Friendship Online Academy

Sweet Beginnings

A Message from CEO Patricia A. Brantley

Is there anything sweeter than the first week of school?

The sights and sounds of Friendship scholars as they return after the summer break always fills my heart with joy.

There’s lots of laughter, epic selfies and a little showing off of new backpacks and the coolest kicks.

Parents, teachers and school staff greet each other with big hugs, refreshed and excited about how they can work together to help our scholars grow.

And because of the tireless efforts of our campus and community office teams, our school environment reflects the high standards we expect of our students.

Shelves are stocked and more materials are on the way. Laptops are humming. Hallways and classroom walls are alive with creative clues that make learning fun and relevant.

Every Friendship school grew and achieved last year. Our intentional approach to mastering the highest academic standards, individualizing learning and augmenting field experiences for our scholars is paying off. So, it was gratifying to start the 2018-19 school year with an article highlighting our “record big gains on [PARCC standardized test] scores.” This news was followed by the Washington Post’s back-to-school story titled “It feels great to go back,” about our students and your work to help them to grow academically and socially

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Lakia Mines’s khaki shorts and white polo shirt were already laid out, her hair already styled in a long braid. She had just the right purple-and-turquoise leopard backpack, already stuffed with pencils and paper.

Lakia was ready for seventh grade.

So when her mother woke her up at 6 a.m. Monday in a cousin’s home, Lakia quickly dressed, laced her gray-and-purple Nike high-top shoes and posed for a first-day-of-school photo in the hallway.

Lakia is homeless and hasn’t had a permanent bed to sleep in for years, bouncing between friends’ and relatives’ homes. But each day, the 12-year-old completes her homework and prepares for school in the crammed room she shares with her mother and two sisters.

And the first day of school was no different. By the time the bus arrived at 7 a.m., Lakia was ready — and slightly nervous — to travel across town from the District’s Fort Totten neighborhood to Friendship Tech Prep Academy, a charter school in Congress Heights that greeted students with exuberant songs, chants and dances.

“It feels great to go back,” Lakia said. “I like my homeroom, I like math, science, social studies and English.”