Recovery High School Celebrates Brockton Opening

By Lisa E. Crowley

BrocktonPost

BROCKTON—When Independence Academy celebrated its grand opening and an alternative path of education for high school students suffering from alcohol and drug addiction, among those in the crowd was 21-year-old West Bridgewater resident Ashley McDonnell whose battle with addiction began at Taunton High School when she was 14.  

“I think it’s a great idea. I wish I had this option. I never knew there was a way out,” McDonnell said Thursday night during the grand opening at the recover high school’s location at 460 Belmont St. in Brockton.  “I never would have been able to become sober surrounded by all of the same people doing the same things,” she said.

Young adults like Ashley McDonnell are exactly why officials at North River Collaborative and Brockton Public Schools got together almost 2 years ago to gain support for the idea of opening the state’s fourth so-called “recovery high school” for teenagers suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.

The other specialized high schools are located in Boston, Beverly and Springfield, and until Independence Academy opened its doors in Brockton in December, there was no such option for high school-aged students to continue high school separated from the friends who had been a part of their addictive behavior and lifestyle in the first place.

Independence Academy will serve students in Southeastern Massachusetts from Quincy to Provincetown to Dighton-Rehobeth.

The school has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Public Health to operate for the next 5 years.

The school opened its doors with one student in early December and has since grown to three students and Principal Richard Melillo expects that number to be 10 in February. 
The school has a capacity of 50 students.

“We are getting a steady stream of prospective students and we are going through the referral process, but we expect more to come on soon,” said Melillo.

 Melillo, who cut his teeth working with troubled youth as a counselor, program specialist and supervisor of two mult-service residential facilities in greater Los Angeles, knows too well that teenagers are fighting a losing battle with addiction when they return to high school and the friends they began their addictions with.

“In more than 20 years of education this is the best thing that I have done,” said Melillo.

The grand opening was held Thursday, Jan. 19 to celebrate the school’s nearly two months of operation and to host an open house to celebrate the work by a coalition of educational and service organizations from the surrounding area to bring such a high school to the South Shore.

Joanne Haley-Sullivan, executive director of North River Collaborative, which will oversee the new high school, said the school will give teenagers who want to be a sober a much better shot at success.

“When they come out of treatment—where do they go? Back to where it all began,” she said while more than 75 school and city officials, parents, and others who attended the 5 to 7 p.m. open house looked through the brightly painted classrooms boasting state-of-the-art computer equipment.

During the morning open house nearly 200 state and local officials attended, including Mayor Linda Balzotti, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, and Congressman Stephen F. Lynch.

The school has numerous admission requirements, including students have verifiable proof they have been sober for at least 30 days or a commitment to attend sobriety counseling. Students can be between the ages of 14 and 21.

Each student who attends the school receives an individual recovery plan, and along with studying English, math, science, history and all of the other MCAS required core subjects, students receive addiction counseling and health and wellness training that goes above and beyond the average high school student experience.

Math teacher Janet Braggs, a veteran of the financial services industry, said the goal of the school is to end one cycle of drug and alcohol abuse and offer young addicts in their teens a chance to get straight and graduate.

“Try being an addict at 35 years old without a high school education…what’s that person going to do? What’s their future? I’m excited to help these kids reach their potential,” Braggs said.