• Our students are dedicated to staying in recovery from substance use and co-occurring disorders.

• We provide students with peer to peer support through regular group activities and involvement in the greater community

•  We offer a personalized and self-paced learning environment

•  Students engage in community service projects

• We offer movement and projected based learning through personalized workout plans and built in movement breaks

•  We center our program around faith, fitness, and fellowship

•  We have recovery support built into the school day

• Our student-teacher ratio stays below 10:1

• We support students year round during holiday breaks, summertime, after school hours, and on weekends

We are a private high school with a focus on maintaining a strong scholarship program. Being a private school gives Emerald School the freedom and flexibility to do what is best for students in recovery from substance use and co-occurring disorders.

Recovery High Schools have anywhere from 40-125 students enrolled at any given time. Our building currently allows Emerald School to serve up to 50 students in recovery.

Emerald School is making preparations for growth to meet the needs of our community. We aim to keep our student-teacher ratio below 10:1 as we expand.

ESE has an educator and a recovery support staff member for every 10 students enrolled. Our goal is to keep our student-teacher ratio under 10:1.

ESE serves High School students in grades 9-12, ages 13-21.

We are located on the Memorial United Methodist Church campus at 4012 Central Avenue in Charlotte, NC. 

No. While ESE does have a focus on faith, the school is nonsectarian. Unlike faith-based organizations, our program does not reflect the values or beliefs of a certain religion. Instead, our goal is for our students to cultivate a higher power of their own understanding.

Student tuition is $1,500 a month year round. In order to make ESE affordable to everyone, our goal is to provide partial and full scholarships to support qualifying families in need. This is accomplished through monetary donations, support from our community partners and the receiving of grants. 

Not at this time. Students are reponsible for their own transportation needs. However, given our convenient location, there are many public transportation options available.

While Emerald School supports student recovery, the school is not a treatment facility and does not take the place of a treatment program.

We use a “wraparound services model” to collaborate with students and their families, intensive outpatient programs, treatment centers, community mental health professionals, and other Alternative Peer Group leaders/therapists/professionals to strengthen the continuum of care for our students struggling with substance use and co-occurring disorders.

We are “12 Step based” meaning we incorporate the principle foundations from 12 Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) into our recovery support model. This is not to deter anyone who is on another journey to recovery.

ESE has an 8 hour school day that may vary due to student needs and classes needed in order to graduate on time. ESE runs on a modified year-round calendar. See what our daily schedule looks like.

ESE is funded through the receiving of grants, fundraising programs, student tuition, and the kindness of private donations.

Our needs vary from small donations to school supplies to equipment. Find out how you can help support our school!

Emerald School serves and educates students in recovery from substance use and co-occurring disorders in all surrounding communities or counties in North and South Carolina.

Yes, randomly and frequently. Drug testing costs are included in tuition.

ESE has multiple committee positions where volunteers can serve by giving their time and talent. We also have a list of volunteer needs that you can check out online. You can email contact@emeraldschool.org to guide you in specific ways you can help. 

For admission consideration at Emerald School, applicants must meet our criteria for enrollment and go through the enrollment process.

Call our team at (980) 299-2017 or schedule a tour online today to start the process!

Treatment professionals can contact us directly to recommend a student to ESE at (980) 299-2017 or contact@emeraldschool.org.