AUSTIN, Texas — With overdose deaths rising in Travis County over the past few years and the recent fentanyl deaths of four students in Hays CISD, other Central Texas school districts are taking action to try to protect students.
“It's obviously tragic anywhere you hear it, but when it's so close to home in a neighboring school district, I mean, any death is not OK,” said Molly May, the Eanes ISD assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and sssessment. “And if there's anything we can do to prevent that, that's what we want to do.”
Even before the fentanyl deaths in Hays CISD, May said Eanes ISD was making changes. She said they bought Narcan for all of their schools last year. They even put Narcan in elementary schools.
“We made that decision because, you know, we have adults on all of our campuses and we wanted to make sure that whoever was on our campus, that we could serve them as needed,” said May.
But their goal is to prevent overdoses from happening in the first place. Following the Hays CISD deaths, they put up a new web page with fentanyl information and resources.
“It takes such a small amount of fentanyl to have an overdose and cause death, and I don't know that everyone knows that,” said May.
They also educate kids in school. Eanes ISD requires a health class in high school, where opioids are part of the curriculum.
“I think it's really important that, you know, we're educating our students and giving them an opportunity and access to that information,” said May.
They also have an anonymous tip line for students to use.
“We’re always encouraging our students or anyone in the community really to use our quick tip or quick report process,” said May.
Although they now have Narcan on campuses, in the case of an overdose, they hope the education tools they have in place will prevent them from ever having to use it.
Eanes ISD is not the only school district in Central Texas with Narcan, as many others have it on hand too.
Of the schools KVUE reached out to and heard back from, the following have Narcan on some or all campuses:
- Dripping Springs ISD
- Eanes ISD
- Hays CISD
- Hutto ISD
- Lockhart ISD
- Round Rock ISD
- Wimberley ISD
The following do not have Narcan in schools:
- Johnson City ISD
- Lake Travis ISD
- Pflugerville ISD
None of the above school districts have seen any overdose deaths, aside from Hays CISD, which has seen four student fentanyl deaths since summer.
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