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Justice High School (formerly known as J.E.B. Stuart High School) is a
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in the Lake Barcroft census-designated place,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The school is part of the
Fairfax County Public Schools The Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS's headq ...
district. The school has a Falls Church address but is not located within the limits of the City of Falls Church. Per a vote of the county school board, the school was renamed Justice High School effective July 1, 2018.


History

In 1968, the first eight of the JEB Stuart Crew Club travelled to the United Kingdom to participate in the Henley Royal Regatta where they won the Princess Elisabeth Challenge Cup. Instituted in 1946 for public schools in the UK, the PE Challenge Cup was opened to overseas entries in 1964 and JEB Stuart became the third US crew to win the event. In 1997 the school had one computer for every eight students, which changed to one computer for every 1.8 students in 2003. The school has been featured in '' National Geographic'' magazine. In 2006, then-principal Mel Riddile, former director of Straight, Inc., drug rehabilitation program for teens, was chosen as the principal of the year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Riddile moved to T. C. Williams High School in neighboring Alexandria City at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. Assistant Principal Pamela Jones took his place and retired in 2012. After 40 years at Stuart, veteran math department chair Stu Singer retired in protest when Stuart administrators dismantled a remedial math program that had given Stuart the highest pass rate in the county. Singer later published a book on the program. Singer labeled the dismantling of this program "education malpractice that can only be described as unconscionable." Math scores plummeted after the reorganization. Other successful programs were also dismantled. Faculty morale fell to the lowest in the county, and many teachers retired or transferred out in protest. In 2014, the district sent a support team to Stuart to help the beleaguered administration. On April 22, 2015, Fairfax County Superintendent of Schools Karen Garza named Penny Gros as principal of Stuart High School. Penny Gros had previously been the principal of Glasgow Middle School, the middle school for the Stuart High School Pyramid. Maria Eck was named the principal of Justice High School, from July 23, 2018 to June 30, 2021. Eck was serving as principal of Poe Middle School, where she has been a leader since 2014. Penny Gros moved on to a position in FCPS Region 2. Eck was named the Principal of Spring Hill Elementary School, effective July 1, 2021. Tiffany Narcisse is the current principal of Justice High School. She was previously a principal in the
Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
.


Name and controversy

In 1959 when the school opened, the Fairfax County school board opposed racial integration of its schools, and the name, J. E. B. Stuart High School, reflected the school board's sentiments. In 2015 seniors at the school started a drive to rid Fairfax County Public Schools of names honoring the Confederacy and segregation. Soon after, many alumni, including prominent names like actress Julianne Moore and film producer Bruce Cohen, joined a petition asking that the name of the school be changed because the honor to Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart was chosen to defy the movement to desegregate public schools after
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
. On September 16, 2017, residents of the school area participated in a non-binding vote on new name options, and were able to rank their top three choices. Top choices received five points, second place choices three, and third place choices one. Stuart High School received the most votes. This was heavily concentrated in first-place and seemed to be a polarizing choice. Under District rules, each household was allowed to cast one vote, regardless of the number of members. But regardless of the vote, the board decided to change the name to Justice. Later, some board members expressed concern with the Thurgood Marshall name as a possibility as there was already a Marshall High School in the District, named after
George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...
and simply was settled without vote but of one member of the board to Justice High School. It was proposed and finalized. On October 26, 2017, the school board approved the name Justice High School with a 7-4 vote; one board member described this as a compromise name that collectively honored
Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
,
Barbara Rose Johns Barbara Rose Johns Powell (March 6, 1935 – September 28, 1991) was a leader in the American civil rights movement. On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, Powell led a student strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, ...
, and Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr., among others who worked towards justice. The name change was implemented in summer 2018.


Demographics

In 2001, Justice High School had "one of the most ethnically diverse student populations in the country." In September 2015 the student body was 50.3% Hispanic/Latino (any race), 23.4% White, 13.6% Asian, 10.1% Black/African American, 2.4% two or more races, and 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native.


Notable alumni

*
Bruce Cohen Bruce L. Cohen (born September 23, 1961) is a film, television, and theater producer. Biography Cohen was born to a Jewish family and raised in Falls Church, Virginia.Shapiro, T. R. (2015, August 23). Oscar winners Julianne Moore, Bruce Cohen work to strip school’s Confederate name. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/oscar-winners-julianne-moore-bruce-cohen-work-to-strip-schools-confederate-name/2015/08/23/7f3e20c4-4833-11e5-8ab4-c73967a143d3_story.html *
Charlie Garner Charlie Garner III (born February 13, 1972) is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee ...
, NFL running back *
John Hartman John Hartman (March 18, 1950 – September 22, 2022)Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, ...
, actress * Penny Moore, WNBA basketball player * Jim O'Brien, American Basketball Association player *
Esam Omeish Esam S. Omeish (born December 19, 1967) is a Libyan-born American physician and chief of the Division of General Surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital since 2006. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque and fo ...
, former president of the
Muslim American Society The Muslim American Society (MAS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. MAS describes itself as a grassroots Islamic movement. It has more than 50 chapters across the United States. History Musli ...
* Dave Pruiksma, animator *
Jim Sanborn Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Ji ...
, sculptor best known for creating the ''
Kryptos ''Kryptos'' is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of ...
'' sculpture at the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
headquarters *
Tom Shadyac Thomas Peter Shadyac (born December 11, 1958) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and author. The youngest joke-writer ever for comedian Bob Hope, Shadyac is widely known for writing and directing the comedy films '' Ace Ventura: P ...
, director *
Franz Stahl Franz Kenneth Stahl (born October 30, 1961) is an American guitarist, best known for being a member of both the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band Scream with his brother Pete Stahl, and the alternative rock band Foo Fighters. Life and caree ...
, musicianBrannigan, P. (2011). This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl. Da Capo Press. * Jamie Gray Hyder, actress * Anna Heilferty, NWSL soccer player


References


External links


Justice HS Official Web Site
{{authority control International Baccalaureate schools in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1959 Stuart Stuart J. E. B. Stuart 1959 establishments in Virginia