each of the schools the students applied to.

What you’re upset about here is that they didn’t get a Breakfast celebration.

 

[Merge]

You're right in that in that I have not done any more research beyond this thread because it's a non-story that IMO deserved nothing more than a meme to highlight the absurdity. You have decided to do a deep dive and float your conspiracy theory on it...you do you. Just from this thread, there were different views (including the last quote Pirata posted) to support that this is another case of over-sensitive leadership.

Now reading more to get a better understanding of facts is a conspiracy theory?

In all seriousness, how can you argue that their methods are wrong when their results are so good?

If “over-sensitive leadership” results in you being the top school in the US, wouldn’t the argument be that they are the ones dong it right?

 

[HALL85]

Now reading more to get a better understanding of facts is a conspiracy theory?

I’m all seriousness, how can you argue that their methods are wrong when their results are so good?

If “over-sensitive leadership” results in you being the top school in the US, wouldn’t the argument be that they are the ones dong it right?

Just because you’re the best at doing something doesn’t mean every decision you make is the correct one.

 

[Merge]

Just because you’re the best at doing something doesn’t mean every decision you make is the correct one.

Of course, but it’s not like they changed anything here. Their policy on this is the same as it was in prior years.
Given their track record of academic success, shouldn't we acknowledge that maybe they know what they are doing?

The only thing that changed was that the notification e-mail from the college board was not sent like it was in prior years.

 

[silkcitypirate]

Just because you’re the best at doing something doesn’t mean every decision you make is the correct one.

You have to come up with a better and more pressing issue to support your agenda . Whatever that is .

 

[HALL85]

You have to come up with a better and more pressing issue to support your agenda . Whatever that is .

Lol. Because I don’t have an “agenda” like some people do.

 

[Merge]

Lol. Because I don’t have an “agenda” like some people do.

Like the woman who wrote the original article on this story, has been fighting against the schools admissions policies for years and happened to leave out some key details from her story?

Or the daily mail article which lied and this was not a part of a "new" initiative of "equal outcomes for every student" and students were not intentionally left in the dark...

Those kinds of agendas?

Or am I the one with the agenda for thinking this story didn't pass the smell test and wanted to read more before I had an opinion?

 

[HALL85]

Like the woman who wrote the original article on this story, has been fighting against the schools admissions policies for years and happened to leave out some key details from her story?

Or the daily mail article which lied and this was not a part of a "new" initiative of "equal outcomes for every student" and students were not intentionally left in the dark...

Those kinds of agendas?

Or am I the one with the agenda for thinking this story didn't pass the smell test and wanted to read more before I had an opinion?

Maybe you should ask silk to clarify his comment. And how do you know I was referring to you?

 

[silkcitypirate]

I'm sticking to the BB board. This board is not for me. Most people will not change their political opinions anyway whatever they are .

 

[HALL85]

I'm sticking to the BB board. This board is not for me. Most people will not change their political opinions anyway whatever they are .

Cop out…. Don’t forget your toys when you go home.

 

[cernjSHU]

This back and forth really doesn't clarify things. If it is indeed an unintentional mistake that was a one time mistake, I can understand. the parents obviously have a different view and one of them stated that one student didn't find out for years. So, these are two different and competing views. One is right and one is wrong and no one at this point has the answer which side is right. The governor is going to do an investigation, let's see where that goes.

 

[Merge]

This back and forth really doesn't clarify things. If it is indeed an unintentional mistake that was a one time mistake, I can understand. the parents obviously have a different view and one of them stated that one student didn't find out for years.

The notifications were sent to the students e-mail in prior years. That is what one parent confirmed Kostaka said to them and it was confirmed that the 2021 graduates (the year the parent claimed they were not sent) received the e-mail in another article.

That's why in my opinion it seems like this was a mistake this year. But as you said, the governor will sort it out.

 

[ed odowd]

Everybody has won and all must have prizes so said Dodo in Alice and Wonderland.Seems like Youngkin has a lot of house cleaning getting rid of girly men woke superintendents in Va.

 

[Merge]

Everybody has won and all must have prizes so said Dodo in Alice and Wonderland.Seems like Youngkin has a lot of house cleaning getting rid of girly men woke superintendents in Va.

The irony there is that 132 kids in their own class scored ahead of them with semi final status, and the parents are upset that the next 240 were not celebrated.