Education at Waterford

One of the most damaging effects of adolescents struggling with issues of drug/alcohol use and mental health issues is the negative impact on their educational services. Typically, teens will either be failing several classes or become serially truant from school. Obviously, a natural intervention will take place with the issuance of a report card, a truancy charge, expulsion or even some type of arrest that starts the legal process.

With the natural intervention occurring, parents are now faced with their child being further behind in school, being sent to an alternative school in the District or being expelled to a charter school. The educational pressures combined with the drama of substance abuse treatment causes a great deal of chaos. For a short period of time during the PHP level of treatment, most of the day is spent on therapy with only three hours scheduled for education services. As the clients stabilize, the focus is shifted from therapy to a more educational focused model that includes five hours of school and three hours of IOP during the afternoon. For clients attending the evening IOP, they have typically returned to their normal school environment and are focused on more life skils and relapse prevention.

On-line programs like the Bridge School or Edgenuity work like a traditional high school except students are allowed access to their courses from Waterford Academy, from home, or anywhere a computer can connect to the internet. All the courses are set up on a 120 day calendar schedule very similar to a normal semester. Students have the ability to move through the course at their own pace and can take six months to complete. Our staff will contact your school counselor and review your transcripts to determine which classes to schedule and to assist you in your quest toward graduation. Advantages of on-line educational services include one of one tutoring, students working at their own pace, and higher grades.