Fairfax County Public Schools is under investigation by the Va. AG.

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A months-long independent investigation found no evidence that Fairfax County Public Schools intentionally delayed notifying students that they had received National Merit Letters of Commendation.

The investigation, conducted by law firm Sands Anderson at the request of FCPS, came after a flurry of unfounded claims late last year — fueled by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s calls for an investigation — that FCPS had not only deliberately withheld notifying students who received the commendation letters but also had racist motives for doing so.

Investigators also concluded that there is “no evidence that the process or timing for student notifications were impacted in any way by racial considerations or any effort to minimize or fail to celebrate students’ achievements.”

Every year — typically in September — the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) sends commendation letters to high schools for students who scored well on the PSAT. Shortly after, the high schools distribute the letters to students.

NMSC and FCPS did not have a firm deadline by which schools should distribute letters to students. However, there was outrage from parents over the fact that several schools distributed the letters weeks after receiving them and did so after the early application deadline for colleges. (FCPS says it still notifies colleges and universities about which students received the commendation). Superintendent Michelle Reid said that FCPS has now developed a new deadline for notifying Commended Students: students and their parents or guardians must be told within two weeks of notification from NMSC.

Investigations centered heavily on Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology (TJ), considered one of the county’s top public high schools. Miyares had announced a separate investigation earlier this year into TJ, saying his Office of Civil Rights would look into whether race was a motivating factor behind the delay at TJ. He also said the state would look into whether the school’s admissions process was discriminatory against Asian American students.

The Office of the Attorney General’s investigation is ongoing, Miyares’ spokesperson Victoria LaCivita confirmed Friday.

“It’s encouraging that FCPS is working to be more transparent about the inconsistencies surrounding their National Merit award decisions and process,” LaCivita wrote.

Regarding the attorney general’s investigation, the governor’s spokesperson Macaulay Porter said “we look forward to their independent findings.”

Dr. Andrew Hayes, president of the TJ Alumni Action Group, said “no one lost anything” from the delay and called Miyares’ investigation a waste of public time and money.

“They’re not going to find anything more that hasn’t already been found. There’s nothing to find,” Hayes told DCist/WAMU. “The only malicious intent was the part of the right wing operatives who concocted this story out of nothing.” 

FCPS shared a summary of Sands Anderson’s findings Wednesday. The summary described the controversy as “unnecessary” and noted that FCPS has borne “significant costs” responding to Miyares’ investigations.

“But the greatest cost of this unfortunate episode has been borne by FCPS staff,” the summary reads. “The controversy surrounding these issues, fueled by additional press reports and by the Attorney General’s public statements and press releases, has led to FCPS staff members being individually harassed and threatened, including through targeted phone calls and emails using hate-filled and threatening language.”

The controversy took an emotional toll, the summary read, and the investigations forced staff to take “significant time” away from their roles.

“All of this has harmed and undermined our core educational mission, and we do hope that the factual findings of this external investigation can put this entire issue, and the erroneous claims that sparked this controversy, to rest,” the summary says.

The investigation did not quite put the controversy to rest however. Shortly after a meeting on the findings, former TJ parent Asra Nomani called the report a “sham.” Nomani, an education advocate at the Independent Women’s Forum — a conservative nonprofit — had first published an account of the delay in December.

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The Fairfax County Parents Association continued to express outrage, demanding that FCPS hire a different law firm.

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