The TJ Admission Merit Lottery plan released September 15 has been updated on October 2 by Superintendent Brabrand.
A summary of the proposed Revised Merit Lottery plan is included below. The FCPS School Board will discuss this revised proposal at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, October 6.
A link to a TJ PTSA survey about this plan was emailed to our members tonight. Only 2020-2021 TJ PTSA members can participate in this survey. If you wish to participate in the survey as a TJ PTSA member, you can sign up for membership via this link. We will send the survey link to new members.
The survey will be open from tonight to noon on Tuesday, October 6, and the survey results will be shared with the policymakers identified below before the October 6 afternoon School Board meeting.
We encourage everyone to write to policymakers and make your voice heard, whether you are a PTSA member or not. Contact information for policymakers can be found below.
Summary of the proposed Revised Merit Lottery plan for TJ admissions
On September 15, 2020, Superintendent Brabrand released a “Merit Lottery” proposal for TJ admissions, to be implemented this year. Under the Merit Lottery proposal, Applicants who meet the basic requirements of 3.5 core class GPA, enrollment in Algebra I, and “revised Student Information Sheet (SIS) to include questionnaire/essay” will be selected for admission by lottery. Each of the five FCPS regions would get 70 slots. The proposal removed three of the five main factors considered under the current admissions process. The Merit Lottery proposal removed the current requirements of Assessment tests (Quant-Q and ACT Aspire Reading & Science), Teacher Recommendations, and Problem-solving essay. A “holistic review” under the Merit Lottery proposal was mentioned but no detail was provided.
On October 2, Superintendent Braband released a “Revised Merit Lottery” proposal, to be considered by the School Board on October 6. The new plan explained the “holistic review” will include the following requirements:
- Student Portrait Sheet (“designed to draw out qualities in areas aligned to Portrait of a Graduate and 21st Century Skills”)
- Collaborator
- Communicator
- Creative & Critical Thinker
- Ethical/Global Citizen
- Goal-Directed & Resilient Individual
- Innovator
- Leader
- Problem Solver
- Problem-Solving Essay
- Math- or science-based problem with multiple variables
- Response in essay format
- Experience Factors
- Special education
- English language learner
- Economically disadvantaged
- Under-represented FCPS school (3 or fewer offered over the last 3 years)
Under this revised process, all applicants need to meet the basic requirements as outlined above, including 3.5 GPA, enrollment in Algebra I, the Student Information Sheet, the Student Portrait Sheet, the Problem-Solving Essay, and the Experience Factors.
Two main changes were highlighted in this Revised Merit Lottery admissions process:
- 100 seats will be offered to “highest-evaluated” applicants based on “a holistic review of their application.” Remaining 400 seats will be filled by lottery.
- FCPS region slots are slightly amended to “be proportional to student enrollment.”
We are working on a 2 question survey for our members this weekend. We plan to send the raw results, without commentary, to all of the policy makers identified below.
Please email those policy makers directly yourself with your feedback, positive or negative, and do it often. This has much more impact than a single email from the PTSA.
Policymaker Contacts
Here are all of the School Board & Superintendent & Governor’s Office email addresses in one place that you can copy/paste into your email app:
Ralph.Northam@governor.virginia.gov,Atif.Qarni@governor.virginia.gov,district35@senate.virginia.gov,DelKKory@house.virginia.gov,kakeysgamarr@fcps.edu,aomeish@fcps.edu,rsizemorehei@fcps.edu,Megan.McLaughlin@fcps.edu,Elaine.Tholen@fcps.edu,mkmeren@fcps.edu,tdkaufax@fcps.edu, rjanderson@fcps.edu,klcorbettsan@fcps.edu,kvfrisch@fcps.edu,lhcohen@fcps.edu,sgpekarsky@fcps.edu,suptbrabrand@fcps.edu,tjcomments@fcps.edu,mail@tjptsa.org
FCPS Board Emails
- Karen Keys-Gamarra, Member at Large, kakeysgamarr@fcps.edu
- Abrar Omeish, Member at Large, aomeish@fcps.edu
- Rachna Sizemore Heizer, Member at Large, rsizemorehei@fcps.edu
- Megan McLaughlin, Braddock District Representative, Megan.McLaughlin@fcps.edu
- Elaine Tholen, Dranesville District Representative, Elaine.Tholen@fcps.edu
- Melanie K. Meren, Hunter Mill District Representative, mkmeren@fcps.edu
- Tamara Derenak Kaufax, Vice-Chair, Lee District Representative, tdkaufax@fcps.edu
- Ricardy Anderson, Mason District Representative, Chair, rjanderson@fcps.edu
- Karen Corbett Sanders, Chair, Mount Vernon District Representative, klcorbettsan@fcps.edu
- Karl Frisch, Providence District Representative, kvfrisch@fcps.edu
- Laura Jane Cohen, Springfield District Representative, lhcohen@fcps.edu
- Stella Pekarsky, Sully District Representative, Vice-Chair, sgpekarsky@fcps.edu
- FCPSScott Brabrand, Superintendent, suptbrabrand@fcps.edu
- TJ Comments Address set up by FCPS to receive comments on this proposal: tjcomments@fcps.edu
- TJ PTSA Executive Committee: mail@tjptsa.org
Contact information for representatives
Determine your representatives here: https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/
