Angry parents from Fairfax, Virginia have challenged the positions of two senior educators after university entrance scores were held back due to tax-payer-funded advice from Cultural Marxists.
Ann Bonitatibus, principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, and Brandon Kosatka, director of student services, have been accused of ‘withholding the merit scholarship awards’ after adopting the far-left equity education ideology of “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” (p.25, PDF)
In other words: “equality of outcomes regardless of effort!”
Backing the accusations, The Fairfax Times said, officials from the school district had ‘signed a contract (PDF),’ in April 2022, agreeing to pay a ‘controversial contractor, Mutiu Fagbayi, and his [questionable] company Performance Fact Inc., from Oakland, Calif., USD $455,000 for “equity” training.
This included [a CRT-based] “Equity-centred Strategic Plan” (p.15) with the goal of bringing about “equal outcomes for every student, without” regard for merit.
For example, a retreat power-point presentation from Fagbayi (PDF) replaced equality with equity, claiming, education without equity, “becomes the means, not of eliminating race, and class distinctions, but of deepening and solidifying them.” (p.7)
Starting points, and special treatment [for those deemed oppressed on the intersectionality rubric], overrules ‘resources and supports being distributed evenly, irrespective of individual needs or assets,’ Fagbayi argued. (p.18)
Furthering their investigation, FFT recounted that principal Bonitatibus was given the awards eight months ago.
Bonitatibus was notified by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, ‘about this year’s awards in April 2022 when National Merit sent her – and principals nationwide – a list of students that would be recognized as Commended Students and Semi-Finalists in the fall.’
They also noted that the decision to withhold the merit scholarship scores fell in line with the school’s Cultural Marxist “oppressor/oppressed” equity training.
As retold by FFT, Brandon Ksatka, director of student services, admitted to Shawna Yashar, lawyer, and concerned mother, their call to ‘withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional.’
“We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements, nor hurt the feelings of students who didn’t get an award,” Ksatka said, defending the – more indoctrination, less education – manoeuvre.
The Washington Post have presented the counter-claim, proclaiming the “delay” [note, not withholding of information] to be a “one-time human error.” (parathesis mine)
Not so, argues Asri Nomani.
The writer and frustrated mother berated school officials, claiming in an op-ed for City Journal this wasn’t the first time Ann Bonitatibus (the school’s principal) had withheld the merit scholarship scores, for her own political reasons.
They “have been withholding this information from families and the public for years, affecting the lives of at least 1,200 students over the principal’s tenure of five years,’ Asri said.
She then alleged that Bonitatibus withheld her son’s scores in 2020, stating, “The principal, who lobbied to nix the school’s merit-based admission test to increase ‘diversity,’ never told us about it.”
This experience wasn’t an anomaly.
Nomani recounted how ‘parents from earlier years told her that Bonitatibus also didn’t tell them about any Commended Student awards.’
Furthering the misguided principal’s woke middle finger to both the multi-ethnic student body and their parents, Nomani recalled how:
“One former student said he learned he had won the award through a random email from the school to a school-district email account that students rarely check; the principal neither told his parents nor made a public announcement.”
Nonpartisan group, The Fairfax County Parents Association, which is fighting for prioritizing children over politics, have also taken an interest in joining the fight.
As has Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor, Republican, Winsome Sears.
Supporting the newly minted “Save Merit” parent’s movement, Sears called for an official investigation, described the school’s actions as ‘reprehensible,’ and rightly declared:
“Our children’s education is not a zero-sum game. We cannot punish success in order to have ‘equal outcomes at all costs.’”
