Healey, Tolman open first rehab high schools

In a bipartisan effort to prevent student drug relapses because of the pressure of returning to school after rehabilitation, Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and Sen. Steven Tolman (D-Watertown) have opened two substance abuse recovery high schools in Beverly and Springfield. A third will soon open in Boston.

Healey asserted her dedication to substance abuse programs by awarding $2.75 million to the recovery high school -- a specialized high school dedicated to serving students who have recently gone through recovery for substance abuse and are committed to sobriety -- in Boston Sept. 12.

The William J. Ostiguy Recovery High School in Boston -- scheduled to open in October and named the after Lt. Ostiguy of the Boston Fire Department -- will join the North Shore Education Consortium.

Greg Hughes, executive director of the Governor's council on substance abuse, said the Boston school near the Boston Common will be the third to open in Massachusetts.

"On October 23, the one in Boston will open," he said. "Beverly opened on September 6 and Springfield opened [recently]."

According to Hughes, Healey is the chair of the permanent council on substance abuse, which was formed May 2005.

"In that role, she has become very closely connected with this issue, particularly regarding substance abuse," Hughes said. "William Ostiguy, the lieutenant with the Boston Fire Department, brought the idea. They did some research and found out that the schools were a good investment because [they will yield results]."

Hughes said the important aspect of the recovery high schools is that students can leave behind their friends and the old schools that may tempt them to relapse.

"It is easier to go to a school where there is not peer pressure," he said.

Hughes said the goal is that each of the three schools opened in Massachusetts will have an enrollment of 30 to 50 students. He explained that the tuition for schools is a "little more" than other schools, but the students are getting more specialized attention.

"All the schools receive five years of grant awards," he said. "The first is for $750,000 and $500,000 for the next four years," he said.

Robert Gass, the executive director of the North Shore Education Consortium, said Healey and Tolman have been key players in the establishment of these three new recovery high schools -- especially because of their bipartisan involvement.

"[Healey] has taken a real leadership role and strong stance around drug rehabilitation programs," he said. "Also, Senator Steven Tolman is a Democrat who has been a long time Chair of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse community in legislative. . . . The Lieutenant Governor and Senator Tolman's leadership was great."

Gass stressed the importance of recovery high schools because of their community support system that helps students to avoid relapse.

"These are all kids in recovery and we are trying to develop a community of support," he said. "If you were 16 and you had been through all of this . . . it is a very difficult thing. They need as much support as possible from teachers, staff and the community."

Gass said although the grant covers most of the tuition, the districts that send the children pay part of the tuition as well.

"The majority of the tuition is subsidized by the grant, but the districts are paying $10,000 for tuition," he said. "[This is] about one-third to one-fourth of the actual cost."

Gass said teachers at the recovery schools are given special training to prepare them for this particular work environment, adding that they try to get teachers, "who have worked in alternative background situations."

According to the Northshore Education Consortium website, students must be "alcohol and drug free for at least 30 days prior to admission to the school."

The idea for recovery schools began in Minnesota in 1989 when "four students and a teacher gathered in a St. Louis Park community room and convened the first class of Sobriety High," according to the Sobriety High website. Recovery high schools have now emerged in almost all states.