The Marcy Lab School

Our Co-Founders, Reuben Ogbonna and Maya Bhattacharjee, are educators of color and children of immigrants who grew up in the communities we serve. They have a shared 14 years spent serving low-income students of color in public schools in Atlanta, GA, and Brooklyn, NY. For years they saw high standardized test scores and college acceptance rates fail to translate to economic mobility for our city’s most promising students and witnessed friends, family, and former students with limitless potential slip through the cracks of higher ed seeing firsthand the pervasive failing college promise leaving students and families in life-altering debt.

In 2019, Reuben and Maya made a deliberate choice to establish The Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn. Maya had previously taught middle school on Marcy Avenue, while Reuben had served as a teacher and dean in some of Brooklyn's most esteemed charter schools. They were determined to create a better educational experience for the students who deserved more. It is the only program of its kind based in Brooklyn.

Reuben and Maya built and now lead Marcy from a shared commitment to racial, gender, and social justice. The Marcy Lab School is envisioned to overcome economic inequality and a belief that our students deserve better.