A federal appeals court has upheld the admissions policies at Virginia’s top public high school, ruling that the school district didn’t discriminate against students of Asian ethnicity by trying to reduce their presence in the student body.
The decision, issued Tuesday by a panel of three judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, overturns a lower court ruling last year that found it illegal and unfair for Fairfax County School Board’s to try to “balance” the racial makeup of student population at the Thomas Jefferson (TJ) High School for Science and Technology.
The school, which is regularly named one of the best in the country, has long had a highly competitive race-blind, merit-based admissions system. For decades, students of Asian immigrant families made up an overwhelming 70 percent majority of TJ’s student body….