STATE EXPLORING 'SOBRIETY' SCHOOLS

BOSTON -- Massachusetts officials plan to open two sobriety schools within
the next year for recovering student addicts, many of whom are at risk of
relapsing if they stay in their old high-school environment.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey proposed the plan as part of a statewide strategic
plan for preventing and coping with substance abuse among youth and adults
last week. It's also an idea that's being pushed by Sen. Steven Tolman,
D-Brighton, the chairman of the Legislature's Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Committee.

"It's clear that what we're doing is not working so we've got to be
innovative and creative," said Tolman, who approached Healey about the
sobriety schools. "We need to find ways to have more support services for
people suffering from this dreaded disease."

Statistics show that 70 to 90 percent of recovering students relapse if
they return to their home high school. However, those numbers are reversed
when students enter so-called sobriety or recovery schools. The schools are
regular high schools where recovering students attend classes without fear
of running into a drug dealer, but also have support services available.
The schools, however, are not treatment centers.

Today, kids who come out of treatment programs have no place to go outside
their old environment, Healey said. Kids either drop out of school to avoid
the peer pressures they faced in school or they go back to school and fall
into their old behavior.

"The choice is bleak and it's dooming them to failure," she said. "You give
up on your education or run the risk of being drawn back into the life of a
drug addicts."

Healey said she'd like to start with schools in Springfield and Boston, as
pilot programs. If they are successful, she'd like to add schools in other
parts of the state. Healey hopes the schools could be open by January, but
said there are still many details to work out.

The schools would hold about 50 students and would be open to students
throughout the commonwealth.

Lowell High School Headmaster Bill Samaras said the model could work for
many students, because one of the biggest challenges for recovering
students is facing the same friends and enemies that may have contributed
to the problem.

"I know it's happened where we've had kids who go away for some serious
treatment and coming back to the same environment has been very difficult
for kids -- more so than adults," Samaras said. "To remove them from the
process is one of the best things that can happen. If it's a totally
healthy environment, it works."

Samaras said because his high school is so large, he's had some success
moving students around to avoid certain students or situations. But Samaras
said parents find that the biggest problem comes before or after school
when they have no control over who the students interact with.

"I think a lot of parents would welcome this," Samaras said.

About 25 sobriety or recovery schools exist in the country, about half of
which have cropped up in the past three years, said Andrew Finch, director
of the Tennessee-based Association of Recovery Schools, which formed in
2002. Finch said more states are trying the approach because it's working.
Though there have not been any studies done on success rates, Finch said
most schools on average show that 70 percent of students enrolled remain sober.

Finch, who also runs a recovery school in Tennessee, said the schools are
all different but have the same mission of providing a safe, sober
educational environment for recovering addicts. He said schools vary in
terms of funding, governance and philosophy.

He said the biggest challenges for those looking to open a school are
funding and lack of public understanding and support.

"The expense of a small school with a very specific population is a huge
barrier year after year for every school and it's a barrier for schools
getting open," Finch said.

Healey envisions the school being set up as a charter school. She said she
doesn't think the schools would require much new funding beyond start-up
costs because the student cost would be covered by the student's home district.

Some schools raise money privately from individuals or seek grant money
from foundations. In Minnesota, 70 percent of Sobriety High's budget is
from public funds. Sobriety High, one of the first recovery schools in the
nation, has three campuses in the state, and is often used as a model for
other such schools.

Sobriety High Director Jim Czarniecki said his school focuses on academics,
while others have a stronger therapeutic approach. Sobriety High is not a
continuation of treatment for the students, but provides a support system,
he said.

While it's important to provide a safe environment for the students,
Czarniecki said they shouldn't be isolated from the community or else they
will have trouble reintegrating after graduation.

Students are required to attend meetings in the community, hook up with a
sponsor in the community and develop a support system outside the school.

"It's not simply about your network of sober friends at school but building
that network in the recovery community," Czarniecki said. "It's a really
necessary one. Most kids need that network in place by the time they
graduate so we work hard at doing that."

Tolman said Massachusetts will be looking closely at how Sobriety High
operates as officials move forward in the planning process here. He said
it's clear from the statistics that the idea works and thinks it's worth
trying in Massachusetts.

Tolman said the need will only grow in Massachusetts because of what he
described as an epidemic of OxyContin and heroin use in the state. Tolman
said the long-term residential programs are working to help students in the
recovery process, but more is needed to keep them from relapsing.

"I see a major problem out there and I'm trying to find a solution and I
think this is a very viable solution -- a piece to the puzzle to help
children," Tolman said.