CHARTER SCHOOL OFFERS KIDS HOPE

Academy Focuses on Helping Students Beat Addictions

Teddy Forman, 17, knows this school year will be a change, with new
teachers, different classes, a fresh start.

And no drugs. Not this year.

Not at Hope Academy.

The Fishers teenager started classes Thursday at the new charter
school, which opened at the Fairbanks drug and alcohol addiction
recovery center near Community Hospital North on the Northeastside.

The school's goal is to offer a safe, supportive place for teenagers
who fight drug and alcohol addictions. Students must pledge to stay
sober to stay at the school. Only about 20 similar schools operate nationwide.

Forman said Hope Academy will provide him the support network he
needs to stay sober and kick his drug and alcohol addictions for
good. All of the students in the school are recovering from some form
of addiction.

"Public schools don't focus on kids like us and our problems," said
Forman, who now avoids the friends he had at Hamilton Southeastern
High School. "(I'm) just getting out of the drinking and drugging environment."

Rachelle Gardner, director of adolescent services at Fairbanks,
watched students arriving for their first classes Thursday with
pride. Gardner first dreamed of a school for patients several years ago.

She saw students kick their drug and alcohol habits and then head
back home and start using again as soon as they were around school friends.

"We were really struggling once we sent the kids back to their home
schools," she said. "As Fairbanks started focusing on recovery, I
said, 'We've got to have a school.' "

The school serves about 30 teens from throughout Central Indiana.
Charter schools are public schools that are bound by the same
accountability and access rules as traditional schools but are freed
from some regulations.

Students must attend a 12-step program, and classes will be tied to
discussions about addictions. An English class, for example, might
write about recovery.

Kelsey Major, 17, hesitated when a counselor at Fairbanks suggested
she attend the school, but she eventually came around when she
realized how much more open she could be with classmates at Hope
Academy and that she would be free of temptations there.

"The students here are like me," the Greenfield girl said, "and kids
at this school don't use."

Marissa Manlove, secretary of the Hope Academy School Board, said the
first day of classes represents a foothold for its students to change
their lives.

She said her son, David, never got that chance to save himself.

The Lawrence Central High School student died in June 2001 after he
"huffed" the propellant from an aerosol can of computer cleaner with a friend.

As students gathered around for an official ribbon-cutting Thursday,
Manlove turned to the students and told them to take advantage of the
opportunity her son didn't have.

"I feel his presence here," she told them. "I look into your eyes and
I see David looking back."

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HOPE ACADEMY

Location: At Fairbanks recovery center, 8102 Clearvista Parkway.

Enrollment: About 30.

Mission: "To provide a safe, sober and challenging school experience
for students who share a commitment to education achievement and
personal growth."

Student agreement: Remain drug-free and in recovery program, be
randomly tested for drugs and alcohol, attend 12-step meetings, have
a sponsor for support, embrace a recovery environment and abide by
"recovery values" of honesty, respect, support, commitment and community.

Parent agreement: Be fully involved in student's academics and
recovery and follow the recovery values at home.