During the next couple of months, Virginia Beach is hiring a program coordinator and five other staff members to open the area’s first school-based program for high school students dealing with addiction.
Harbor Hope Center will be based in Chesapeake and have counseling and classes for 25 students from Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
The need is there: Drug overdoses among teens have risen sharply since 2020 and treatment programs are few and far between. The Harbor Hope Center is the second school of its kind in Virginia.
The school will be a godsend for teens and families with limited options, said Robert Jamison, executive director for student support services at Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
“We have received stories from families about the tough decisions they’ve had to make, in that if you want a recovery program, many times, it is residential and it is not in our area,” he said.
A study published in January 2024 in Health Affairs found that treatment options for teens nationwide are scarce and expensive. Students might have to travel out of state, Jamison said.
“It was a choice between recovery or education.”
The center will use in-person and virtual classes at a repurposed building in Chesapeake to help students get their diploma or GED certificate.
Retired Virginia Beach police chief Jim Cervera spoke in support of the school in January when the board approved it.
“Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I can’t wait to be a heroin addict.’ It happens for myriad reasons, and once it starts to go in, that brain begins to change,” he said.
Kids need help getting off of drugs or alcohol in a place that also educates them, he said.
Virginia Beach spearheaded the effort and will manage the school.
Nationwide, the overdose death rate for 14- to 18-year-olds held steady through 2019, but by 2021, had nearly tripled, largely attributed to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows overdose deaths increased by about 70% from 2019 to 2021 for 15- to 24-year-olds. Rates remained high through 2023, the most recent year data is available. Emergency room visits also increased since 2019.
The center will be capped at 25 students in the first year and could grow to 30 by year two.
The school districts will have seats proportional to their student bodies. For example, when enrollment expands to 30, there will be 12 seats for Virginia Beach, eight for Chesapeake, five for Norfolk, three for Suffolk and two for Portsmouth.
Each division will contribute to transportation costs and the school is largely funded for its first year through the General Assembly and grants including $160,000 from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority, which administers settlement money from pharmaceutical lawsuits. Costs for the first year are projected to be $708,000.
Jamison said it’s difficult to know how many students need the program.
While Virginia Beach had more than 300 drug and alcohol disciplinary referrals among high schoolers last year, students with one referral probably wouldn’t raise red flags, he said. But a pattern of getting into trouble could be a sign of addiction.
“My heart tells me there are more students who are struggling with substance use disorder than the 25,” he said.
But for now, “there need to be 25 students who are ready for recovery.”
The program is voluntary and open to students addicted to drugs or alcohol. They don’t have to have received treatment before applying.
There are about 45 recovery schools nationwide, according to the Association of Recovery Schools.
Virginia Beach school officials visited the Chesterfield Recovery Academy in Midlothian, which opened in 2022.
The school serves 15 localities in central Virginia. It started with 10 students and currently serves 31, according to a Chesterfield County Public Schools spokesperson. The school has a similar model to Harbor Hope Center.
The school has a mindfulness space with beanbag chairs and other comfortable seating. Students play sports at a YMCA and school counseling is supplemented by community organizations such as Boys to Men mentoring group and VCU Rams in Recovery.
Program coordinator Justin Savoy participated in a White House panel in 2023 with two students. Zakiya Kearney talked about how the school made a difference for her.
“When I went to regular school, I had no aspirations, no desires, no nothing. I was just trying to get in and get out,” she said.
At Chesterfield, the teachers care, she said. She wanted to go to law school and was influenced by one of her teachers.
“They were helping me decide what I want to do.”
