Harbor Hope Center to open Sept. 2; first-year operations fully grant-funded, officials say

School Board Chair Kathleen Brown and other members were briefed June 24 on progress toward opening the Harbor Hope Center, a regional recovery school serving multiple Hampton Roads divisions, with officials saying they remain "optimistic the Harbor Hope Center will open its doors on September 2, aligned with Chesapeake's student calendar." Robert Jamieson, executive director for the Office of Student Support Services, delivered the update.

The Harbor Hope Center is intended to let students receive recovery services while staying with family and in school, a change officials said would prevent students from leaving the division to attend out-of-area programs. Jamieson told the board that a Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority award of $1,500,000 over five years, combined with matching and settlement funds from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach and additional General Assembly support, brings total secured funds to more than $2.4 million and will cover operating costs for the 2025–26 school year.

"This first year the program is fully funded," Jamieson said. "So the only thing a division would have to pay is for the transportation cost of any students that attend." He said a shared funding formula will be used in later years and that divisions have set allotments of seats; Jamieson said Virginia Beach has 12 allotted seats.

Jamieson reported that a fully executed memorandum of understanding among the school divisions of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach has been secured; a separate MOU with the city of Chesapeake to provide clinical services through Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health is complete but awaits Chesapeake City Council approval. Once the Chesapeake MOU is approved, Jamieson said Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health will "post and staff the two clinical positions"—one clinician and one peer recovery specialist.

The regional steering committee and superintendents' committee have completed bylaws for the Harbor Hope Center governing board and selected finalists for a program coordinator. Dr. Sharon Robertson said the governing board met earlier and "the bylaws were accepted. I was named the executive officer. Miss Weems was named the chair of the governing board and the vice chair is Miss Thomas from Norfolk Public Schools." Robertson said she will bring an administrative recommendation for the program coordinator to the board at a later meeting.

On recruitment and outreach, Jamieson said division communications teams are preparing a flyer, social-media posts and outreach to principals and counselors; a mock website at hhctidewater.com is ready to go live in early July. He estimated initial enrollment at opening could be "up to five students somewhere in that ballpark," with the number expected to grow as outreach continues. Military liaisons attended a recent meeting, Jamieson said, and Debbie Patch reported she is coordinating with Chesapeake and Norfolk liaisons so military families are informed.

Staff reported operational preparations underway: a referral and intake process, a student success plan template, ordering Chromebooks and furniture, and planning for professional learning communities and learning exchanges with the state's existing recovery programs. Jamieson said the program team is learning from Chesterfield Recovery and the Association of Recovery Schools and participating in Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services learning communities supported by the Virginia Department of Education.

Board members asked that executed MOUs, bylaws and the governing-board minutes be shared with the full school board; Miss Rogers noted she had not seen the executed documents in her packet and board members discussed uploading final, executed documents to the board SharePoint site and highlighting items that require action. Chair Brown asked that the flyer be provided to board members when available so they can distribute it to community contacts.

Decisions and next steps reported to the board included adopting governing bylaws and staffing the governing board (chair and vice chair named), completing and circulating MOUs among participating divisions, pending Chesapeake City Council approval of the clinical-services MOU, preparing to post hhctidewater.com in early July, selecting and bringing a program-coordinator recommendation forward, and working with communications teams on recruitment. Jamieson and Robertson said the coordinator is expected to start in early July and the center to open Sept. 2, 2025, for the 2025–26 school year.

Board members did not take a formal vote on any new motions related to Harbor Hope during the workshop portion beyond reporting governing-board actions; Jamieson and staff said they will circulate the executed documents and additional memos in advance of future meetings and present implementation updates as the program coordinator comes on board.