Thomas Jefferson High School principal resigns amid declining national rank, merit scholarship scandal

The principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria is stepping down after seven years amid concerns about the school’s declining national rankings. A nationwide search will be undertaken to find the school’s next principal, the Fairfax County School district said.

Dr. Ann Bonitatibus is resigning next month, but will remain within the Fairfax County school district as the Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Management within the Department of Human Resources.

Bonitatibus sent a letter to families Oct. 22 notifying them of her departure weeks after the high school, which was once ranked the top high school in the country, saw a drop in national rankings. The school has gone from No. 1 to No. 14 in the annual assessment of high schools published by U.S. News and World Report, and the number of National Merit semifinalists has gone from about 150 to 80. Additionally, dozens of teachers and staff have left the school. 

Bonitatibus brought woke ideology into the school under the banner of “equity” – language for achieving equal outcomes for all racial and ethnic groups regardless of the actual achievement of individual students. This doctrine has been at the center of Fairfax County Public School policy for several years. It’s seen in its recently adopted new strategy called “Equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions.”  

Thomas Jefferson HIgh School administrators told parents they didn’t want to hurt the feelings of other students who hadn’t received the prestigious National Merit awards, so Bonitatibus and other administrators withheld notifications of the awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. 

According to the National Merit website, about 50,000 students qualify for the program every year based on an index score calculated by doubling the sum of their reading, writing and math scores.

Some parents called for the firing of Bonitatibus due to how National Merit Scholar recognitions were handled with students. This Dec. 28, 2022 Letter to the Editor in the Washington Times didn’t mince words.

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl-Sears stated that policy was “reprehensible” and asked Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate because she says, “Students should not be punished for success.” The governor did initiate an investigation in January 2023 and introduced legislation to make it a crime to withhold such information to students and their parents. 

“There’s clearly been an effort to bring down the standards for our students in Virginia to stop celebrating excellence. And this is counter to everything we believe,” Youngkin said.

In pursuit of the equity goal, FCPS has taken several steps to report success in closing gaps in achievement, for example, by revising grading systems from a 0-100 scale to a 50-100 scale, so that what used to be a score of 0 would now be a score of 50.

Fairfax County Public Schools is currently in the process of developing a new multi-year Strategic Plan, announcing that this plan will focus on “equity.”  Its consultant in the planning process, which has been awarded a $455,000 contract, advocates the “equal outcomes for every student, without exception” goal.

“This is, of course, unattainable. There are and always will be differences among individuals in intellectual capacity, motivation and a variety of socio-economic factors over which the school system has little or no control,” said Mark Spooner, a retired lawyer from West Springfield who publishes a blog on the school system.

Loudoun County and Prince William Public School systems also participated in the same ideology, and a total of 13 high schools in Northern Virginia failed to let students know they won merit awards, Attorney General Miyares said. They are: 

Fairfax County: 

Thomas Jefferson High School

Westfield High School

Langley High School

Annandale High School

Edison High School

Lewis High School

West Potomac HIgh School

Loudoun County:

Freedom High School

Loudoun County High School

Potomac Falls High School

Unnamed High School

Prince William County:

Battlefield High School

Colgan High School

The legislation would prohibit any school board, public school, including Governor’s Schools, or employee from withholding recognition, awards, or postsecondary scholarship eligibility earned by a student who was transferred solely to a school system. National Merit Scholarships and other awards would be required to be sent to students and their parents as soon as possible after the school system receives the information. The bill was introduced in January 2023, but a month later was indefinitely stalled by the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be reached at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news