For counsellors & treatment professionals
When a student comes home from treatment, school is the next decision.
Serenity High is a public high school built for that moment. We exist so that returning to school is not the thing that undoes the work your program just did.
Who Serenity is for
Refer a student who
- Is returning from treatment, or stepping down from residential, PHP, or IOP
- Wants to stay sober and can say so in their own words
- Is in grades 9 through 12, ages 13 to 21
- Needs to finish a diploma while recovery is still new
We are not the right fit when
- The parents want sobriety and the student does not
- The student is still actively using and has had no treatment
- The family is looking for a treatment program. We support recovery, we do not provide treatment
- The primary need is behavioral placement rather than recovery
If a student is not ready yet, send them anyway. We will talk with the family, help them find the right next step, and the door stays open when the student is ready.
What a student gets
- Academics
- Accredited McKinney ISD diploma, self-paced, 10:1 student-teacher ratio. Early graduation is possible.
- Recovery support
- Built into the school day, with group activities, a calming center, and weekly community service.
- Accountability
- Frequent, random drug testing administered by the school rather than by parents.
- Relapse
- Handled individually. A student is not expelled for having a substance use disorder.
- Environment
- Chemical-free campus, physically attached to McKinney North High School but fully separate from its student body.
- Continuity of care
- We coordinate directly with treatment teams, IOP providers, therapists, and probation officers.
- Cost to family
- Serenity is a public school. McKinney ISD students attend at no cost. Partner-district students are covered by a daily tuition rate their home district contributes toward; occasional gaps are worked out between districts.
Where your students can enroll from
Serenity is open to students across North Texas. Thirteen districts hold current tuition agreements with McKinney ISD, which sets the funding path for their students:
Allen · Anna · Blue Ridge · Celina · Community · Frisco · Lewisville · Melissa · Pilot Point · Plano · Prosper · Tioga · Wylie
Students outside these districts may still enroll, but funding has to be arranged between their district and McKinney ISD before they start. Families provide transportation; McKinney ISD reviews transportation case by case.
Practical details
- Hours
- 8:00 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., day school only
- Length of stay
- Varies. Some students transition back to their home campus; many stay through graduation.
- Athletics and fine arts
- UIL rules do not permit participation at the home campus while enrolled at Serenity.
- Track record
- More than 300 graduates since 1999. The oldest recovery high school in Texas.
Talk to us
To refer a student, contact Allie Long.
To refer a student, contact Allie Long Assistant Principal, Serenity High allong@mckinneyisd.net · · 2550 Wilmeth Rd, McKinney, TX 75071 · mckinneyisd.net/o/sh