FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Flagler County Schools will become the first district in Central Florida to keep Narcan on its campuses.
The school board approved bringing the opioid overdose reversal drug to its schools Tuesday night. District leaders said all nine of the district schools, including elementary schools, will keep it on campus. Those who pushed for this said it most likely won’t be needed but could be life-saving if it is.
“It’s not just about substance abuse. It’s about accidental use which is happening all over,” said Michael Feldbauer, president of the Flagler County Drug Court Foundation.
He said his team was relieved it finally passed the school board unanimously after he had been pushing for it for months. He said they want to get ahead of the possibility of a student accidentally overdosing.
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“We’re happy there hasn’t been an incident so far but if there is an incident, we’re going to be ready for it,” he said.
His nonprofit will supply the schools with the Narcan using a grant from DCF. The district said it’s now working to figure out where it will store the drug and who besides school nurses would be trained to administer it.
Feldbauer said it’s all because of one, massive issue the county sheriff’s office has also been tackling.
“They’re lacing rainbow-colored pills, gummy bears, they’re lacing marijuana with fentanyl now. It’s a hodge-podge,” said Sheriff Rick Staly.
Staly said his deputies, including the school resource deputies, have been carrying Narcan since 2018. He said they’ve seen accidental overdoses happening almost daily in recent years.
He believes having the extra kits on campus could be needed at a moment’s notice.
“We’ve had a couple of cases in elementary school where students bring in what they think are gummy bears when in fact they’re CBD gummy bears and then hand them out to friends,” he said.
The district said the Narcan won’t be on the campuses until the start of the 2023-2024 school year. It said they are just beginning the planning process now so they can start training its staff on how to administer it this summer.
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