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Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD hosts workshop on fentanyl Wednesday evening

The meeting comes months after a string of suspected student overdoses and fentanyl poisonings.

Parents and caregivers are invited to learn more about fentanyl at Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD’s next informative workshop.

Last month, The Dallas Morning News reported that three Carrollton teens died and at least half a dozen other students were hospitalized after overdosing on or experiencing suspected fentanyl poisoning, most of them since December.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Texas Room of the CFBISD Educational Services Division Complex at 1820 Pearl Street, Carrollton.

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This is the second meeting the district has hosted on fentanyl this year, and it will be offered in both English and Spanish. The first, which took place in late February, grew heated after a community activist questioned the district’s response to the issue and claimed it wasn’t doing enough.

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JoAnn Gillen, the district’s chief of social and emotional learning and postsecondary readiness, will speak along with counseling department staff.

Some parents and community members have called out CFBISD leadership for not being more transparent about the deaths. Some told The News that their pleads for help and concerns about fentanyl were ignored.

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District officials have previously noted that they sent an email to all parents on Oct. 31 “alerting them to the threat of fentanyl.” Two presentations about teen drug use were also held in November.

“We strongly encourage adults to engage in open conversations with children about the risks of drugs, especially fentanyl,” interim superintendent Brian Moersch said in a February district-wide email.

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Schools districts across Texas have addressed the consequences of the deadly drug in different ways.

Some push the “one pill can kill” messaging throughout their campuses. Others have launched video campaigns featuring the parents of children whose lives were cut short by fentanyl.

“We hope that by continuing the conversation, we can save lives right here at home,” CFBISD’s website states.

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