Principal of elite Virginia high school leaves for school district HR job

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Virginia’s top high school is losing its principal.

Ann Bonitatibus has been the head of the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Alexandria since 2017, but according to a letter shared with families Tuesday, she will be leaving the school to work for the school district.

In the letter, shared by the Fairfax County Parents Association on social media, Bonitatibus writes that she had pursued a promotion and will be joining Fairfax County Public Schools’ Department of Human Resources as its executive director of talent acquisition.

This announcement comes just one week after the school's assistant principal also announced his departure. 

TJ currently ranks the No. 1 high school in Virginia and No. 14 nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report. Its national ranking dropped nine spots from last year, and for multiple years before that, TJ was ranked the best school in the country.

During Bonitatibus’ time at TJ, she oversaw multiple controversies.

In 2020, the merit-based admissions process for the elite magnet school was overhauled under her leadership, replacing an SAT-style test and $100 application fee with a more holistic college-like process. The first year with the new process brought in a class with a dramatically shifted racial makeup — the portion of Black students increased to 7% from 1%, Hispanic students increased to 11% from 3%, and Asian American students decreased to 54% from 73%.

A group called the Coalition for TJ sued the school, arguing that the new process discriminated against Asian American students, and the suit made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The court left the policy in place because the new process is race-neutral.

Then, in 2022, Bonitatibus was under fire after people accused the school of failing to notify students of National Merit Awards in time for college applications. Some families even held a rally to call for her termination in January 2022. 

Seventeen Virginia schools were investigated, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin even proposed a bill to make it mandatory for schools to immediately notify parents and students of opportunities for awards, recognitions and scholarships.

Fairfax County Public Schools will now launch a nationwide search for the school's next principal.