Washington (AP) – The Education Department said on Thursday that he was opened an investigation of civil rights in the Fairfax County State Schools in Virginia because of the policy of admission to an elite, selective high school.
The change in admission policy, introduced five years ago at the Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology, led to the enrollment of more black and Spanish students and faced a court challenge from some parents. The plaintiffs claim that this is at the expense of Asian American students whose number in the school has dropped.
The investigation comes one day after the Virginia General Prosecutor, the Republican Jason Miare, closed his own investigation, which found that the school’s policy was discriminated against against Asian American students. His service directed the case to the federal authorities.
“The Ministry of Education is grateful for the hard work of the Governor (Glen) Youngkin and the Prosecutor General Miyare for documenting a model of practices in TJ and we will further investigate this complaint to ensure that all students are validly evaluated according to the merits and performance,” says Linda Secretary Linda Makma.
Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear the case, which challenged the Tomas Jefferson adoption policy, leaving a decree of the Court of Appeal, which left the policy to stand.
The school district said it would review the documents published by the Attorney General.
“This question is already completely controversial,” said Fairfax County State Schools in a statement. “The Federal Court of Appeal has determined that there are no merit in arguments that the Policy of Adoption of the High School of Science and Technology of Thomas Jefferson discriminates against each group of students.”
In 2020, the school neighborhood revised the admission policy in Thomas Jefferson by eliminating a $ 100 application and admission test and adopting a Holistic Review process.
The first class, recognized in the new policy, noted an increase in low -income students, trainees in English and girls. About 54% of the accepted class are Asian American – a decrease in percentages of the previous year, which ranges from 65% to 75%. The percentage of blacks and Spanish students who are under -represented in the school have also increased.
Students’ degrees, the essay for solving problems, a “portrait sheet” of their skills and four factors of experience-statutation of special education, admissibility for free or reduced prices, whether they were trained in English and whether they attended a historically insufficient public school part of the review. Foster appraisers did not have access to the name, race or other demographic information for students.
Initially, the District Court ruled in favor of the group of parents, which challenged the policy, but later the Court of Appeal overturned this decision.
The Court of Appeal noted that although the percentage of Asian US students has decreased under the new policy compared to the higher classes, Asian American students are outperforming their share of candidate pool.
The case is considered to be a possible next step towards challenging admission practices after the Supreme Court annulled positive action and explicitly consideration of the race in its decision in 2023 against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. But in 2024, the Supreme Court refused to deal with the case.
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