This is not just any high school, by the way, but one intended specifically for students recovering from substance abuse.

Now, imagine you have five months before it opens.

It sounds impossible, but the staff of the Northshore Education Consortium might just pull it off.

The consortium was awarded a five-year, $1.5 million state grant in April to develop the region's first recovery high school. Scheduled to open in September, Northshore Recovery High School will provide students emerging from drug treatment programs with a supportive learning environment. The school will be located in the basement of the former Memorial Middle School, where the students will be free from the peer pressure and temptations of their former high schools.

The nuts and bolts of the project were spelled out in the grant proposal. The task remains, however, to recruit students and staff, make the necessary textbook purchases and facilities upgrades and map out a curriculum - not to mention a class schedule, discipline policy and countless other, unforeseen details.

It's a herculean task, but one the consortium is equipped to handle. Founded in 1975, the consortium is an educational collaborative of 17 communities that operates four alternative schools and provides a wide range of services to area students.

But while the consortium has developed programs for other schools in a pinch before, it has never had to get a school up and running in such a tight time frame.

"We got the award right before April school vacation, and we geared up after school vacation," said Bob Gass, the consortium's president. "The schools are all in wind-down mode. They're sort of still trying to figure out, how does this work for us? Who are appropriate students? Who are not appropriate students? That's the struggle for us. Then, what's the right course of study and right staff?"

While the experience has been a bit daunting, it's been invigorating, as well, Gass said.

"It's a bit overwhelming and a bit, 'Oh my God, how are we going to do this?' But on the other hand, it's a bit energizing. It's a really good thing to do, so the questions is, how are we going to figure it out?" he said.

Finding the right fit

The biggest challenge, Gass said, has been explaining to the community exactly what a recovery high school is. The consortium has distributed thousands of brochures, fielded hundreds of phone calls and held an open house at Memorial earlier this week in an effort to inform the public about the school.

"I'm trying to make it clear to the community that this is a program for kids who've made a commitment to sobriety and can't go back to their local high school because of the bad influences," he said. "Trying to explain that has been a challenge."

Last week, for example, a principal called Gass to ask if the program would be a good fit for a student who had recently been expelled from school for drug dealing.

"I asked them, 'Is this a student who's making a commitment to being sober or drug free?' and their response was, 'I have no idea,'" Gass said. "There's a confusion about what this is about, and I expect to get those phone calls. To be fair, these are people who are looking for opportunities for kids ... who've made bad judgments."

Gass said last week's appointment of Michelle Lipinski as principal of Northshore Recovery High School was a necessary first step toward hiring a staff and developing a curriculum. Lipinski now runs Salem High School's alternative program.

"There is such a need for this," Lipinski said this week. "I feel like I've been screaming it from my soapbox for years. When I saw this, I thought, 'Finally! A light."

As part of the school's curriculum, Lipinski said students will be encouraged to share their experiences through public speaking, pamphlets, poetry and essays. The object, she said, is to show students that they needn't be embarrassed by their past.

Even more important, Lipinksi said, is that class sizes remain small to allow teachers the opportunity to become intimately involved in student recovery. When the recovery high school opens in September, it will have eight to 10 students, which will grow to 20 or 30 by the end of the school year. The school's target size is 35 to 45 students.

After recruitment and curriculum, there remains the matter of facilities. Gass purchased furniture and laptops for a computer lab and is working with Beverly school officials to install new wiring and give the basement a paint job.

"Essentially, this was a fully functional middle school that's being mothballed," he said. "We're trying to bring the light back into the Memorial building for kids.

"This is a new venture. We're looking for pioneers. We want to give them the message, 'We're glad you're here.'"