The School Board Turning Point

Loudoun Democrats Base School Admissions on Race

 One of the most significant achievements in American education in the 20th century was the introduction of standardized tests to select the most suitable candidates for schools and jobs. Standardized tests have been proven to be excellent predictors of student performance and future professional success because they are scientific and neutral. They remove flawed human judgment in favor of repeatable performance outcomes.

This summary and attached document tell you what you need to know about how Loudoun Democrats – the so-called “party of science” — rejected school admission based on merit in favor of selection based on politics and race. They limited White and Asian students’ access to selective schools while admitting Blacks and Hispanics with lower test scores.

What are the alternatives to standardized tests? Grades are an option. However, the correlation of grades with academic success is weaker than it is for standardized tests. Grades are subjective because teachers can let their personal preferences cloud their judgment. Student interviews are another possibility, but interviews are less predictive of academic success than grades.

The Democrats prioritized race as an admissions requirement. This approach has nothing to do with academic performance. It is also grossly paternalistic, suggesting that some races cannot make it on their own merit and need political manipulation to get ahead.

Democrats control all the levers of power in Loudoun County and were able to force a shift to racist admission policies to Academies of Loudoun, a selective high school in the county. Using the local branch of the NAACP and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General under the then-Democratic governor, the party abused the power of government to make this happen.

Democrats claimed the tests were discriminatory because low percentages of Black and Hispanic students were accepted to the school. They blamed the lower scores on “systemic racism.” The party alleged Asians, such as Koreans and Indians, and Whites were oppressors and not subject to racism. And they sought to solidify support within segments of the population that commonly vote Democratic.

How did they make a case for racial injustice? The Democrats alleged teachers, who trend liberal, engaged in racial discrimination. Loudoun Democrats threw teachers and school administrators “under the bus.” The Democratic Office of the Attorney General let them provide undocumented hearsay as a substitute for investigation. In other words, Democrats at the state level enabled Loudoun County Democrats to commit a con job to destroy the merit-based approach. In Pages 8-20, LCPS describes its “heroic” efforts to attract minorities and prepare them for higher learning. But Democrats do not care about equal opportunity. They want a thumb on the scales and predetermined outcomes. They want to guarantee the same percentage of minorities admitted to schools as the percentage of minorities in society. Democrats are racist.

What evidence of “systemic racism” did Loudoun Democrats present? The alleged evidence of racial discrimination appears on Pages 22-28. On its face, telling minority students they are unprepared for advanced math is racist. Only students who want to play the victim and claim they’re oppressed would go along with such a ploy.

The vague, unsupported statements below should not be the basis for altering the trajectory of people’s lives:

“My daughter had extremely racist teachers.”

“My son’s math teacher … would intentionally mark his answers wrong when they were right.”

“Our two older daughters were not referred to honors-level English courses, even though they

had consistent high performance.”

“We were told, ‘She just can’t do the work.'”

“The front office staff at LCPS was notorious for treating Black students with disrespect.”

What’s the probability that teachers would intentionally mark down students’ answers as wrong? In this era, what’s the likelihood that White students were using the N-word all day long, while LCPS staff were telling racial jokes? LCPS has procedures for dealing with racist and disruptive incidents, and there are very few documented instances. These and many other statements are lame. The Democrats overplayed their hand.

So, what was the outcome? LCPS apologized unnecessarily for alleged widespread racism, even without proof. Admission policies changed to select more students based on skin color. Qualified White and Asian students were denied admission in favor of certain minorities.

And did the Democratic-controlled Board of Supervisors object? Did any Democrat in the Virginia House or Senate protest?

 School admission based on merit is tough, but it is fair. It allows for a civilized society to flourish, to be a place that rewards trusted professionals. Democrats undermine that trust when they favor the underqualified. Democrats want to send us back in time. Do not let them do it.