Back in November, we reported that over a dozen parents filed suit against the Fairfax County Public Schools over its proposed changes to the admissions process at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. For those who don’t know, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a.k.a. TJ, is an elite state-chartered magnet high school in Virginia and it happens to be one of the very best public high schools in the nation. A few months ago, the school announced that it would be eliminating its standardized test in the admissions process — a standardized test that has historically proven quite important in this process. And why? Because there is a discernible lack of African American and Latinx representation at the school. Well, some Asian American parents have kicked back, asserting that the school is diverse, pointing to high numbers of Chinese American, Korean American, and Indian American students in the TJ student body. In any case, where does this lawsuit stand? Wonder no more!

Judge Declines to Issue Injunction to Stop TJ’s Admissions Changes

As The Associated Press reports in a piece entitled “Judge declines to halt Thomas Jefferson High School’s admissions changes,” “A judge has refused to issue an injunction to stop an elite Northern Virginia high school from changing its admissions policies. Fairfax County Public Schools is completely overhauling the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which has been ranked as the top public high school in the country. The county school board hopes the changes will increase diversity at the school, which has long failed to attract Black and Hispanic students. Standardized tests have been scrapped in favor of a more holistic review. Supporters of the existing system filed suit. A county judge on Tuesday refused to issue an injunction but is allowing the lawsuit to continue.”

We Predict These Parents Who Filed Suit Against TJ Will Not Claim Victory

We’ll be sure to keep our readers posted on all the major developments in the case. And if you’re looking for a reading from Ivy Coach’s famously accurate crystal ball (yes, we really do have a crystal ball ?!) to guess where this case is headed, we suspect these parents will not find any success in their quest to keep the admissions test in play at TJ. We also would have strongly encouraged them not to file suit against the school since, well, college admissions officers can see the identities of the litigants and presumably these parents’ children will eventually be applying to colleges. So there’s that!