Diversity & Inclusion at FRA   

We intentionally build and nurture a diverse educational community whose members learn and live alongside one another with mutual respect, displaying intellectual curiosity about differences, and demonstrating Christ’s message of love and inclusion.

 

Franklin Road Academy’s mission, “to provide a challenging educational experience in an inclusive Christian community with an unwavering commitment to develop leaders of integrity and purpose,” informs all of our decisions school-wide. Creating, upholding, and nourishing a diverse and inclusive community is integral to fulfilling each tenet of FRA’s mission.

FRA is dedicated to creating an enriching educational experience for our students. We value the substantial impact that diversity provides for our community. When we learn from others with varied and contrasting points of view, we expand our horizons and advance our strength. As an inclusive Christian community, we believe diversity is best defined according to the heart and message of the gospel and we seek to demonstrate Christ’s message of love and inclusion.

Finally, FRA commits itself to develop leaders of integrity and purpose. In the spirit of unity, we instill in our students the value of compassionate collaboration and reciprocal relationships through learning experiences both locally and beyond. We cultivate an environment where all staff, students, and families join together in community, exemplifying the value we place on diversity and inclusion at FRA. We recognize that appreciating and embracing our differences and our connectedness to one another enhances our potential for experiencing and sharing Christ’s love.
 

FRA Diversity Initiatives   

DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

In addition to existing diversity committees in each division, we formed a diversity leadership council, comprised of teachers from all three divisions, to help lead and oversee our diversity and inclusion initiatives.

PARENT DIVERSITY GROUP

Our parent diversity group meets regularly to support our strategic initiatives through prayer, planning, and participation. I you would like to join the parent diversity group, please email Brodrick Thomas.

MELANIN MENTORS

Melanin Mentors is a mentoring group for girls in which upper school Black girls mentor girls in the middle and lower schools.
 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

We have also worked to build our community’s ability to engage in purposeful dialogue both internally and externally. In the upper school, we launched FRAnk Conversations, a series of panel discussions with faculty and students regarding diversity issues. We invited Narrative 4, a storytelling nonprofit, to train our upper school teachers on fostering empathy through storytelling and used these practices in several classes and advisory groups. We have also continued developing relationships with area charter, independent, and public schools to broaden our pool of student applicants.
 

CURRICULUM

We have reviewed our curriculum to include texts that reflect the diverse cultures of our student body and avoid alienating or marginalizing certain ethnicities. We have pursued greater diversity in the types of speeches and music offered to our students during chapels and convocations, and our Martin Luther King, Jr. all-school chapel featured liturgy and prayer around the subject of racial reconciliation. Our efforts have spanned our Pre-K-12 community and included visits to our lower school classrooms to read to students about inclusion, both early in the year and during Black History Month.