Litchfield School Board’s recent decision to close Libre Academy was understandable.

Understandable, but still disappointing.

Libre Academy opened three years ago as a branch of metro-based Sobriety High School. As the first sober school outside the metro area, organizers knew there might be challenges. But those challenges proved greater than anticipated.

Sobriety High pulled its management support at the end of the last school year, but Litchfield School District remained committed to the sober school concept. The district quickly stepped in and made Libre Academy an alternative learning program campus.

But board members knew the school needed an average enrollment of 15 students to be self-supporting. With Libre averaging only 10 students this year, the district dipped into its “rainy day” fund to support the school.

It’s likely that enrollment suffered because of transportation issues students faced, as many of them came from outside the Litchfield School District. That challenge likely would grow as fuel costs continue to climb.

Anyone who has talked with students at the school during the past three years has heard and seen how the school made a difference in their lives. The concept is simple: Students recovering from substance abuse often fall back into the same bad habits when they return to school and their same peer group. But put recovering students together at a school like Libre Academy, and they create a new peer network that reinforces the positive messages of avoiding alcohol or drug use. Add understanding teachers and counselors, and an environment for far greater educational — and personal — success is created.

Lukas Peterson, one of three students who were in Libre Academy’s first graduating class in 2006, provided a strong endorsement on the day he graduated.

“This should show people a lot, because there was no way that I would have graduated before I came here,” he said at the time.

The School Board and administration obviously recognize the need, and they agreed Monday to offer two hours of chemical dependency counseling each day at Litchfield High School next year. The district should be commended for its efforts.

Perhaps those efforts should include a local lobbying effort to provide state funding for the sober school concepts in Greater Minnesota.