Recovering Addicts and Alcoholics Rise From Ashes at Phoenix High : Maryland: For 15 years, the school has helped hundreds of teen-agers stay sober and drug-free and complete their education. It currently serves 52 students and has a waiting list.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. â€”  For years, whenever Danny Harper wanted to get high, he did. Now when he feels the urge--even if it’s 4 or 5 in the morning--he calls his teachers.

“I know they don’t want to talk to me then,� he said. But they do. It’s part of the job at the Phoenix School, a public high school whose students are all recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

Kris, 18, calls the Phoenix School “a place of safety, hope, acceptance and unconditional love on the front lines of the war on drugs.� He credits his classmates and teachers there with saving his life.

“They have stuck by my side, making even my most difficult dreams and goals attainable,� he said.

Dreams for teen-agers who once had only nightmares, whose aspirations seldom went beyond finding that next high or a warm place to sleep at night.

“I want to go to college. I want to do a lot of things in my life,� said Danny, 16, who has been clean for eight months.

This from a kid who stuck a key in an electrical socket, drank three bottles of cold medicine and slit his wrists, all trying to kill himself.

Drug use among teen-agers is on the upswing after a decade of decline, University of Michigan researchers reported earlier this year after surveying 51,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12. Even more telling, they say, is that fewer teen-agers recognize the dangers associated with drugs,

Kris, who like the other students asked that his last name not be used, said he started using drugs and alcohol at age 11. By high school, when he was taking “anything I could get hold of that would change my mood,� his grade-point average had dropped to .02 out of a possible 4.00.

“I had two options,� he said. “I could get help or kill myself.� He went to a 30-day rehabilitation program and then was enrolled at Phoenix School’s campus in Silver Spring, Md.

For 15 years, the Phoenix School has helped hundreds of Montgomery County teen-agers stay sober and drug-free and complete their high school education. It currently serves 52 students here and in Silver Spring, and there is a waiting list of others trying to get in.

“Our goal is to support these kids and remove any obstacle to their recovery,� said Sally Eller, principal of the school’s Gaithersburg campus. It’s also to see them graduate from high school.

The theory behind the school is simple: provide the students with a drug-free, alcohol-free environment to pursue their studies, and help them learn to understand and manage their addictions.

“We’ve been handed a way to fight back,� Kris said. “The school gives us consistency in our lives. We have structure.�

Recovery High School was established five years ago in Albuquerque, N.M., with a similar purpose. “By grouping kids together and giving them support and making them a team, it creates a better environment,� said Rick Murray, director of community relations for the city school board.

Students usually stay a semester or two; the goal is to try to integrate them back into a regular class situation.

The school serves 40 to 100 students at any one time; Murray said 60% to 70% get their high school diploma.

The graduate rate for Phoenix students is 86%, school officials said. Most of the students continue their education, either in college or vocational training.

Neither Murray nor Eller know of any other schools like theirs.

Despite the emphasis on helping students overcome their addictions, Eller is quick to remind visitors that Phoenix is a school.

“We’re very good at honing down to the basics,� Eller said. “We do required English composition and read the required novels. It takes a little longer to do Algebra I. Our science curriculum is in a hands-on environment. We’re not memorizing the Periodic Table of the Elements.�

But that’s where similarities with other schools end. While other high school students might choose shop or band or foreign language in addition to the required courses, electives at Phoenix are focused on recovery.

Students attend 12-step recovery meetings originated by Alcoholics Anonymous, and meet in small groups. At the Gaithersburg campus, they also participate in “adventure therapy�--rock-climbing, rafting, backpacking, skiing.

“You get a chance to laugh,� said Danny.

Silver Spring students participate in drama therapy.

Hand-lettered signs in classrooms refer to the different components of recovery.

The teachers--there are four of them at the Gaithersburg branch--all have training as counselors. Teachers and students are on a first-name basis.

“You don’t feel inferior to anyone,� said Kristen, a 15-year-old sophomore at the Silver Spring school. “When it comes to the classroom, teachers are the authority. Outside, they are your friends.�

Students are required to submit to urinalysis once or twice a week. If a student’s test comes back positive, a community meeting is held. If it comes back positive a second time, the student is referred to a residential program. “We don’t have students in our school using drugs or alcohol,� Eller said.

Parents are required to attend weekly support meetings

Eller said it costs about $1,000 more to educate a student at Phoenix than at a regular high school.

It’s money well spent, said Kristen, who started using alcohol at age 9, drugs at 11 and had a heart attack at 14.

“We would be robbing their houses, we’d be in jails, we’d be in public institutions if we weren’t here,� she said.

There’s an alumni group that meets once or twice a week to help the teen-agers continue with their recovery.

Kristen, who failed seventh-grade but is now on the honor roll at Phoenix, said she’s considering transferring to a private school rather than her old high school. “I’m not afraid of seeing people I used to use with,� she said. “I’m used to smaller settings (now), more individualized help.�

Danny is moving to Florida in time for the next school year.