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Dallas ISD wants school staff trained on Narcan after deadly fentanyl overdoses nearby

North Texas schools are ramping up efforts to inform families about the dangerous opioid after three Carrollton teens died.

Dallas school leaders say they want to be “as proactive as possible” in responding to the fentanyl crisis after several North Texas teenagers died of overdoses in recent months.

Dallas ISD schools could soon stock naloxone, commonly available as a nasal spray known as Narcan, and empower staff to administer it. Nurses, administrators and athletic trainers would learn how to use the life-saving drug that can temporarily reverse the side effects of an overdose.

The school board must first revise the district’s medical treatment policy – a move trustees seemed eager to make at their March briefing.

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“This is one way that we can at least ensure that we have what is necessary to take immediate action, with trained individuals,” Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said during last week’s meeting. “Currently, without this [policy change], we actually wouldn’t have the authority to be able to utilize the Narcan.”

In recent weeks, schools across North Texas were left reeling by the news of several interconnected overdoses involving Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD students in middle and high school.

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Three people face federal charges related to distributing fentanyl in connection with the deaths of three CFISD students and the hospitalizations of at least six others.

The drug is often laced into fake pills, putting unknowing buyers at risk when they seek Percocet, OxyContin or Xanax, for example. The synthetic opioid is up to 100 times more potent than morphine.

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Earlier this month, a 15-year-old student at R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton received a dose of Narcan after she was found unconscious in a bathroom stall by other students.

Districts aren’t required to stock Narcan at schools, and as of now, DISD does not have Narcan or a similar drug on campuses. After the board’s vote, DISD could join several that have already taken such a step.

“We know that some surrounding communities have already had some horrific tragedies,” Elizalde said.

DISD officials are also planning forums for campus staff, parents and students about the dangers of the drug.

Parents and community members recently gathered at W.T. White High School for a fentanyl awareness meeting conducted in Spanish.

Comadres Unidas de Dallas y Mas, a community organization group, helped the district assemble the meeting to inform and connect families with resources.

Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chávez, who leads the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas division, detailed the dangers of fentanyl and how easily it can make its way to students.

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The room fell silent when he showed a blown-up photo of a tiny amount of crushed fentanyl balanced on the tip of a sharpened pencil. That’s how little it takes to produce a fatal dose, he said.

“It’s not like other drugs I’ve seen throughout my career,” Chávez said in Spanish.

One kilo of the drug can help produce up to 500,000 pills, he said.

Chávez showed parents side-by-side photos of authentic versus fake prescription pills. Parents tried to guess which one was the real deal, gasping when he showed which one was which.

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The two pills were nearly identical.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.