Virginia parents outraged after another high school accused of delaying merit awards: 'Nakedly political'

Virginia parents are outraged after another distinguished high school was accused of withholding merit awards to advance the district's policy of pushing equal outcomes for all students. 

Fairfax County mothers Carrie Lukas and Asra Nomani joined "Fox & Friends First" Monday to discuss how the "equity" policy has affected merit scholars and how parents in the district are fighting back. 

"We now have two high schools in the same school district, in the school district that has just been nakedly political, nakedly focused on things that are not about advancing kids' interests, but about this idea of equal outcomes for everyone," Lukas told co-host Ashley Strohmier. 

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"But what does that mean for merit scholars? What does that mean for those kids? It means that the school doesn't want them to succeed, or certainly the superintendent and Fairfax County Public School Board doesn't," she continued. "They want them all to be equal. That means they don't want the top 3%."

Lukas, who is the mother of a student at Langley High School in McLean, called out the school for its delay in notifying students of their awards. She accused the district of having different priorities than the parents and demanded transparency on the issue. 

Langley is the second high school in recent weeks to come under fire for allegedly withholding notification of the merit awards all in the name of "equity."

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Alexandria faces similar allegations and supposedly withheld the academic awards to promote the "equal outcomes for every student, without exception" policy. 

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The delayed awards in question are given by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which recognizes top-performing high schoolers nationwide. TJ received the 2022 honors in October but did not distribute them to students until a month later after early college application deadlines had passed, according to Nomani. Nomani's son, a 2021 TJ graduate, was honored as a Commended Student in September 2020 but was never notified, she wrote in City Journal.

"No matter what they throw at us, we're going to stand up and speak up," Nomani said. "I want to just show people this is one little certificate. This is as simple as it takes to get to parents. And this is my son's package, his student record. Every student has this in America. And there are laws that require that all our academic records for our kids be put in those."

"But two years later, I discovered that my son was a commended student because the school system had that information from us," she continued. "No parent should be afraid to stand up. We have to all stand up, and we are doing it whether they call us mama bots, we are here to stay."

The principal of Langley High School, Kimberly Greer, admitted to the delay in an email she sent to parents after the allegations surfaced. 

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"I am delighted to let you know that your student was designated as committed a student by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation," she wrote last week. "I must apologize that certificates were not distributed to these students in the usual way this past fall. I am deeply sorry for this mistake."

But many parents feel the apology is just not enough. 

"This is such a tragedy, not just… on a national scale in terms of this war on merit that's happening, but in the personal lives of kids," Nomani said. "They're waiting right now for answers from colleges, and there was this critical data point that was missing, which is this amazing honor of being in the top 3% of kids nationwide."

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Last week, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the allegations against TJ High School as parents remain up in arms over the controversy. 

Fairfax County Public Schools released a statement after Youngkin's request, and said it had facilitated its own investigation into the matter. 

"Our preliminary understanding is that the delay this fall was a unique situation due to human error," FCPS said. "The investigation will continue to examine our records in further detail, and we will share key findings with our community."