Most people just complain about DC schools, but the volunteers with Friends of Tyler School are doing something to improve the education of local children. They tutor and mentor 50 low-income students from Wards 6, 7 & 8. The tutors, mostly from Capitol Hill, meet with students each week at FOTS’ buildings at 1527 and 1529 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.

These volunteers are making a difference. Nearly 90 percent of students in FOTS tutoring program for three years or more have graduated from high school – many are the first in their families to complete high school. Some have become valedictorians and class presidents. They’ve won scholarships to Smith, Haverford, Spelman and Hiram colleges, and George Washington, Georgia State and Delaware State universities. In addition to weekly interaction with caring adults, FOTS provides supervised after-school and summer activities to keep kids off the streets so they’re out of mischief and harm’s way. FOTS also serves meals to participating students because kids can’t learn on empty stomachs.

FOTS tutoring program started in 1990 by local activist Jan Eichhorn and other neighbors of John Tyler Elementary School at 10th and G streets SE. As Tyler students graduated or transferred to other schools, they continued to work with their FOTS tutors, so the organization’s full name became a misnomer. Thus today it goes by its initials. The chairman of its board of directors is Tommy Wells, Ward 6 councilmember and a longtime FOTS volunteer.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of FOTS. Besides tutoring/mentoring, they raise funds, maintain computer equipment, lead boys and girls clubs for teens, organize field trips and parties, and coordinate a Christmas clothing drive with St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

Often the tutor-student relationship extends far beyond the walls of the tutoring houses to include college visits, vacations and summer jobs. Sometimes tutors pick up the slack for parents who can’t or won’t pay for school uniforms, eyeglasses, dentist visits and other necessities.

Today’s FOTS students range from kindergarten to 12th grade, and they attend 13 different schools. Their families are low-income, often headed by a single parent. Many live in public or subsidized housing. Some have parents who are or have been in jail.

This summer 45 kids enrolled for seven weeks in Camp Cool, a daily program of academic classes, science projects, computer learning, music, golf and field trips. Camp counselors include college students who “graduated” from FOTS, a certified teacher, volunteers and Tonya Woods, the organization’s highly capable executive director.

During the school year, Woods operates an after-school homework center where kids can complete assignments in a quiet environment equipped with computers and other resources they need. The center attracts 20-30 kids each afternoon, and its paid- and volunteer-staff teach fun but challenging activities, such as writing programs for video games, playing chess or repairing computers.

Mayor Fenty has promised radical change in the DC school system, but that will take time. Until then, Hill residents can improve the education of local children by volunteering or donating to FOTS.