Area principals admit to withholding National Merit Awards from students
While Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid claims the principal at Thomas
Jefferson High School for Science and Technology withheld National Merit awards from students in a
"one-time human error," parents at two local high schools got a Friday and Saturday night surprise.
The revelations are emerging after school district principals scrambled to a meeting Wednesday
afternoon with the superintendent, after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a civil
rights investigation into the controversy. Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many
Asian American students - one focus of the investigation.
In an email, obtained by the Fairfax County Times, Langley High School Principal Kim Greer pressed send
on a mea culpa at 9:29:30 p.m. on Friday night, confusing, agitating and angering parents and students
already on edge during the tumultuous college admissions season.
Greer told parents that she was "delighted" to let them know that "your student was designated a
Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation." She then immediately followed up
by saying, "I must apologize that certificates were not distributed to these Langley High School students
in the usual way this past fall."
Tonight, another email shared with the Fairfax County Times went out to parents at 8:39 p.m. This time,
Tony DiBari, the "Proud Principal" at Westfield High School in Chantilly, told parents that "it has come to
light that Westfield High School students designated as Commended Students this past fall were also not
notified by the school."
As news spread in the community about the new revelations, parents are livid, particularly in light of a
new contract that Fairfax County Public Schools signed this fall with a sole-source contractor who
preaches an "equity" strategy of "equal outcomes for every student," urging school district officials to
"have the courage and the willingness to be purposefully unequal when it comes to opportunities and
access."
"The TJ rot spreads...," one local parent said in an email. In McLean, down Georgetown Pike from CIA
headquarters, Langley is a school, like TJHSST, with many high-achieving students.
"I am deeply sorry for this mistake," wrote Greer. In the National Merit competition, about 1.5 million
students take the PSAT/NMSQT test, and about 50,000 students are recognized among the top 3
percent of students, awarding them honors akin to gold, silver and bronze medals. Every September,
National Merit recognizes about 16,000 students as Semifinalists and 34,000 Commended Students.
Ultimately about 15,000 of the Semifinalists go on to be recognized as National Merit Finalists.
National coverage of the TJ story got the attention of Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and Governor
Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin sent a letter on Jan. 3 to Miyares asking him to conduct an investigation into
the issue. The next day, on Jan. 4, the attorney general held a press conference at the Korean
Community Center in Annandale, announcing he had opened two civil rights investigations, one into the
withheld National Merit awards notifications and another into admissions changes to the school. With
about 70 percent of students at TJHSST Asian American, Miyares raised the specter of anti-Asian
discrimination in both policies.

In recent years, most of the students awarded Semifinalist and Commended Students at TJHSST, Langley
High School and Westfield High School have been Asian American. In his press conference, Miyares said,
"Equity without excellence is emptiness."
A Langley father, who spoke on condition of anonymity in fear of retaliation from the school district, said
Virginia Tech recently rejected his son's application for early admission and the family was shocked to
open the principal's email - in the middle of the night - with the news that their son was a Commended
Student.
"School district officials are deliberately sabotaging our kids' lives in the name of 'equity,'" the father
said. "It's cruel, if not evil. Think about the despondency that they are creating."
On Saturday, Langley parents had already begun filing complaints with Miyares' office. The Langley
father said he wants to see the Langley principal fired for cause for undermining students.
"The apology is empty," he said. "We are feeling a cascade of emotions. We trusted the school system
with our son's life, and they betrayed our trust."
The principals at Langley and Westfield used nearly identical language that school staff "will be
contacting colleges" where students had applied. The Langley principal added: "Our intention is to
ensure college admissions departments know that your student was the recipient of this important
award."
This, however, overlooks the fact that college admissions officers have already made life-changing
decisions - including rejections - based on incomplete information from students, missing this
important award. According to a survey of opportunities available, the National Merit Commended
Student recognition opens the door to millions of dollars in college scholarships, including a four-year
scholarship at Liberty University, and 800 Special Scholarships from corporate sponsors. The deadlines
for many of those scholarships have already passed.
In carbon-copy language, both principals wrote, "We understand and value the hard work and
dedication of each and every student, and the families and staff who support them. Please be assured
that we remain resolutely committed to supporting every student in reaching their unique and fullest
potential."
However, for parents in the school district these examples of merit withheld from students raises
serious concerns, particularly amid news that the FCPS superintendent signed a contract of about nine
months, paying a controversial contractor, Mutiu Fagbayi, and his company Performance Fact Inc.,
based in Oakland, Calif., $455,000 for "equity" training that includes a controversial "Equity-centered
Strategic Plan" with this goal: "equal outcomes for every student, without exception."
"The equity imperative is to give each student what they need to meet equal outcomes. The goal is not
equitable outcomes," Fagbayi said early last year, promoting an identical strategy at a meeting with
officials in Princeton Public Schools. A video recording of the April 26, 2022, meeting is posted on
YouTube.

"The goal is equal outcomes," Fagbayi explained. "And what we need to be equitable about is the
access. In a very real sense, many districts struggle with this. To have true equity, you have to be
purposefully unequal when it comes to resources. I want to say that again because most districts
struggle with that. To have an equity-centered organization, we have to have the courage and the
willingness to be purposefully unequal when it comes to opportunities and access."
For some local parents, the notion of being "purposefully unequal" is not only unethical and immoral
but also potentially illegal. What's more, the withholding of the awards from students at TJHSST and
now Langley reveal an inconsistent policy across the district. In mid-October, Saundra Davis, a local
mother who is running for school board, got an email from the director of student services at Robinson
Secondary School, in Fairfax, telling her that her son had been awarded the National Merit Commended
Student honor.
On Friday, Davis raised questions at a legislative breakfast about the withholding of awards at TJHSST as
part of the county's wider "equity" strategy called "One Fairfax." With the news of the same withholding
of awards at Langley, she said, "TJ is an experiment. If they could get away with withholding awards at
TJ, they thought they'd be free to pick off all the other schools. This should be a red alert to all parents."
On Sept. 14, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools released an official announcement of the district's 238
National Merit Semifinalists, leaving it to schools to announce the National Merit Commended Students.
Of the 238 students, 15 students were from Langley High School and 131 students were from TJHSST.
According to an email statement from a spokeswoman with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation,
based in Illinois, around Sept. 10, 2022, the organization sent principals packages with the names of
National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students. The packages included Letters of
Commendation for Commended Students. The letter included this note in bold: "Please present the
letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students' only notification."
Fairfax County Public Schools officials did not respond to questions.

 

Do you believe that withholding the awards was a "one-time human error," or do you think it was done purposefully? Justify your answer.