We, the undersigned, call on Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to immediately reverse the suspension of Muslim Student Association (MSA) members who were unfairly punished for a harmless and inclusive student video.

On October 24, members of TJHSST’s MSA posted a short, lighthearted video on their official club page to promote their club. The video ended with the caption, “No one was harmed in the making of this video.” It was clear to anyone watching that the video was meant to be fun and welcoming.

Instead of treating the video as what it was, a simple club promotion, administrators chose to suspend several students and launch an investigation. This response was completely disproportionate and appears to have been driven by biased assumptions rooted in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian stereotypes. By doing so, TJHSST punished students for expressing their identities and violated their right to free expression.

The decision to suspend these students has caused serious harm, both to their reputations and to the broader sense of safety and belonging for Muslim students at TJHSST and across FCPS. These students deserve fairness and respect, not suspicion and exclusion.

We demand that TJHSST and FCPS:

1. Immediately reinstate all suspended MSA students.
2. End the investigation into this incident.
3. Issue a public apology to the affected students and their families.
4. Take concrete steps to ensure that bias and discrimination have no place in our schools.

TJHSST should be a community that is fair to everyone, not one that silences or punishes students for their expressions. We stand with the MSA students and their families, and we call on the administration to do the right thing.