Jason: Ashe Ribbon Cutting

There was laughter. There were tears. Some of the biggest names in local education and politics came out to the gleaming new campus of Arthur Ashe Charter School, on Wednesday, November 7, to celebrate a triumph for the children of New Orleans.

Ashe’s new building is possible due to a widespread collaboration between the BESE Board, OPSB, RSD, and FirstLine Schools. Thanks to their persistence and vision, we were awarded one of the early re-built schools as part of the School Facilities Master Plan and FEMA. FirstLine also partnered with the Lake Park neighborhood to ensure the design and use of the campus and park area, including an expansive edible garden, benefit the neighborhood as well as the student body.

In the end, we are able to provide a high quality education in what Karen Parsons, the President of Oak Park Civic Association, called “a hidden gem” in the neighborhood. Since its founding in 2007, scholars at Arthur Ashe Charter have been boasting some of the most impressive performance scoreimprovements in the city. The school is now a national leader in computer-assisted instruction thanks to FirstLine’s Personalized LearningProject, and offers a rich portfolio of after-school programming.

Ashe’s dedication to excellence is embodied in the design of its new 95,000 sq ft building, thanks to the hard work by the architects at Howard Performance Architecture. The esteemed guests attending last week’s ribbon cutting – including Patrick Dobard, RSD Superintendent, and a number of our elected officials – could not have been more impressed.

Then again, it only gets better from here.

Jason Lacoste is the AmeriCorps VISTA K-8 Outreach Coordinator for FirstLine Schools.