Remove Brabrand. Remove Bonitatibus. 

To the Fairfax County School Board,

We are TJ families, students, alumni and community members. 

Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand has repeatedly failed FCPS -- overseeing the national embarrassment of distant learning in spring 2020 and the debacle of return to school this summer -- and he is now failing Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology – the #1 public high school in the nation -- and its families and students.  

TJ Principal Ann Bonitatibus is also failing the families and students of TJ with an activist agenda that undermines the wellness of students.

Both Brabrand and Bonitatibus must be removed from their positions for their bias and prejudice against TJ students and families. 

Brabrand has been leading the charge to dismantle TJ with the support of Bonitatibus.  Early this summer, Brabrand started quietly meeting with a secretive panel, including Bonitatibus, to plan the downfall of TJ early this summer.

In comments related to TJ, Brabrand demonizes the hard working Asian American students by insinuating that they cheated their way into TJ by paying up to “$15,000,” a claim that is unproven and is a slap in the face of hardworking Asian-American students who were simply following the rules that were set by the admissions outreach earlier that year.

Instead of discussing their plans openly, Brabrand was busy authorizing and paying author Ibram Kendi  $20,000 to speak to a select group of FCPS staff and administrators for 60 minutes over a video call. FCPS School Board members did not sign off on this expense.. 

Then, in September, Brabrand and Bonitatibus supported an unconstitutional, race-based admission policy that will embroil Fairfax County in legal battles and legal bills for years.  Taxpayers will be forced to fund those lawsuits instead of funding schools.

All the while, Brabrand has yet to provide a meaningful updated Return to School Plan to educate the 190,000 students in Fairfax County K-12 schools. Many FCPS students doubt they will return to an FCPS physical classroom this year. The Fairfax County Teachers Union has such little confidence in Brabrand that 86% of teachers are refusing to return to school due to improper planning and safety concerns. 

Throughout Fairfax County and Virginia, citizens have lost confidence in Brabrand’s ability to lead. He has not fulfilled his contract with the citizens, taxpayers, families and students of FCPS. His contract with FCPS must be terminated. 

Bonitatibus must also be removed from her position. She has been actively, quietly working against the very students and families she is charged with leading. 

She has been rallying opposition to TJ’s merit-based admission process since early June 2020, connecting with distant alumni to garner support for her assault. Instead of helping students who were locked out of school due to COVID-19, missing friends, graduation and academics, Bontonibus has been an aggressive activist for race-based social engineering and divisiveness, waging a war against the families and students of TJ from within. 

Bonitatibus has been acting to dismantle TJ, spreading false stories about extravagant test prep and a toxic culture at the wonderful, beloved school that is TJ. She recently told freshman students in a private video meeting that STEM was on the decline.  

Bonitatibus cannot lead a STEM school. She often claims she helps students chart their GPS rather than focus on their GPA, but it is Bonitatibus who has lost her coordinates.

She has betrayed the TJ community. We do not have faith in her ability to lead TJ and support TJ students during this tumultuous time. She has betrayed TJ students and the mission and honor of TJ. We demand her removal immediately.

Remove Brabrand from office. Remove Bonitatibus from office.