Federal judge finds Va. school made 'discriminatory changes' to admissions process
FAIRFAX, Va. (TND) — A federal court ruling charged a Fairfax County public school with making “discriminatory changes” to its admissions process.
Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said in his Friday ruling that the Fairfax County School Board’s “overhaul” of the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology (TJ) “has had, and will have, a substantial disparate impact on Asian-American applicants.”
A coalition of parents, students, alumni and community members, aided by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), filed a lawsuit last March challenging TJ’s newly adopted admissions procedures. The new admissions procedures got rid of standardized testing requirements and altered other minimum requirements to apply, according to Hilton’s ruling.
“This is a monumental win for parents and students here in Fairfax County, but also for equal treatment in education across the country,” said PLF attorney Erin Wilcox. “We hope this ruling sends the message that government cannot choose who receives the opportunity to attend public schools based on race or ethnicity.”
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) division counsel, John Foster, said in an emailed statement to The National Desk (TND) that FCPS believes Hilton’s ruling is not supported by law.
Foster told TND the current freshman class, selected under the new process at TJ, has a majority of students who are Asian-American, and that the plaintiffs contended without evidence that the school board intended to discriminate against Asian-American students.
Foster said the new process was “blind to race, gender and national origin.”
However, in his ruling, Hilton wrote that “strict scrutiny applies to government actions ‘not just when they contain express racial classifications, but also when, though race neutral on their face, they are motivated by a racial purpose or objective.’”
Hilton pointed out “the record demonstrates” such a purpose was harbored by the school board when changing the school's admissions criteria.
Shortly after the death of George Floyd in 2020, Principal Ann Bonitatibus wrote a message to the school community arguing the racial composition of the school did not match the racial makeup of the entire school district.
Furthermore, Fairfax County School Board member Karen Sanders promised intentional action, according to Hilton’s ruling, writing in an email to the district’s superintendent that “the Board and FCPS need to be explicit in how we are going to address the under-representation of Black and Hispanic students.”
At one point, FCPS staff developed a proposal for a “Merit Lottery” for TJ admissions, which stated that “TJ should reflect the diversity of FCPS, the community and Northern Virginia,” Hilton wrote.
Foster told TND that FCPS believed a trial would have shown TJ’s new admissions process met all legal requirements. He said the district will consider asking a federal appeals court to review Hilton’s decision.
