Clear Lake Community School District discusses possibility of Narcan in schools

(ABC 6 News) – With fentanyl deaths rising across the country, local school districts are looking at ways to keep their students and staff safe.

Tuesday night was the first time the district talked about bringing Narcan into the schools.

Clear Lake Community School District Superintendent Doug Gee said he wanted to open up the topic for discussion with the board to see if this is something the district wants to move forward with.

The decision was yes, as many board and staff members said it’s better to have Narcan and not need it, instead of not having it at all.

“The last thing you want to ever do is have something happen to a child and not be able to help them and so if we really do want to preach that we’re here about the safety of our students and our staff, I think we need to always be really well prepared,” Superintendent Gee said.

Gee said parents have brought their concerns to him recently after seeing things like rainbow fentanyl in the news across the country.

“We haven’t heard of any or have no idea that there would be anything in Clear Lake, but you never know,” he said.

While the board was all for moving forward with Narcan in the schools and coming up with a policy, Gee said some staff members have mixed feelings.

“I talked to the nurses about it and they’re a little nervous about this because it’s new. But at the same time, they’re very willing to get trained and do what they need to do to again ensure the safety of our students,” Gee said.

“From a middle school standpoint, I just want to have every tool available in case,” one Clear Lake Middle School teacher said at the board meeting.

Superintendent Gee said Narcan would be available in the nurses’ offices in each elementary, middle, and high school. It would be locked away along with the epi-pens and only the school nurses would have access to it.

“The best-case scenario is that that thing sits in the closet and every year or whenever it expires, we have to get a new one and we never get to use it,” Gee said.

From the way the superintendent and board understand the situation of having Narcan in their schools right now, they would not need a prescription from a doctor.

Gee said as a school district, schools, police departments, and emergency responders can get Narcan from the pharmacy directly without a prescription. They just need the training. The district is looking into training for school nurses.

The school board meets again next month where it will talk more about the next steps, what the policy will look like, and all of the details.