CEO & Chairman: Donald L. Hense
Vice Chairman: Floretta Dukes McKenzie
Board of Trustees: 10 member Board of Trustees
Staff: 361 full-time equivalents
2005 Budget: $35.9 million
Friendship Public Charter School (FPCS) is funded primarily through DC Public Charter School per pupil funding ($32.7 million, 91 percent) with the balance generated through other federal grants ($3.2 million, 8 percent).

Mission and History
Friendship Public Charter School, Inc. is a public charter school network that was established in 1998 and is the largest public charter school provider in the District of Columbia, operating four campuses including three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, enrolling more than 3,000 students in grades pre-K through 12. FPCS partners with Edison Schools, Inc., a school management company that in 1997 helped Friendship Schools prepare its charter application, establish its facilities, hire and train staff, and implement the Edison curriculum. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accredited FPCS in May 2004, and Edison Schools considers FPCS their flagship charter partnership among all the charter schools they manage nationwide. FPCS has experienced considerable growth since its founding and is among the highest performing charter schools (all five campuses) in the city.

FPCS was founded “to prepare District of Columbia children for success as students, workers and citizens by providing them with a world-class education.” FPCS students benefit from a research-based instructional design, caring and well-trained teachers, up-to-date instructional technology, strong leadership, and high levels of community involvement. FPCS’s four campuses are located in formerly vacant DC public school buildings: Chamberlain, Woodridge, Blow Pierce and Carter G. Woodson. FPCS used $30 million in loans from Edison Schools, Inc. to modernize these buildings and make them among the better school facilities in the District. FPCS students have made dramatic gains on the Stanford Achievement Tests since the opening of the schools, and FPCS has grown substantially, now serving 19 percent of all District charter school students on its five campuses.