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.
