°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²ÊÐÄË®ÂÛ̳

The roots of °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²ÊÐÄË®ÂÛ̳ trace to the founding of this unique summer program designed to help 5th and 6th grade students gain acceptance into top middle schools.

Working with a group of concerned parents, Jay Altman and the Summerbridge team founded this school, with 100 students and four teachers.Ìý Dr. Tony Recasner became the school’s Director in 1993.

James Lewis Extension converted into a charter school and adopted a new name.Ìý NOCMS became the top-performing open admissions middle school in New Orleans. In August 2005, flooding from Hurricane Katrina destroyed the campus and led to NOCMS’ closure.

Middle School Advocates (the former name of °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²ÊÐÄË®ÂÛ̳) was approached by the state and asked to take over the failing Green Middle School.Ìý Green opened as a K-8 charter school the week before Katrina.Ìý The school reopened in January 2006.

Using the NOCMS charter to open a new K-8 school (later renamed Arthur Ashe), this school opened with 42 students and has grown to its current enrollment of over 650 students. In 2012 Ashe moved to a brand new campus in the Oak Park neighborhood of Gentilly.

In 2010, we chartered John Dibert Community School (now Phillis Wheatley Community School) as a turnaround school to improve academic performance.Ìý Also that year, FirstLine began managing Langston Hughes Academy which is now a FirstLine school. In 2014, Phillis Wheatley Community School moved to their new home located at 2300 Dumaine Street.

FirstLine began operating Clark as a turnaround school with a focus on Career Technical Education (CTE). Acknowledging the need for CTE on a larger scale, now provided by the New Orleans Career Center, and faced with declining enrollment, FirstLine decided to close Clark after the Class of 2019 graduated.