On Wednesday, May 1, 2013, we hosted a meeting for parents to share very important news about the future of the Maya Angelou Middle School campus – informing them that the Maya Angelou Public Charter School Board has voted to close the Middle School campus following the 2013-2014 school year.

What this news means is the following:

• Effective fall semester 2013, we will only serve 7th and 8th grade classes for one more academic year, concluding all classes in spring 2014.
• There will be not be a 6th grade class beginning fall 2013.
• The Maya Angelou Middle School will close in spring 2014.

This decision was a very difficult one for our board of directors to make. But on a positive note, as we look toward the future, students will be able to attend the MAPCS Middle School campus next year. Again, the school will be open for both 7th and 8th graders-only, but will have all of the program offerings that are currently available for our students.

We remain very committed to the Maya Angelou Middle School students we have served over the past five years and will continue to advocate for outstanding options that serve them into the future.

We are also excited to continue focusing on both our high school and Young Adult Learning Center (YALC), both of which have been core to our mission since the inception of MAPCS/YALC.

As we move forward, anyone with questions is encouraged to contact Eileen Bramlet at 571.228.1906 or via email: ebramlet@seeforever.org.

See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Schools announce a new Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Heather Wathington, Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, to head foundation and schools focused on changing the lives of young people by reconnecting them to education opportunities that lead to a high school diploma and post-secondary education and employment.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 5, 2013 – See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Schools announced today that, Dr. Heather Wathington who has served as Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education since 2005, will become its new Chief Executive Officer and lead the See Forever Foundation and the Maya Angelou Schools in its next stage of growth.

Wathington, who is currently also the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools (MAPCS) will take up her new post on July 1, 2013. At that time, a new Chair will be elected to lead the MAPCS Board.

She succeeds Dr. Lucretia P. Murphy, who will be leaving the organization at the end of her contract in June and relocating to Florida to be closer to her family. “I will truly miss the See Forever/Maya Angelou family,” Murphy said; but I am thrilled that Heather will be my successor. Her expertise and unwavering belief in the transformative work that we are in engaged in with our students and their families will continue to elevate our organization.”

“Heather will be a tremendous asset to the See Forever Foundation,” said David Domenici, co-founder and chair of the See Forever Foundation’s Board of Directors. “We were pleased to find such an outstanding candidate from within our family. In addition to already being engaged in our work, she’s a visionary leader and we are excited that she will be bringing her vast experience, from philanthropy, program evaluation, research, and policy, to our organization.”

Wathington was chosen after a national search process conducted by a committee of staff and board members led by Mr. Domenici. “During the interview process, Heather impressed us with both her clarity of strategic thinking and how she would manage the day‐to‐day and year‐to‐year activities of our four schools and foundation,” Fred Bollerer a member of the search committee and Vice Chair of the See Forever Board.

“When she spoke, I could see that she would focus on broadening our impact by working closely with community leaders, staff and students. I’m confident that she’ll leverage these relationships and its resources to create change in our community,” he said.

Wathington, who will leave UVA’s Curry School of Education in May, has led several national research projects with the National Center for Postsecondary Research funded by the U.S. Department of Education and Project TrEMUR (Transitions in the Education of Minorities Underrepresented in Research) funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include access and equity for minority students in postsecondary education, with a focus on understanding what supports students need to transition into and through higher education to advance and earn degrees.

“I’m very committed to this region and the young people being served by our schools in the District of Columbia,” Wathington said. “I am committed to our partnerships and plan to continue to build upon these relationships to support our students and schools to ensure that our students develop the academic, social, and employment skills they need to build rewarding lives and promote positive change. I also look forward to working with a remarkable staff and board to expand our reach and programs to make a real transformational difference in the lives of the students entrusted to us”.

Domenici said the search committee was impressed by Wathington’s ability to talk about how small changes can have a big impact and how being focused on our mission should always be the “why” we do what we do for our young people.

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About See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Schools
Founded in 1997 as a multi-faceted, comprehensive educational program for Washington DC-based, at-risk teens, the See Forever Foundation provides pathways to a high school credential and post-secondary success for hundreds of students who previously struggled with school. The Maya Angelou Schools include three public charter schools: a Middle School, High School and Young Adult Learning Center. The YALC provides academic and workforce development to youth and young adults who are in need of GED supports, career training, internships, and pathways towards career employment. Their fourth school is for adjudicated youth at the New Beginnings Youth Development Center. The core mission of the See Forever Foundation is to create learning communities in lower income urban areas so students who have not succeeded in traditional schools can reach their potential. For more information, please visit www.seeforever.org

On a bizarrely hot and humid day in January, Mother Nature joined forces with the Maya Rebels for a sweltering Spirit Rally. The students of MAPCS High School filled the bleachers of the gymnasium, sorted proudly into their classes. The dress code was “Blackout,” and any students committed to wearing black from head to toe had a subtle flash of red on their wrist in the form of a Rebels bracelet.

The Spirit Rally kicked off with a cheering contest led by student MCs. Each grade represented themselves admirably, but the 11th grades screams proved to be the loudest.

The first act of the spirit rally was a pair of student-performed poetry slams, and the well-executed rhymes showed off the diverse talents of the Maya scholars. Next, a high-octane performance from the Dance Team, who earned their right to break the all-black dress code in favor of hand-crafted red shirts, frays flying to accentuate their dance moves. The Anime Club stepped up and surprised us all with a demonstration of their Samurai skills. Maya Rebels are true warriors.

The Rebels basketball teams, both boys and girls, took center court to show their collective Rebel pride and announce their upcoming games. Their competitive nature infected their classmates, who were able to put that energy to good use in a relay race across the gymnasium floor. 4 representatives from each grade lined up to compete against each other. Chaos seemed to ensue as runners sprinted across the gymnasium and raucous cheers echoed off the walls. The commotion died down in less than a minute, and the 9th grade was deemed victorious.

After another riveting performance from the dance team, the Maya Seniors had a chance to prove themselves as top dog. Another multi-round cheer-off produced impressive screams from each grade, but ultimately the seniors came out on top. The Spirit Rally showed the pride that the Maya family has for its school, traditions, and diversity of brilliant successes.

Our very own Executive Director and a Co-Chair of the Leadership Council for Raise DC talks about the Raise DC initiative on Fox 5 TV News. Click on the link below to see the interview.

FOX 5 Interview with Dr. Lucretia Murphy

Raise DC is a growing partnership comprised of committed local business, philanthropic, government, education and nonprofit leaders. On February 4, 2013 the first Raise DC Report Card was released and reflects our collective effort to identify specific markers of success for children and youth as they transition from one part of the educational pipeline to the next. It also establishes a baseline so that we know concretely where we are and where we want to go as we work together to continuously improve how we support success for young people in the District, from the time they are born to the time they enter a career. Most importantly, it articulates our public commitment to you, to our children, and to our city. See where we’re headed and read the report card at: Raise DC

The Washington Post
By The Reliable Source: Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger

Twenty years after he was first elected president, Bill Clinton is still a political rock star, especially after his convention speech last month. And, dare we say, the ideal dinner guest.

Unlike the Obamas, both Bill and Hillary Clinton are regulars, when schedules permit, on Washington’s charitable social scene. That’s one of the luxuries of being a former president: White House occupants especially in the first term spend very little time hanging out with Beltway elites.

By contrast, Clinton spent hours chatting with guests and gave remarks at the Kuwaiti embassy’s benefit for D.C. Maya Angelou charter schools. In 1993, Angelou created a poem for his first inauguration; he came Monday night to honor the poet and author, 84, who attended the dinner in a wheelchair.

Rima Al-Sabah assembled her usual eclectic roster of Washington A-listers: Five cabinet secretaries, Education’s Arne Duncan, Treasury’s Tim Geithner, Homeland Security’sJanet Napolitano, Transportation’s Ray LaHood, and HUD’s Shaun Donovan, plus White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, D.C. councilman Jack Evans, philanthropists Jack Davies and Adrienne Arsht, and lots of ambassadors.

The night, which raised $500,000, was a classic feel-good-by-doing-good event. The students at the first school “all kids in the court system” voted to name it after Angelou; soon, she was an enthusiastic supporter. She thanked the crowd for helping kids who, if you saw them walking down the street, you’d jump in your car. Clinton gave an impassioned plea for education reform and at-risk kids: “The Maya Angelou charter schools are designed to give the dream back to kids who, literally, would otherwise probably spend their lives in prison,” he said. “It is insane to let all these young people go into the criminal justice system and not give them the chance to learn something.”

The party ended with a real rock star: Skunk Baxter, the former Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist who also dabbles in missile defense. He’s the ringer in Coalition of the Willing, an ersatz rock band made up of government and diplomatic types (former Hungarian ambassador Andras Simonyi, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman) who did a couple of Steely Dan covers before breaking to a “what else” chat up Clinton.

Find the full Washington Post article here.

The media has been buzzing with stories about discipline, particularly suspension and expulsion, by charter schools. It is a difficult issue, and the numbers don’t often give a full picture of how difficult the decision to suspend or expel students can be. It is not, as one reporter wrote, an effort on the part of the charter schools to “kick out a high percentage of students.” Instead it’s a challenging balance between keeping kids in school and keeping school a good learning environment for all kids. Unfortunately, this is a question that we often face at the Maya Angelou schools because sometimes the consequence for behavior that disrupts the learning environment is suspension.

But suspension or expulsion is not really the whole story. Let me share some examples illustrative of the practice at the Maya Angelou high school. If a student comes to school lashing out at peers or staff because she did not take her medication, she will, appropriately, be suspended. However, before she leaves the building, her counselor will make sure that she has stabilized. We will contact a parent and identify other resources so that the student receives the support she needs to return to school successfully. A similar process applies to the young man recently released from incarceration who comes to school angry and repeatedly resists authority. He may need to be suspended for a day to cool off, but then his counselors will sit down with him to develop a success plan. We work with our students, and our students (and families) work with us, so that suspensions are part of the learning process. This is the real story of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School.

The story really is about changing student behavior so they can be successful in school!

The Maya Angelou Academy, the school located within the District of Columbia’s long-term youth correctional facility, will be featured on Thursday, July 5th at 10pm on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.

The segment on Rock Center with Brian Williams will highlight Maya Angelou Academy as an example of how one school delivers top quality educational services in a youth correctional setting. The segment offers a rare glimpse into the inspiring and incredibly hard work being done at a school working to transform the lives of incarcerated youth. We hope you will tune in this Thursday at 10pm on NBC.

The Maya Angelou Academy’s success has been widely acknowledged. Students at Maya Angelou improve their reading and math scores at an annualized rate of nearly 1.5 grade levels. Student retention rates (students remaining in school or work after release to the community) have doubled during the Maya Angelou Academy tenure. A national expert and a court appointed monitor have credited Maya Angelou with creating a “remarkable” transformation since it assumed management of the school in 2007. The Middle States Commission’s Accreditation team concluded that the school was “one of the best schools we have ever seen.”

The Maya Angelou Academy is a part of the small network of Maya Angelou Schools, supported and managed by the See Forever Foundation. The schools include the Maya Angelou Public Charter High School, Middle School, Young Adult Learning Center, and the Maya Angelou Academy. At Maya Angelou, we believe that students who have not succeeded in traditional schools can reach their potential, and develop the academic, social, and employment skills needed to move on to college, careers, and a lifetime of success.

To find out how you can support the work of the Maya Angelou Schools as a financial contributor or volunteer, contact our Development and Communications Director, Stacey Miller via telephone at (202) 797-8250, or email at smiller@seeforever.org.

We hope you will join us and tune in to NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams this Thursday, July 5th at 10pm.

Our Annual Fundraiser at The National Theatre was a huge success!

 

Continue to Celebrate the Maya Way   Support the Maya Angelou Schools today!

Jazz, rap and hip hop singers joined our talented students in honoring Dr. Maya Angelou at The National Theatre last night. Dr. Angelou said to the more than 1,600 supporters in attendance, “I’m blessed that the men and women who put their effort, their energies, their incredible intelligence, into keeping these schools alive are doing it in my name. I’m blessed and I’m grateful.”

Featured celebrity performers included, our host Grammy award-winning rapper Common, Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Patti Austin, harp master Jeff Majors, R&B singer Lil’ Mo, the soul duo Kindred, and Actor and Musician Big G performing with D.C.-based band, Black Alley. We are pleased, too, that so many of our students had the chance to shine in their own right on the stage!

“It’s really a no brainer. If Dr. Maya Angelou says come, you come,” said Kindred Songstress Aja Graydon.

All of these artists professed deep respect for Dr. Angelou’s poetry and activism, but they also love the woman herself. In turn, Dr. Angelou says she sees younger generations like her grandchildren, and she hopes the wisdom she shares with them will be passed along.

In remarks to the press before the theatre-style stage show, our executive director Dr. Lucretia Murphy said, “This really is a transformative school and it gives young people opportunities that they never even wanted to dream for themselves.”

During the event, the See Forever Foundation and Maya Angelou Schools also presented its annual Maya Waya Awards to local leaders as well as student and staff heroes/sheroes from each of its four campuses. This year’s honorees included, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Howard University, and See Forever Foundation Board Member Jack Davies, founder and former president of AOL International.

As Dr. Angelou shared during our event, “As you get a blessing give it away. Absolutely! When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”

Enjoy scenes from our 15th Annual Fundraiser, Celebrate the Maya Way, and, remember, you can support our transformative programs and services for at-promise youth every day by making a tax-deductible contribution to the See Forever Foundation and Maya Angelou Schools. With your support, Dr. Maya Angelou’s scholars can transform their lives and move onto postsecondary success.