Disputed school admissions policy OK’d pending appeal

By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has granted a request from a Virginia school system to continue using a challenged admissions policy while it appeals a ruling that found it discriminates against Asian American students. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling Thursday that Fairfax County Public Schools can continue to use its new admissions policy at the highly selective Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. A judge rejected the new policy in a February ruling, saying that impermissible “racial balancing” was at its core. The school is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the country.