Welcome to the Home of
Maya Angelou Public Charter School
The highest-ranked alternative school for opportunity youth in Washington, DC
Dual College Credit Enrollment| HS Credit Recovery | Residential Boarding | Clubs and Sports | Restorative Justice | Outdoor Learning
⛑ Become a Maya Americorp VISTA today! Dedicate a year of full-time service with our nonprofit parent organization, the See Forever Foundation, by creating or expanding programs designed to empower those overcoming poverty.
🎯Serving Grades 9-12
📍5600 East Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20019 (Ward 7)
📶Main Office: (202) 797-8250
📄 Continuous Education Plan (Reviewed June 2023)
🐺We are the Maya Rebels, and our mascot is a Wolf which represents solidarity, teamwork, protection, freedom and instinct!
🔑Principal Shantelle Wright-Cunningham (swrightcunningham@seeforever.org)
🔑 Assistant Principal Jasmine Groce (jgroce@seeforever.org)
🚸Parent and Caretakers Stephen Liggon (sliggon@seeforever.org)
📝Enrollment Needs Denean Stevens (dstevens@seeforever.org)
📦 Donations and Partnerships Sheryl Eastman (seastman@seeforever.org)
ABOUT OUR SCHOOL
Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS) is an alternative school that offers students a relevant and rigorous academic curriculum with generous wraparound support services to meet a wide variety of educational and emotional needs. We focus on cultivating scholars who are ready for the world, helping them to be career-prepared, and assisting them in becoming lifelong learners and dynamic contributors to society. Many of our students face challenges in their home life and experience trauma or upheaval that requires a different approach from traditional schools. Maya Angelou PCS delivers integrated social and emotional health services that to our students who have been identified as opportunity youth. We encourage every pupil to become a confident, industrious self-sustaining young adult through our comprehensive school curriculum that emphasizes readiness skills.
MAPCS emphasizes skills that are important for college and career success; we offer students a solid proficiency standard for learning upon high school graduation. We encourage students to choose between the Business Institute and Academy of Hospitality and Tourism specializations, or high school majors. The entire high school student body participates in college and career visits, information sessions and fairs. All students are required to submit a minimum of four (two-and-four-year) college applications. MAPCS curriculum is designed to be structured, yet flexible to educate a full range of learners.
Our Blended Learning Model combines face-to-face instruction with technology and online learning with student individual learning plans
to meet students at their learning level and give them what they need to catch up, keep up or get ahead. In addition, MAPCS is one of a few DC schools offering the advantages of residential and boarding programs to select students who benefit from the stability of a safe, supportive, and structured environment. MAPCS has the twofold challenge of remediating and accelerating students in order to be successful.
HS Student & Family Handbook SY 2023-2024
Every student benefits from the support of dedicated professionals whose major responsibility is a student’s emotional growth and well-being. In order to reach this vision, Maya Angelou PCS recognizes that incorporating mental health services as an integral part of the school program is critical to the success of its young people needing a second chance.
OUR PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
The most compelling difference between Maya Angelou and traditional public schools is the level of work educators put into catering to the complex and acute needs of our students. Some of the students are high functioning, in terms of academic ability and social/emotional skills; others come with serious challenges – but most fall somewhere in between.
Maya Angelou Public Charter School does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or disability. For questions or complaints of alleged discrimination, please contact our Business Operations Office at (202) 797-8250.
During the week, students live with peers and a residential counselor in a family-style setting; students cook meals together, share chores, and help each other with homework each evening, as well as hold each other accountable for attending school on time each morning. Our safe, therapeutic and structured environment for students who are in need of a secure place to live Monday through Friday in order for them to succeed at school. Currently, there are approximately 20 students living in group-based supervised residential homes throughout the city
We offer Learning Labs each semester during the school day, after school, and during Saturday School, where students in need of credit recovery receive targeted, in-person support from our teachers as they complete their missing courses online.
Specialists work both directly in classes and with the same group of students to support both the academic and social emotional growth of ALL scholars. Trauma-informed Mental Health counselors provide group and individual counseling services as required in their IEP and through student self sign-up.
The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) philosophy at Maya Public Schools is committed to helping students develop the social and emotional skills necessary to be successful as they move on with their lives and out of school More specifically, SEL work is focused on building emotional capacity within our students and equipping them with the skills to negotiate many of the stressful life events that they have experienced at home and within the community. To achieve these goals, the Maya’s style of SEL follows a strength-based approach to enable students to achieve the following competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management/Regulation, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making.
Our teachers aim to challenge and engage our students in our classrooms each day. Our course offerings include all Common Core subjects (English, Math, Science, and Social Studies), Spanish and French courses, Advanced Placement courses, and a number of relevant elective courses including field internships and service-learning opportunities across Ward 7 and the District to service the 100-hour community service graduation requirement per OSSE. We work hard to meet each of our students where they are academically. We use blended learning – a combination of face-to-face classroom teaching and online instruction – to ensure students catch up and get ahead.
At the Maya Angelou Schools, we warmly embrace students with health conditions or impairments that need Student Services and Support, formerly know as Special Education. If you have a scholar with an IEP, our Student Services department will provide the necessary accommodations to ensure that everyone has a smooth school day and enriching experience.
This program provides intensive support to alums for the first two years following high school (and ongoing support for all alum) so that graduates can “beat the odds” for college access and persistence. Graduates receive assistance such as help in researching and selecting a college or trade program, securing financial aid packages and course selection.
MYSCHOOLDC KEY DATES
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: EXTENDED DAY AT MAYA
Extended Day is the daily 3:45pm to 6:00pm block of afterschool activities on campus, this includes special trips, seminars, conferences and mentorship circles. We host an Annual Student Retreat (Outdoor Sports Day) every Fall as well as Boys’ Interscholastic Athletics Baseball, Basketball and Flag Football and Girls’ Interscholastic Athletics Basketball, Cheerleading, Softball and Volleyball. 📬 Connect with our Athletics Director Julian Pitt for more information.
Free tutoring is available throughout the school day and after school. Volunteer tutors have included business professionals, college students and senior citizens. Historically, a select group of students participate in weekly evening tutoring at WilmerHale Law. We’re thrilled to build and utilize student skills while having fun. Our Maya provides clubs led by expert instructors. Take a look:
💥Anime Club
🎨Art Club
🌱Community Service Club
🧨Maya Rebels Dance & Step Team
👠Modeling Club
🥽National Society of Black Engineers
🎭Performing Arts Club
🎤Student Ambassadors
Maya Angelou PCS is a Learn24 partner and 2023 grantee. Learn 24 is a network of afterschool and summer opportunities supported by the Bowser Administration to ensure children and youth in the District have access to quality educational and enrichment activities beyond the school day.
Learn24 supports equitable access to high-quality, out-of-school-time programs for District of Columbia youth through coordination among government agencies, targeted grant-making, data collection and evaluation, and the provision of training, capacity building, and technical assistance to providers.
Families also can locate potential afterschool and summer programs available to them through the Learn24 program finder or Learn 24’s upcoming events page.
Black Nerd Society: The objective of black nerd society is to provide a safe space for students who enjoy “nontypical” types of hobbies and activities that may be shunned by being different than our culture. We seek to educate and inform our members about other cultures through fun activities such as watching anime, attending conventions, and eating different cultural foods to name a few. Of the many goals of the club, we seek to expose our students to different opportunities and events that they normally would not be able to attend or enjoy on their own such as conventions, podcasting, cosplay, and other activities that fall in line with the culture. So far our outcomes since beginning this club, started as a group of around 5 students and has grown to over 20 in a month. Additionally we have taken our students to a trip to watch an anime movie in the movie theater. We plan to have a cosplay fashion show and do community service with the neighboring elementary schools near our school.
New Visions: This program is focused on providing experiences for students to broaden their perspectives through trips to places like the African American History Museum, analyzing films, playing chess, and potentially creating short films.
“My goal for the New Visions program is to simply have students think more critically about their lives and those who engage with them. My film class has focused on breaking points of characters on screen. My students have had the chance to watch dramatic scenes from action and suspense films. They are instructed to find the breaking points of the characters we watch.”
Ride Thru It: The goals, and outcome of our Ride Thru it Program is to connect young adults from marginalized communities to the benefits of the trail riding experience. We encourage, and elaborate the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional benefits of riding real time, while taking out our participants out of their traditional environment (of streets and concrete) and have them escape by riding into nature. We hold a common belief that the power of cycling increases wellness and mental health for participants and their community. We even try and further this mission and addressing our participants at the individual level, where we access and address their interest. Our health focus has expanded into so much more, including financial independence, credit, healthy eating, community needs, historical sites, home ownership, realizing how close forrest/nature areas are in relation to their own homes etc. Its led to increased realization of the entire self, and developed a new found respect for themselves and their place within a larger community. Life lessons and bonds have been created by enduring through 12-15 mile rides while snowing, and also persevering through 102 degree days. Our goal is to have students connect to themselves and become Intrinsically Motivated, to the point they strengthen aspects of their lives, (financially, spiritually, emotionally, and physically) to create a better person. We start with a health/wealth meeting/conversation, then move to goal setting, and instructing participants from underserved marginalized communities, to create “buckets” that they pour energy/studying/actions/planning into everyday to create a higher levels of self freedoms.
MAPCS UNIFORM POLICY
In order for students to be in school and to foster learning, students must be dressed appropriately according to the following guidelines:
Tops Approved red, gray, or black MAPCS shirts will be the only shirt permitted to be worn by students. Students can also wear a solid red, gray, or black polo shirt. The shirt must not be altered in any way (for example, cut off, tied above the stomach, tied behind the back, etc.)
Bottoms Students must wear tan/brown khaki and or black pants, skirts, or dresses (must not be excessively short or tight). The MAPCS definition of excessively short is if the bottom of the garment is shorter than the longest finger when the arm is fully extended down the leg. Bottoms must also not have holes, rips, graffiti, inappropriate language, or images.
Shoes Athletic shoes, laced shoes and/or boots, loafers, dress shoes, or other closed toes/closed heel shoes are permitted. Mules described as closed toes and open heels are appropriate. Students shall not wear house slippers, flip-flops, or any other type of footwear that could constitute safety hazards. Students are also prohibited from wearing steel-toe boots or shoes to school.
EXPLORE THIS YEAR’S COURSES AND PROGRAMS
SFF-MAS Course Catalog SY 23-24 Final
APPLY TO MAYA ANGELOU PCS TODAY!
Students and their families are at the center of all of our decisions. The relationship between the scholar’s household and the school is vital to the successful growth of all learners. Interested parents, counselors and caretakers are encouraged to submit their MySchoolDC application early, and rank Maya Angelou PCS as #1. Seating is limited. MAPCS does not discriminate in its educational activities, policies and practices on the basis of age, ancestry, color, creed, familial status, gender identity, marital status, national origin, physical attributes, physical or mental ability or disability, political belief, political party preference, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.
The Maya Angelou Schools and See Forever Foundation are dedicated to a policy of nondiscrimination and to the provision of equity in their educational programs, services and activities for all students and employees. Our organization does not discriminate in employment or in its educational programs and activities on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability, physical, mental, emotional or learning disability, handicap or any other factor provided for by state and federal laws and regulations.
COME AND STAY A WHILE GET TO KNOW EVERY BRANCH OF THE MAYA SCHOOLS FAMILY TREE
✓ MAYA ANGELOU ACADEMY @ DC JAIL (CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION)
✓ MAYA ANGELOU ACADEMY @ NEW BEGINNINGS (CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION)
✓ MAYA ANGELOU ACADEMY @ YOUTH SERVICE CENTER (CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION)
✓ SEE FOREVER FOUNDATION (LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCY)
✓ YOUNG ADULT LEARNING CENTER (18+ GED PROGRAM)
