‘There is a fentanyl problem here': 9 overdoses reported at Loudoun County high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me even more annoyed that my kid can't just carry ibuprofen in her backpack for fear of disciplinary action.

Yeah way to take a serious issue and make it about yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me even more annoyed that my kid can't just carry ibuprofen in her backpack for fear of disciplinary action.

Yeah way to take a serious issue and make it about yourself

DP here. All of the rules created to protect drug addicts (like locking bathrooms, yelling at kids in the hallway who are searching for an unlocked bathroom, and harassing innocent kids over advil) DO affect all of the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Threads like this make me even more annoyed that my kid can't just carry ibuprofen in her backpack for fear of disciplinary action.

Yeah way to take a serious issue and make it about yourself

DP here. All of the rules created to protect drug addicts (like locking bathrooms, yelling at kids in the hallway who are searching for an unlocked bathroom, and harassing innocent kids over advil) DO affect all of the other kids.

+1
While not actually dealing with the students who are engaged in the bad behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The police aren't arresting kids (or adults!) For overdosing or being on drugs inside or outside of school unless they are driving.

Is doing the drugs even a crime? This sounds stupid but possessing drugs is a crime. Once you have taken the drug technically you no longer possess it. I believe it's only a crime to be on drugs while doing certain things (driving, working certain jobs, etc). I suppose there is public intoxication? But that is a misdemeanor and seems like it's not used much (if ever for this stuff) and again it has a threshold so not everyone on drugs (or alcohol) will qualify.

The police have the stance to encourage addicts to call for help during OD episodes. It used to be that before anyone called for help, they would work to clean the scene and get rid of the evidence. It caused a lot of lives to be lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the LCPS teacher. To be clear, I don’t want kids arrested for ODing. What I WANT is for the county to invest in alternative school options to better support students who habitually take drugs and OD at school. By the time you have a THIRD OFFENSE, you’re in crisis. ISR is not appropriate anymore. You as a student should be placed in an alternative setting with more support, more supervision, receiving drug counseling as well as academic instruction and AWAY from the home school environment that isn’t working for you. This is for the sake of the addicted student as well as the other students and staff who deserve their school to function like a school, not a drug crisis center.

At this time LCPS does not have this program. There is no alternative placement option for students in drug crisis. There needs to be.

100%

I grew up in LCPS system and we had an alternative school back then. Loudoun needs one more than ever.

Especially since the ISR is a joke at most schools. My DD took a photo and showed me of the ISR kids napping in the room. And yet kids in study hall who put their heads down for a nap get reprimanded because study hall is for doing work not sleeping. When my DS was in a different LCPS high school, the ISR teacher ordered pizza for the room on a Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The police aren't arresting kids (or adults!) For overdosing or being on drugs inside or outside of school unless they are driving.

Is doing the drugs even a crime? This sounds stupid but possessing drugs is a crime. Once you have taken the drug technically you no longer possess it. I believe it's only a crime to be on drugs while doing certain things (driving, working certain jobs, etc). I suppose there is public intoxication? But that is a misdemeanor and seems like it's not used much (if ever for this stuff) and again it has a threshold so not everyone on drugs (or alcohol) will qualify.

The police have the stance to encourage addicts to call for help during OD episodes. It used to be that before anyone called for help, they would work to clean the scene and get rid of the evidence. It caused a lot of lives to be lost.

Effing ridiculous. Its a school, not a halfway house or rehab center. Making kids not OD or stopping them from doing so is not the schools job.

[Anonymous]

I remember back in Douglass days two were caught taking care of business in the bathroom (Don't go there) Both were sent to Douglass, only one was allowed back afterwards and that person never was a problem again after that. They really should bring some type of alternative school back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember back in Douglass days two were caught taking care of business in the bathroom (Don't go there) Both were sent to Douglass, only one was allowed back afterwards and that person never was a problem again after that. They really should bring some type of alternative school back.

Is bringing back an alternative HS feasible? Where would that process start?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember back in Douglass days two were caught taking care of business in the bathroom (Don't go there) Both were sent to Douglass, only one was allowed back afterwards and that person never was a problem again after that. They really should bring some type of alternative school back.

Is bringing back an alternative HS feasible? Where would that process start?

Of course it’s feasible. It would start with LCPS reviewing and revising their policies and regulations around drug use at school as well as their discipline matrix. The highest level discipline infractions, including multiple drug offenses, list “alternative placement” as an option for school response yet there isn’t actually a place to send them. For starters, a part of North Star could be used for this. When Robey was first created, they partitioned off part of the Park View building to be used as the Robey facility. Later Robey was moved and is now housed at Doninion’s campus. This is possible at North Star as well for an alternative school setup.

You cannot leave students who are caught in behavior loops in the environment in which those behaviors are occurring. That is the entire purpose of alternative schools - to remove the student from the environment and provide more support while still giving them an education. Loudoun did away with this option after reviewing data that said more black and brown students were being sent there than white and Asian students. The solution to that was not to just dissolve alternative placement options but that’s what they did.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that most counties don't have alternative schools anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember back in Douglass days two were caught taking care of business in the bathroom (Don't go there) Both were sent to Douglass, only one was allowed back afterwards and that person never was a problem again after that. They really should bring some type of alternative school back.

Is bringing back an alternative HS feasible? Where would that process start?

Of course it’s feasible. It would start with LCPS reviewing and revising their policies and regulations around drug use at school as well as their discipline matrix. The highest level discipline infractions, including multiple drug offenses, list “alternative placement” as an option for school response yet there isn’t actually a place to send them. For starters, a part of North Star could be used for this. When Robey was first created, they partitioned off part of the Park View building to be used as the Robey facility. Later Robey was moved and is now housed at Doninion’s campus. This is possible at North Star as well for an alternative school setup.

You cannot leave students who are caught in behavior loops in the environment in which those behaviors are occurring. That is the entire purpose of alternative schools - to remove the student from the environment and provide more support while still giving them an education. Loudoun did away with this option after reviewing data that said more black and brown students were being sent there than white and Asian students. The solution to that was not to just dissolve alternative placement options but that’s what they did.

They would first have to acknowledge that “equity” (in its current form) and restorative justice don’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that most counties don't have alternative schools anymore.

I’m a teacher. We are used to the pendulum swing in education. Last one got rid of all alternative schools. Now we’ve lived with the nightmare that creates and the pendulum can swing back to the other end where we have them again and use them in a better way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that most counties don't have alternative schools anymore.

I’m a teacher. We are used to the pendulum swing in education. Last one got rid of all alternative schools. Now we’ve lived with the nightmare that creates and the pendulum can swing back to the other end where we have them again and use them in a better way.

What a nightmare for the current HS students just trying to keep their heads down, get a good education and graduate. Nobody ever talks about them, or how all these ineffective experiments affect them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that most counties don't have alternative schools anymore.

I’m a teacher. We are used to the pendulum swing in education. Last one got rid of all alternative schools. Now we’ve lived with the nightmare that creates and the pendulum can swing back to the other end where we have them again and use them in a better way.

What a nightmare for the current HS students just trying to keep their heads down, get a good education and graduate. Nobody ever talks about them, or how all these ineffective experiments affect them.

Actually, we do, a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that most counties don't have alternative schools anymore.

I’m a teacher. We are used to the pendulum swing in education. Last one got rid of all alternative schools. Now we’ve lived with the nightmare that creates and the pendulum can swing back to the other end where we have them again and use them in a better way.

What a nightmare for the current HS students just trying to keep their heads down, get a good education and graduate. Nobody ever talks about them, or how all these ineffective experiments affect them.

Actually, we do, a lot.

Not from where I am sitting. It’s all about making school easier and more flexible and less strict for the deadbeats.