Over the weekend, 46 students at the school learned of their “Commended Student” accolades—given to students who score among the top three percent in the nation on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT).
Awarded by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the prestigious award can make a difference in college applications or open doors to special scholarship programs.
Superintendent: We Can ‘Try to Make it Right’
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Michelle Reid spoke to concerned parents at the meeting on Jan. 10, before meeting with parents at Westfield High School, which was also affected by the scandal.A father whose daughter was affected expressed frustration that parents had received an apology email, but had yet to receive award certificates. He said he wanted to have the award letter the next day to add to his daughter’s college applications, which were in ongoing reviews.
He said he would only be satisfied when his daughter received colleges’ confirmation that the award had been added to her applications.
Reid said she would look into the certificate issue. She also assured parents that school staffers would keep a phone and email log recording their calls to college admission offices.
However, according to Reid, some colleges, including those in the University of California system, don’t have an online portal to allow parents and students to confirm the award has been added to the application.
Civil Rights Probe
Langley High is one of two schools that reported similar delays after the issue was first uncovered in December, affecting over 200 students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school that ranks No. 1 nationally. The December discovery led to a civil rights investigation into the delay at Thomas Jefferson, announced by Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares on Jan. 4. On Monday, Miyares expanded the probe from one school to the entire FCPS system.“It’s concerning that multiple schools throughout Fairfax County withheld merit awards from students,” Miyares said in a press release. “My office will investigate the entire Fairfax County Public Schools system to find out if any students were discriminated against and if their rights were violated.”
At the press conference on Jan. 4, Miyares said that if the withholding of merit awards was based on race, national origin, or any other protected status under the Virginia Human Rights Act, it was unlawful.
The neighboring Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) also reported national merit award notification delays. On Tuesday night, the district’s acting superintendent, Daniel Smith, announced the findings of an LCPS internal review: three out of 17 Loudoun County high schools delayed notifying students of the award.
“I do want to note that there is no indication that the commended scores were withheld from students intentionally,” said Smith.
Elicia Brand, co-founder of parents’ rights organization Army of Parents, told The Epoch Times that LCPS parents had contacted Miyares’ office regarding the delays.
‘It’s a Huge Deal’
A mother whose son was affected by the delay said the core issue was that parents were denied the right to make decisions for their child’s future.“I think what we’re all sad about is that somebody put that [award letter] in a drawer and shut it because they didn’t think it was a big deal. That’s not their call to make. I’m tired of them [deciding] for us,” she said.
“That’s really the issue here. It’s not whether or not [the award would make a difference in college applications]; it’s that I want to be the one making a decision for my child’s future,” she added. “The fact that we were denied the right to know that we have this award: that’s a big deal.”
“When kids with four or five weighted GPAs and 1,500 SATs aren’t getting into state schools, and this [national merit award] is the kind of thing that sets you apart from all those other kids, it’s a massive deal!” echoed another father. Students who take college-level courses in high school may earn a higher grade point average (GPA) than the standard four-point GPA.
About 50 parents at the meeting applauded when this father compared the National Merit recognition to “All-Met,” short for “All Metropolitan,” an elite award for high school athletes in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area: “It’s a huge deal. It’s like making All-Met and not being able to tell college coaches I’m one of the best in the state.”
Concerns About ‘Equity’
Glenn Miller, a tax lawyer whose son was affected at Thomas Jefferson High School and whose daughter is a junior at Langley, questioned whether the award notification delays were simply an administrative error. He noted that the same issue that had surfaced in Virginia’s No. 1 and No. 2 high schools in Fairfax County—and more schools in neighboring Loudoun County—happened against the backdrop of two years of discussions by the Fairfax County school board about “equity” or “equal outcomes.”He asked Reid whether equity meant “equal outcomes” to her. She replied, “I think that the [term] ‘equal outcomes’ has been misunderstood, and I think what we’re really talking about is that each and every student has the ability to achieve their unique potential. And there are many, many students who are not able to do that without equitable resources and access.”
In response to a parent’s question about the contract with Performance Fact, Reid replied: “The contract you’re referring to was not about equity work, it was about strategic planning work, obviously, justice-centered strategic planning work, but it’s also the development of the work with the community, as well as the implementation of the plan next year.”
Parent: Equity Belongs in the Conversation
A father with four children in the FCPS schools identified himself as a member of the first class at Thomas Jefferson High School. He disagreed with Reid’s response, saying “It'd be difficult to remove equity from this conversation.“I’ve noticed in my kids that since the county has kind of pivoted towards this equity, they’ve lost sight of their core mission, which is to educate these kids,” he commented. The audience applauded.
He added, “I noticed in my own four kids that the level of education that they’re getting is not what I got 40 years ago. I’m sad to say it because I love this county, and I’ve been here my whole life. But they are not being taught at a level that I was taught. And I think it’s directly related to this shifted focus to gender, race, and equity. We all want an inclusive, safe environment to foster each individual’s potential, but it can’t be a race to the lowest common denominator. That’s not the way to help people.”
Langley’s principal, Kimberly Greer, did not attend the meeting. Reid said she had instructed Greer not to come. “We’ve broken trust here, and that’s my responsibility. In addition to that, there are concerns about academic expectations. Equity is not lowering expectations. It’s about maintaining high expectations and providing high support,” she said.
Students React to the Issue
Nick Spoto, a senior at Langley, was accepted to his first choice Ivy League college on Dec. 15. “I got the [award notification delay] email after I had already been accepted to college, so it didn’t affect me as much,” he told The Epoch Times. “But it still sucks to get it that late. It would have been nice to have a little more comfort barrier with that [award in college applications].”Wes Knaggs, a junior at Langley, took the PSAT a few months ago. Regarding not having the award notification to include in college applications, he said “I’m not sure the extent of the impact, but even any impact is enough for it to be a really big deal. And I do think that it’s something that really does matter in the college application,” he told The Epoch Times.
He added that he would have been very frustrated if the award notification delay had happened to him. “I want people to take action and figure out what the real problem is,” he added.
