Key Facts
Background
Harry Randall Jackson was the first African-American student from Lancaster County to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in general engineering. In college, he was recognized as an All-American Powerlifter for three consecutive years. In addition, Jackson earned a Doctorate from Henley-Putnam University, a Master of Science from National Defense University, a Master of Arts from Naval War College [1]. Jackson is a former naval intelligence officer, and he is a parent of a student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. He has been president of the school’s PTSA [5]. He was recently involved in a criminal slander and libel case after suing the Fairfax County School Board. Jackson is also a co-founder of Coalition for TJ, a nonprofit organization that aims to return the current holistic-review-style TJHSST admissions system to its prior test-based system [3].
Key Issues
Curriculum
Jackson supports the pre-Class of 2025 admission system to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and believes it did a better job at being merit-based. He wants to increase opportunities for STEAM initiatives, special needs education, and vocational training. In addition, Jackson has advocated for the removal of books such as Gender Queer with sexual images from FCPS libraries [2].
Parental Involvement
Jackson supports parental engagement and cooperation with the School Board. He believes that parents have primacy in their children’s education. He plans to collect data using parental surveys to modify the school system [2].
School Safety
Jackson hopes to reduce the rates of physical and emotional violence in school [2].
Endorsements
Norma Margulies, Founder of Hispanics for STEM
Sources
1 VPAP
2 Friends of Harry Jackson
3 Asra Investigates
4 Twitter
5 Wall Street Journal
6 Medvin Law