All students are expected to be in class by 9:15 AM. Daily attendance is vital to the instructional program at Maya Angelou French Immersion IB World School. If your child is not in school, your child will miss important information that is necessary for their academic growth. Our goal is to have all students in class every day and on time.
If your child is absent from school, it is important that you send a note with your child upon the return to school. Maryland state law says that there are only 8 reasons considered to be lawful absences:
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All absences require a note; otherwise it will be deemed an unlawful absence. Frequent unexcused absences, tardiness and early dismissals may result in removal from the program.
Meals will be free for all students regardless of meal benefit status for school year 21-22. Students will receive breakfast and lunch in school and a pre-packaged after school supper meal to take home. Virtual students will be assigned a location to pick up a weekly meal box.
Free and reduced meal applications are now available online at https://www.myschoolapps.com/. Eligibility for school meals is used to determine eligibility for Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) and other district sponsored programs.
To reduce the risk of pest infiltration and allergic reactions, food and drink is restricted to the cafeteria except for teacher-approved classroom celebrations and learning activities. Gum and candy are prohibited in school as are soda, coffee, and “energy drinks”. If food or drink is brought to school for a celebration or learning activity, the items should be brought to the classroom as soon as the student arrives at school where they can be stored appropriately. Teachers and the school nurse are aware of students with food allergies; they should be contacted if there are any questions about the safety of a given food item. As an additional precaution, food or drink items containing nut products should never be brought to classroom events. Outside delivery of food to school is strictly prohibited.
Students are allowed to take medication during the school day only when it is medically required and administered by licensed school personnel. Click here for access to the Prescriber’s Medication Order form which must be on file for each medication to be administered to a student. Please return completed forms to the School Nurse. Please do not send any over the counter medication with your scholar!
Dismissal begins for students at 3:55 PM each day. All early dismissals must have a reason (doctor’s appointment, dentist’s appointment for example) and a note should be sent/faxed/emailed to the school before 3:00 PM. If a relative or other adult is sent to pick up your child, he/she/they must have a valid photo id and be on the authorized pick-up sheet (located in the main office). No exceptions will be made to these policies in order to ensure the safety of our students.
If your child is a bus rider and you or a relative plan to pick your child up, you must send a note signed by you to your child’s teacher. If no note is sent the student will be sent to the bus. Please remind students to go to the carpool area for pick-up (cafeteria). Problems regarding bus drop-off or pick-up should be directed to the Transportation Office at 301-952-6570. Please consider downloading the new mobile application in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store using your Family Portal account information, then select your school and choose a preferred notification method. Parents who do not have a Family Portal account can register at tinyurl.com/familyportalregistration. Stopfinder and additional information is also available in the Schoolmax family portal through Infofinder.
If your child is a car rider, their name should be added to the carpool list by calling the main office NO LATER than 3:00 p.m. Carpool students should be picked up from the carpool line in front of the main entrance of the building. All early dismissals must be done before 3:30pm. Otherwise, parents must wait in the carpool line until dismissal of students at 3:55pm. In the case of an emergency, authorization must be given from the Principal. All pick-ups will be done in the office during school hours or in the cafeteria after school hours.
Weather or other emergencies may necessitate a late opening or early closing of school. Please listen to the radio or television or go to www1.pgcps.org for information. You may also consider signing up for email/text alerts by clicking here. Please be sure that you have made arrangements for your child(ren) and have informed them and the school (if different) procedure to follow in case of an early dismissal.
Maya Angelou educators believe that:
Maya Angelou educators also believe that:
Prince George’s County Public School’s grading policies can be found as follows:
Please review and note timeframes required in all processes and when requesting make up assignments. Requests outside of the shared timeframe and windows can not be honored.
Maya Angelou French Immersion administration, faculty and staff are honored to have exceptional parental support and involvement. Parents are encouraged to join the PTSA and become active members of our school community. The PTSA has supported MAFI scholars through providing guidance on policies and procedures, hosting regular informal meetings (Coffee and Conversation), and financial support and fund-raising for resources we need beyond our school budget.
PGCPS is in the process of revamping the communication platforms we use. In the future, all curricular communications will start with the program CANVAS. This will be used to check classroom assignments, grades, and whole class communications. Teachers will still be available through email and phone calls.
Progress reports and report cards are sent home four times per year, following the PGCPS school calendar. Please visit the PGCPS website for detailed information.
Parents/guardians are encouraged to check their children’s assignments, grades, attendance and disciplinary actions on SchoolMax. You can access the SchoolMax Parent Portal database from the PGCPS website’s homepage. Contact the school registrar Sharita.Thompson@pgcps.org to obtain necessary student id numbers for login access.
Each classroom is encouraged to elect a room parent who will serve as liaison between the teacher and other parents of the classroom. Please consider signing up to be a room parent/grandparent.
Due to continuing Covid-19 concerns, parental visits to our building will be limited to those approved in advance by the School Administration. You may contact the Principal or Assistant Principals to request a visit
Any transcript requests need to be initiated in the Scribbles portal. After making the request, please email our Registrar (sharita.thompson@pgcps.org) and allow her 48 hours to complete your request. If you are interested in viewing your scholar’s permanent record, please email the School Administration to arrange a time to do so.
MAFI supports a Proactive Restorative Approach to discipline: We know and value each student, we encourage them to build relationships and competencies so that they can experience autonomy by making good choices. These are our Essential Agreements. We seek to understand student behavior as a form of communication. When students make poor choices, we seek to restore them to the community by understanding why the behavior happened, and helping the student restore relationships that might have been harmed by the behavior.
At MAFI discipline begins with teaching positive behaviors. Every teacher integrates explicit teaching of positive behaviors and habits. These lessons are called Approaches to Learning skills (ATLs) and occur across all curriculum.
ATL includes five categories:
The ATL skills support the Learner’s Profiles, defined by both PGCPS and the IB. The focus on Learner Profiles govern every decision. We are striving to create:
Who are:
Additionally, we institute a school-wide matrix of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Students are given instruction on this matrix, as well as the PGCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook in quarterly assemblies. These are required by the county, as is our compliance with the procedures for discipline outlined in the Handbook. It is important that parents and students understand the county-wide policies that impact us. The MAFI community holds the philosophy that every student has the right to learn in an environment that is safe and orderly, and that the practice of mutual respect is essential for learning to take place. The responsibility for creating this environment is shared by the school personnel, the student, and the parents/guardians. Please stress to your student the importance of taking this policy seriously.
Bullying, harassment, or intimidation is not tolerated in Prince George's County Public Schools. If you suspect that your child is being bullied you should complete a Bullying, Harassment or Intimidation Reporting Form. Forms are available to parents and students in the main office, in the school counselor’s office or on the PG County website. There are severe consequences for retaliation, “getting back” at someone who reports bullying. Resources and forms can be found by clicking here.
Celebrations are critical to our learning community. We want our school to be a place of joy where every student and every family feels important and celebrated. We strive to create regular memorable occasions that bring our community together and serve as learning experiences for our scholars.
Birthdays may be celebrated in the classrooms if there is no food involved. If food will be served, please make arrangements with the teacher for the celebration. We would appreciate it if you do not hand out invitations at school for your child’s “out of school” party unless all students in the class are being invited. Balloons should not be part of the celebration; it is a hazard for the bus drivers.
MAFI also has the following celebratory traditions:
SCHOOL SUPPORTS
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE 6144
This information is for middle and high school students in specialty programs. “Continuation of a student in the specialty program will depend upon the successful demonstration of minimal proficiencies in required courses”.
Beginning School Year 2009-2010 failure to achieve a “C” average (GPA of 2.0) in required courses by the end of the school year will necessitate the return of the student to the regular attendance school. In addition, the student must maintain at least satisfactory attendance as defined by the State.
