Culture, Community & Connection in 2024
Our 2024 was filled with lots of events and celebrations across the FirstLine network.
We believe New Orleans can be the first city in America where every child goes to a great school.
Our schools will prepare students for college, fulfilling careers, and a healthy life by nurturing students in mind, body, and spirit.
FirstLine Schools is a network of four public charter schools educating pre-kindergarten through 8th-grade students.
Our 2024 was filled with lots of events and celebrations across the FirstLine network.
Edible Schoolyard & Arthur Ashe celebrated another amazing Sweet Potato Festival this October! With picture perfect weather, our FirstLine & ESYNOLA families and staff came together for a parade, complete with lively walkers and the Ashe band’s upbeat tunes.
In response to the anticipated severe winter weather, all FirstLine schools will be closed on Tuesday, January 21. This decision aligns with NOLA PS and the City of New Orleans recommendations. For tips on preparing for winter weather, please visit ready.nola.gov/home/.
Decisions about school operations for Wednesday, January 22nd, will be made and communicated by Tuesday afternoon.
FirstLine Schools will communicate any updates via email, ParentSquare, website, social media, and the local news media.
Stay safe and keep warm!
Dr. Sabrina Pence graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and subsequently joined Teach For America, teaching in Pointe Coupee Parish for four years as a 5th and 6th grade teacher. During that time, she received her Master’s Degree from Louisiana State University in Educational Administration in 2005. She served as a teacher leader, leading parish-wide professional development and teaching a K-3 alternative teacher certification course through the New Teacher Project. In 2006, she moved overseas to Qatar and worked in educational reform as a science consultant for K-6 schools, training Qatari teachers to implement standards-based science instruction. In 2008, she returned to the U.S. to join New Leaders for New Schools in New Orleans. After completing her New Leaders residency at Arthur Ashe, Pence served as Principal of Albert Wicker Literacy Academy, where the school saw unprecedented gains, then returning to Ashe as Vice Principal, because she knew it was home. Sabrina served as the School Co-Director at Arthur Ashe Charter School from 2011-2014, leading the school to achieve a “B” letter grade in the state accountability system. Sabrina became FirstLine’s Chief Academic Officer in July 2014 and led all FirstLine Schools to achieve “A” letter grades for growth, with two of the schools, Samuel J. Green and Langston Hughes Academy, recognized as top growth in the region. Sabrina was named as the new CEO beginning in July of 2019 by the FirstLine Schools Board of Directors. Sabrina received her doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of New Orleans in December 2022.