FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.—Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter Thursday to a Fairfax County middle school demanding the school stop discriminating against potential 8th-grade applicants for its college preparation program.
On March 1, Cooper Middle School sent an email inviting parents of 8th graders to apply for the public school system’s College Partnership Program (CPP). The invitation addressed black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, students with limited proficiency in English, economically disadvantaged students, and students who would be the first in their families to attend college in the United States.
“Please cease and desist the illegal conduct of soliciting and selecting applicants to the College Partnership Program based on race, color, and national origin,” Miyares wrote in the letter to school principal Lisa Barrow, saying that the conduct violated the Virginia Human Rights Act….