The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced a preliminary agreement with Defendant parties in its lawsuit against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), and administrative officials. The agreement, in place for the duration of the lawsuit, prevents future sanctions for the same expression, prevents Defendants and FCPS from sharing the students’ disciplinary records with third parties, and affirms FCPS’s legal obligation to protect the students’ privacy.
The plaintiffs in CAIR’s lawsuit, high school students who were attending TJHSST in the fall of 2025, alleges that FCPS and TJHSST violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when they discriminatorily suspended and levied other sanctions against the students for choice of expressive clothing and their participation in a viral video trend promoting their upcoming event.
READ: CAIR Announces Federal Lawsuit Against FCPS and TJHSST
In the stipulated agreement filed with the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Defendants guaranteed that the Student Plaintiffs’ disciplinary records would not be shared with third parties while their lawsuit is active, subject to certain conditions and redactions. Defendants also promised not to further discipline any of the students for wearing or displaying a map of Palestine, or the flag of Palestine, on their clothing.
“This is great news for our students and their families,” said John Fossum, staff attorney at the CAIR Legal Defense Fund. “We appreciate the school district for taking a step in the right direction, even if the measure is temporary. The next step is acknowledging and taking responsibility for the harm done to our clients.”
READ: CAIR’s Know Your Rights as a Student
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]