A new high school is opening in Salem next spring to serve Oregon teens in recovery from substance abuse. Named Discovery Academy, the school on Northeast Portland Road will have space for about 40 high school students, offering regular high school classes and diplomas alongside addiction treatment and support. It’s run by the Willamette Education Service District and is one of three “recovery high schools” recently awarded state funding after lawmakers in 2023 passed a bill to create a statewide network of such schools. Students will get addiction treatment services on-site. The goal is to provide students who are in recovery a place to get an education without the peer pressure, stigma and stressors they might find at a traditional high school. Attending school with a small group of peers who have similar experiences can help support students in recovery and give them more individual attention as they work through classes. “This is a service that we believe will provide this group of students with access to hope and a chance to have an experience in school, and also to support their lifelong journey of recovery,” said Joe Morelock, superintendent of the education service district. It’s a service badly needed in Salem, and in Oregon.  Advocates for the recovery high schools told lawmakers about 24,000 kids and teens in Oregon had a substance abuse problem, while the state had only 13 treatment beds for youth and no statewide system to help teens find addiction treatment. “In plain terms, we are failing our kids, and we have an obligation to do better,” wrote Tony Morse, policy and advocacy director for Oregon Recovers. Every year, the Salem-Keizer School District refers about 200 students to receive treatment with local addiction treatment provider Bridgeway, said Chris Moore, the district’s director of mental health. “The more we can invest in early intervention the less we’re going to have to do more extensive services later at a later age,” state Sen. Deb Patterson, a Salem Democrat and chief sponsor of the recovery high school bill, said in an interview with Salem Reporter. The 2023 law makes Oregon the first state to approve publicly-funded recovery schools open to all students. Before it passed, there was no rule against school districts or education service districts creating specialized recovery schools. But state funding made opening and operating such schools a challenge. Public schools in Oregon get the bulk of their operating money from the state, based on a complicated formula tied to student enrollment. More students generally means more money. That makes it difficult for new schools to start, since they can’t enroll students without spending money upfront to hire employees or rent a building. And with about 40 students, a small enrollment change can mean a big difference in money available. The law solved that problem by creating a minimum of $600,000 that would be available to open new recovery schools, even if initial enrollment was small. It allows for up to nine such schools across the state to be created over the next few years.  The other two recovery schools receiving state money are already operating — Harmony Academy, a public charter school in Lake Oswego, and Rivercrest Academy, a public school in Portland. The cost to Oregon “really is a drop in the bucket” of the $10.2 billion state school fund, Morelock said. But it’s significant for the students they’ll be able to help. Joe Morelock, superintendent of the Willamette Educational Service District, walks through the future home of Discovery Academy, a recovery high school opening in north Salem in the spring of 2025. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Discovery Academy will be located at 3710 Portland Rd. N.E. in a rented building that formerly housed the Independent Electrical Contractors Training Center. Because the building has been used for classrooms, Morelock said the renovations needed are minimal. He and others working on the project walked through the site earlier this week, discussing tweaks to add an outlet in one side of a classroom and make the front entrance more inviting. They expect to open in March after spending about $500,000 on renovations. Students from any part of Oregon can theoretically attend the school, Morelock said, though in practice it will likely serve students from in and around Salem because of transportation constraints. The logistics of how students will get to the campus from their home communities are still being worked out.  The education service district has some experience with coordinating complicated bus schedules for the Willamette Career Academy, a career education center in east Salem serving school districts across Marion and Polk counties. The recovery high school is something students have to choose for themselves, said Margo Williams, executive director of special education for the education service district. It’s intended to help students who want support to be in recovery, not function as a “troubled teen” program where parents can send students. “It won’t work if they’re not committed,” she said. And while some students struggling with addiction are behind on credits or may have dropped out of high school, Morelock said many are on track to graduate and won’t need remedial coursework or help making up missed classes. They expect to enroll students through referrals from treatment and service providers, as well as word of mouth. “Kids have to commit to abstinence (from drugs and alcohol), to recovery and their journey, and that’s part of the whole process,” Williams said. Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Want a diploma and struggling with addiction? A new Salem high school can help. appeared first on Salem Reporter.