Virginia Beach Friends School Celebrates 70 Years
June 22, 2026
by Lee Belotte
Virginian Pilot CORRESPONDENT
Quaker educators Louise and Bob Wilson founded a single-room schoolhouse, the Virginia Beach Friends School, as part of the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting in 1955.
The Friends School started as a small program for young children built on Quaker values — simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship.
“Seventy years later with 190 students enrolled, those values are not just words on a mission statement,” school spokesperson Anna Facemire said. “They actively guide how students learn, interact and engage with the world around them.”
In the early decades, Facemire said the school was humble, deeply community driven and served as a true extension of the Quaker community. School families and volunteers did everything from teaching to preparing meals. Through the 1960s and 1970s, the spirit continued with shared responsibility, consensus-based decision-making and small, relationship-centered classrooms shaping daily life.
“It wasn’t an institutional model, but a personal, values-driven one sustained by people who believed in a simpler, more connected approach to education,” Facemire said. “There was no separation between school and community.”
Through the 1980s, the school gradually expanded by adding grade levels. It evolved from preschool and primary school into a fuller academic program. In the 1990s, it added secondary education up to high school. By 2021, the high school division closed. The school returned to its roots by refocusing on younger students, from toddlers through the eighth grade.
Facemire said Quaker education is often misunderstood. Some think it lacks academic rigor or structure. She said in reality, the school is grounded in the core state curriculum standards with intentional, hands-on instruction across subjects.
One of the school’s most distinctive aspects, Facemire said, is its commitment to experiential learning and service. Students regularly step beyond the classroom by participating in service learning partnerships, engaging in hands-on arts and engineering projects, conducting scientific research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and exploring history and civic responsibility through real world experiences.
“As both a longtime parent and the librarian at Virginia Beach Friends School, I’ve had the unique privilege of experiencing this school through both professional and personal lenses,” Courtney Grew said. “What makes our school so special is the way every child is truly seen and cared for. It’s a close-knit community where students are known by name, celebrated for who they are, and supported through every stage of growth.”
Grew added that the school values strong academics, but what stands out is how the school helps children grow into empathetic, kind students that have integrity and a strong sense of community and character.
Facemire said the Friends School will continue to stay true to its mission by focusing on Quaker values and the student-centered approach.
“Rather than pursuing growth, we are intentional about remaining small and close-knit, where each student is truly known and supported,” Facemire said. “This commitment to selective and thoughtful growth will allow us to build on our programs strengths while preserving the educational model that makes us distinctive.”
A practicing Quaker community continues to use the 1950s-era meeting house, the first building on the school property on Laskin Road, for worship on Sundays and Wednesday afternoons.
