About the school
Twenty-five years of a single, stubborn idea.
That a teenager in recovery should not have to choose between staying sober and finishing high school — and that a school can be built so they never have to.
- Opened
- October 11, 1999
- Type
- Public recovery high school
- District
- McKinney Independent School District
- Grades
- 9–12 · ages 13–21
- Accreditation
- Texas Education Agency
- Member
- Association of Recovery Schools
Our mission
What Serenity High exists to do
Serenity High exists for adolescents returning from recognized substance abuse treatment centers who want to earn a Texas high school diploma in a safe, supportive, chemical-free environment.
That sentence has been the school’s mission since 1999, and it has held up because it refuses to make the common trade. Plenty of programs will keep a teenager sober by removing school. Plenty of schools will graduate a teenager while quietly ignoring what is happening outside the building. Serenity High was founded on the position that both halves are non-negotiable, and that a student who loses either one usually loses the other within a year.
Students are welcomed here regardless of race, gender, religion, or social standing. What is asked of every student is the same: a genuine commitment to recovery, and a genuine commitment to the diploma.
Our four values
These are not wall decorations. They are the criteria staff use when deciding how to respond to a student who is struggling, and the language students use with each other in group.
- Integrity — telling the truth about where you actually are, especially when a comfortable version is available.
- Humility — accepting help before the situation forces you to, and offering it without keeping score.
- Commitment — showing up on the day it is hardest, which is the only day it counts.
- Gratitude — the daily practice that, more than any other, predicts whether recovery holds.
History
A quarter century in McKinney
Serenity High opened its doors on October 11, 1999, making it the oldest substance abuse recovery public high school in Texas and one of the longest-tenured recovery high schools in the United States. At the time, the model barely existed anywhere — there was no playbook to copy, and the school was assembled by educators, counselors, and families who were convinced that the gap between treatment and school was where teenagers were being lost.
By 2002, federal officials were pointing to the McKinney program as a potential national model for how a public school district could run a recovery campus. In 2003, the Texas Education Agency awarded the school a $160,000 grant.
The road has not been smooth. During the 2002–2003 budget cycle, the cost of operating a school this small put Serenity on the closure list. It stayed open because McKinney families, businesses, and donors decided it should — through private fundraising that continues to this day. The school’s annual fundraising breakfast has raised tens of thousands of dollars in recent years, a reminder that this campus survives on community conviction as much as on district budget lines.
In its first decade alone, Serenity High graduated more than 300 students since 1999, drawn from high schools across North Texas. Those alumni are now in their thirties and forties — working, parenting, and in many cases still sober.
Partnership, not isolation
Serenity High operates in partnership with McKinney ISD and works alongside area counseling providers, treatment centers, and the recovery community in Collin County. The school is deliberately independent of any single treatment facility — students come from many programs, and no provider gets preferential placement.
Meet the team →Since 1999
More than 300 graduates since 1999.
Those alumni are in their thirties and forties now — working, parenting, and in many cases still sober. The school has been cited by federal officials as a potential national model, and it is still here because McKinney decided it should be.
The model
What makes a recovery high school different from a good high school
A recovery high school is a secondary school designed specifically for students in recovery from substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders. It is a real school — diplomas, transcripts, state testing, graduation — with a recovery program braided through it rather than bolted onto the side.
| A comprehensive high school | Serenity High | |
|---|---|---|
| Campus size | 1,500–3,000 students | Small by design — typically under 20 students on campus |
| Peer environment | Substances present and socially available | Chemical-free, with every peer in recovery |
| Recovery support | Referral to an outside provider | AA and NA meetings and recovery groups inside the school day |
| Counseling | Shared counselor, often 400+ students per caseload | One-on-one academic and personal counseling |
| Pacing | Fixed to the class schedule | Traditional, self-paced, online, and dual-credit paths in parallel |
| When a student slips | Often discovered through discipline records | Usually caught the same day, in a check-in |
| Family contact | Progress reports and incidents | Ongoing, deliberate parent–school communication |
Nationally, there are roughly 45 recovery high schools. Texas has seven. Three of those are public schools, and Serenity High is the oldest of them. Research on the model consistently finds that students enrolled in recovery high schools show increased sobriety and a higher probability of graduating.
Why a school like this exists
The gap this school was built to close
Families who end up here already know most of this. It is set out plainly for the people who do not — counsellors, district staff, donors, and parents still deciding what to do next.
65–80%
of adolescents relapse within three months of leaving a treatment centre — most often after returning to the same campus, the same hallway, and the same phone contacts.
7
recovery high schools operate in all of Texas. Three are public. Serenity is the oldest of them, and the only one in Collin County.
45
recovery high schools exist nationally. Research consistently associates enrolling in one with increased sobriety and a higher probability of graduating.
1 in 8
American teenagers is affected by substance abuse in a given year, which is why a county this size can sustain a campus like this one.
Figures as reported by The Dallas Morning News, July 2023.
What we ask
The agreement every student makes
Enrollment at Serenity High is voluntary, and it comes with a clear set of expectations. They are not punitive. They are the conditions under which a room full of people in early recovery can stay safe for each other.
- Stay chemical-free on campus and commit to recovery off it. Recovery is the work; school is where the work gets protected.
- Participate in recovery programming. Meetings and groups are part of the school day, not an optional add-on.
- Be honest with staff. A relapse disclosed is a problem we can work. A relapse hidden is one we cannot.
- Protect the other students. What is said in group stays in group, and no one brings the old life onto this campus.
- Pursue the diploma. Attendance, effort, and credit progress are tracked as seriously as sobriety.
What happens after a relapse?
Relapse is a documented part of adolescent recovery, not an automatic exit. The response depends on honesty, safety, and what the student needs clinically — which may mean a return to a higher level of care, a revised support plan, or a changed schedule. What does not happen is a student quietly disappearing.
Families are brought into that conversation immediately. So is the student’s outside treatment provider, with the appropriate consent in place.
More questions answered →Is my student “far enough along”?
Most students arrive after completing a recognized treatment program. Some arrive while still engaged in outpatient care. The right answer depends on the student, and it is the first thing we will talk through on the phone.
Eligibility details →Come see it
A campus is hard to judge from a website.
Families almost always decide after they have stood in the room. Visits are scheduled individually so your student is not walking into a crowd.