Nicole Jenkins
Parent & Board Member, Freire Charter
When asked what she would title her family’s Freire story, Nicole Jenkins doesn’t hesitate: “Parents Are Partners,” she says, smiling. The phrase lands softly but carries weight, the distilled philosophy of a mother who has raised three children through the evolution of a school and a city.
Nicole’s story is, in a sense, the story of Freire itself: a story of persistence, belief, and the quiet work of building something better, one child at a time. She first came to the school searching for an alternative to private education for her eldest, Aaron. “I was looking for a place where my kids would be seen as individuals,” she recalls. Word of mouth led her to Freire, a school that, she was told, was “nonviolent” and deeply invested in its students’ personal growth. “They looked at each child’s learning needs,” she says. “That was important to me.”
Since then, all three of her children have passed through Freire’s doors. Aaron graduated in 2021, Amaya in 2023, and Ava, the youngest and chattiest, Nicole admits with a laugh, is now in seventh grade at Freire Middle School. Each has found a different version of themselves in the school’s classrooms and clubs. Aaron joined the comic book club and the orchestra. Amaya excelled in AP courses and found her creative home in Freire High’s theater group “Broken Leg Players,” a spark that led her to study entertainment management at Drexel University. And Ava, who serves as a peer mediator, is learning how to turn her gift for conversation into compassionate leadership.
Freire’s philosophy, particularly its embrace of the “Power of Yet,” has deeply shaped the way Nicole’s children learn. “That idea that you haven’t mastered something yet,” she says, “it gives kids permission to keep going.” For her son, who once struggled with math, it made all the difference. When he fell behind, his teacher didn’t let him give up. “She pushed him, again and again. She said, ‘He can do this.’ And he did. That kind of support changes how kids see themselves. It teaches them that learning is a process.”
Nicole describes Freire not just as a school but as a community that meets students where they are. “They see the potential in every student,” she says. “If they notice a problem, they act; they don’t wait.” That sense of responsiveness and partnership defines her relationship with the school.
Over the years, Nicole has become more than a parent; she’s a parent voice. When Freire Middle’s former Head of School invited her to join the school board, she was surprised. “I didn’t even know schools had boards,” she laughs. But she accepted and quickly understood the value of being in the room where decisions are made. “Parents need to be part of the conversation,” she says. “We’re the ones who see how everything connects—home, school, and the future our kids are moving toward.”
Nicole has seen Freire evolve, she says, pivoting toward literacy initiatives, embracing new technology, and recommitting to emotional support systems that help students rebuild confidence. “We’re thriving now,” she says. “We’re moving forward.”
When talking about graduation, she recalled, “You feel this sense of achievement. You know all the hard work it took to get there and that Freire helped create the foundation that made it possible.”
For Nicole, education is about possibility. It’s about giving her children the freedom to fail, the courage to try again, and the confidence to know that learning, like parenting, is an ongoing act of care. Her story ends where it began: in partnership. “Freire empowers parents,” she says. “They give us support, and we give it back. It’s a full circle.”
And in that circle lies the quiet, durable promise of progress: that each child’s story, if nurtured well, becomes its own small revolution. “I’m just glad Freire exists. School choice matters, and I’m glad I made the right decision.”