By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
The ribbon cutting adds ceremony to a school founded on cruel reality: Recovery High’s designed for teenaged addicts desperate for a clear path to graduation and for families desperate to keep drugs and alcohol from consuming their kids.
“It’s coming fast and furiously. They’re starting with prescription drugs — highly addictive — popping immediately to a heroin addiction. And they’re, they’re dying,” said Pam Capaci.
Capaci guides the recovery part of this high school model. She says when kids complete drug treatment programs and return to regular schools, 85 percent of them relapse.
“So we have two goals: to educate our children and to keep them clean and sober,” said Capaci.
Recovery High School will shield student addicts struggling to stay clean while offering a New Jersey-certified, vocational-technical education. It’s a public school. Half the $30,000-per-student costs paid for by New Jersey education dollars, the rest by donations.
“A lot of these kids come from families that just can’t afford the additional cost of private treatment,” said Sen. Ray Lesniak.
Lesniak’s given time, money and his name to this school — the first of its kind in New Jersey.
“This is absolutely necessary to treat those kids, to keep them alive, and to keep them on the straight and narrow and give them an opportunity to have a productive life,” he said.
It’s modeled on national standards set by the Association of Recovery Schools, which stress a culture of peer support, relapse prevention and family involvement. And that does make a difference, say teens at private, residential recovery schools like New Jersey’s DayTop.
“It’s invaluable because if I was outside I would probably still be using marijuana. Who even knows. Probably I’d move on to harder drugs,” said Max Batchelder.
Recovery High School’s a cooperative effort using space provided by Kean University. It’s got a couple classrooms, computers, a cafeteria and a small gym. It’ll start with five staff and seven students — freshman through seniors. Superintendent Peter Capodice says they’ll use virtual classrooms.
“At the end of each computer, there is a certified teacher helping that student along, and we’ll also have support staff here to help them with any problems or questions they may have,” he said.
There are restrictions. Recovery High School students must commit to one academic year. They get drug-tested before they start and must take random drug tests all year. They get bused to and from school. Founders expect to be overwhelmed with applications.