Staffers at Blue Valley high schools are now able to administer naloxone on campus in case of an opioid overdose.
Driving the news: Earlier this month, the Blue Valley school board unanimously approved amending a district policy to allow for the emergency use of the drug, which has the brand name Narcan.
Why it matters: The district’s move comes as county health officials reported a spike last year in opioid-related overdose deaths in Johnson County, with most of those incidents primarily attributed to the illicit opioid fentanyl.
- In 2021, opiates were considered the cause of at least 86 deaths investigated by the Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Office, compared to 34 deaths in 2019.
- That included the death of 16-year-old Cooper Davis, a student in the USD 232 school district in De Soto, whose parents say died after he took half a pill last summer not knowing it was laced with fentanyl.
The details: With the policy change, Blue Valley will now begin stocking Narcan in secondary schools for use by trained staff who “reasonably believe an individual is displaying signs and symptoms of overdose.”
- Use of the nasal naloxone would require a call to 911 and notification of parents or legal guardians.
- Blue Valley assistant superintendent Mark Schmidt said if Narcan is administered to someone who does not have opioids in their system, it does not have any harmful effects on the individual.
Background: Blue Valley is one of the last school districts in Johnson County to start supplying naloxone to its schools.
- Both Shawnee Mission and Olathe also stock Narcan it in their school buildings.
- Schmidt told the Blue Valley school board that since stocking Narcan, both of those districts have reportedly used it on students multiple times.
