by Josh Averbach ‘18

According to a July memorandum from Superintendent Jack Smith to the Board of Education, MCPS is considering opening a recovery school to help students who have grappled with drug and alcohol addiction get back on the right track. MCPS previously operated a recovery school called the Phoenix School from 1979 to 2013.

“We’re seeing an alarming spike in the number of substance-abuse-related deaths in Montgomery County and across the country. As an institution, our school system has an obligation to undercut that trend and provide a safe learning environment for all students,” said SMOB and Sherwood senior Matt Post when asked why MCPS has decided that now is the time to reconsider a recovery school. The rise in substance-abuse related deaths comes largely because of the nationwide opioid epidemic. According to a study from the County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight, opioid-related deaths nearly quadrupled (irrespective of age) in Montgomery County between 2010 and 2016.

The school would require enrollees to have completed rehab, upon which they could be referred to the school by Screening and Assessment Services for Children and Adolescents (SASCA), a county drug-treatment program; another drug-treatment program; or by themselves. More about the exact mechanism for deciding who enrolls is undecided. Once there, pupils would receive several services including individual, group, and family recovery support sessions; coping and social-emotional learning skill building; and health and wellness strategies, including mindfulness, according to the memorandum. Students would be expected to complete MCPS’s normal graduation requirements.

The memorandum sets a timeline in which MCPS would spend the 2017-18 school year planning, obtaining budget allocations and approval, and selecting a location. The summer and fall of 2018 would be devoted to hiring faculty, renovating the building, and gathering materials. Finally, the school would open its doors in January 2019. It could support about 50 students between the ages of 14 and 21. It is not set in stone that MCPS will actually carry out its plan. According to Post, funding is a significant barrier; opening the school unilaterally could cost the county approximately $40,000 a year per enrolled student. To make the plan more feasible, MCPS may partner with other area school districts, such as Prince George’s, Howard, and Frederick Counties, none of which currently have recovery schools, to share costs and serve students from each county involved.

Before initiating a project like opening a recovery school, the county must “determine whether or not there will be a budget, [and] whether or not it is something there will be enough students to actually support,” said MCPS Associate Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Brice, who heads the Office of Student and Family Support and Engagement.

At its most active time, the Phoenix School (which was the nation’s first recovery school) operated separate campuses in Gaithersburg and Silver Spring. According to Brice, it closed when a near-complete drop in enrollment (in its last year, 2012-13, there were only three students) occurred as it merged with other non-traditional recovery programs.