APS overdose at Wakefield

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:To the PP, there is nothing more schools can do or that I think should be on schools to handle this. We are doing absolutely everything we can including obtaining narcan ourselves, as I did this weekend, and bringing it to school to have on hand if it’s needed. We are sitting outside the bathrooms check student passes so we know a) who is in which bathroom and b) for how long.

Your question is well intentioned but honestly a bit frustrating for me to read because why do you think it’s on us as TEACHERS to do more to address narcotic abuse? Do you not think already that having to watch kids for signs of respiratory distress or dilated pupils while also trying to teach is too much? I was helping a teacher locate one of her students in the hall last week because he hadn’t returned to class and she strongly suspected he was on something and was panicked. We routinely see ambulances pull up right outside our classroom windows to wheel out a kid having an emergency. I am talking weekly. One day recently, it happened twice in 30 minutes. Thank god both lived. I heard my AP panicked and yelling at the locked single stall restroom the other day for a kid to come out because when he didn’t answer she feared he was in distress or dead. It is our daily fear we will find a child dead in a bathroom, we have to teach around that, and you’re asking me what more do I want schools to do??

I want SOCIETY to do something. I want this country to not be such a depressing hellscape that teenagers don’t feel this desperate need for escapism at any cost. I want parents educating themselves on this, checking their kids’ rooms and bags, enforcing boundaries and structure. I want better for these children but it is not on schools to somehow manage this crisis.

Is this really what's going on? Or teens experiment with drugs as they've always done and now the risks are astronomically higher than they've ever been?

This country has more than it's fair share of problems but calling it a depressing hellscape seems a bit hyperbolic, particularly given how much of the world's population lives.

I've really started to believe the lack of accountability and expectations for these kids is also part of the problem. Time to face reality. Caught even once in the bathroom doing this? Suspended. Next time? Expelled. Get some undercover police officers in the schools to figure out who is dealing and bringing it in. And then bye. One strike and you're out. And just generally zero tolerance for kids who regularly show up in a way where they are not there to participate in learning. Clear and swift progressive discipline and then expel them.

Kids need boundaries and they need to know there are boundaries that will be enforced.

You may think it is hyperbole but it’s important you realize that that IS the mindset of most teenagers. They don’t see a very bright future. They see unaffordable college or college followed by a job with stagnant wages that will never allow them to buy a house . They see climate change. They see a future where they are guaranteed to have fewer opportunities for success than any generation before them. Yes experimentation is normal but there is a generational ennui and disaffection, compounded by of course the last 3 years of seeing every institution fail, that has profoundly altered their worldview. You ignore this or deny it at the risk of completely minimizing a huge driver of their behaviors and choices.

Most teenagers? I have two and don't see this as accurate. I don't think a whole lot of teenagers are actively thinking about how they won't be able to buy their first house or climate change down the road. Maybe they should be. But that's not how the teen brain works.

Teens very much live in the present. Social media is a big problem for many of them. Potential isolation from real-world interactions due to too much screen time, severely compounded by how our schools handled covid which broke the already tenuous thread many of them had to real-life relationships which then had to be rebuilt but many were not. Kids of a certain group, huge pressure to get into college.

I don't disagree with you that we need to look at more systemic issues, but the level of all consuming gloom and hysteria you're referencing isn't helping you make a case. Every institution failed? You don't want to see what life is like if every institution in our lives has legitimately failed.

Respectfully, your sample is 2. Your two. Their friends are probably a lot like them. I teach hundreds every year and interact with hundreds more day to day. I am face to face all day long in ways wonderful and terrible with teenagers and what they’re dealing with. The patterns and trends are much easier for someone in my position to discern. Again, you don’t have to like this or even agree but your experience is simply not comparable to mine in this area.

And in your interactions with them, they all talk to you about how they worry they won't be able to buy a home, stagnant wages, the planet is heating up, and all the institutions have failed? If they are this thoughtful and profound then I actually have hope for the next generation. I probably sound snarky but I am serious.

Some kids are great. It’s just the millions of brainwashed idiots who are breeding that we have to worry about.

I don't debate some kids are great. The prefrontal cortex is not fully formed and they don't have impulse control. They seek pleasure and don't think about consequences. I don't think they are idiots or brainwashed. I think they live in the moment and don't always do a great job of connecting the dots and for this generation, the repercussions for making mistakes are a lot higher.

But if many of them are big systems thinkers and future thinking too that is great for all of us.

Even allowing them to retake tests and not get anything lower than 50 even if they didn’t complete assignment, shows them that there aren’t real consequences for their actions. Sometimes in our effort to help we are hurting.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:^^I agree with most of your points except giving narcan to every student. Narcan expires. But how about it be put in a lockbox (near the fire extinguishers or AED machines) where everyone knows where to access it? Make it easy-access?

They can give it to every student and I would assume some students would throw it away and yes it would expire so yeah put it in the hallways and put it in the bathrooms

The fact that multiple people think this is a good idea is proof of our country is the hellscape they’re using drugs to escape from. Depressing as hell. Let me know it works the first time a teenage CHILD freezes and doesn’t get or forgets how to use the Narcan, or it isn’t there, or they panic and do it wrong or the kid is too far gone and dies anyway. Now a teenagers gets to feel like it’s their fault a peer died. None of this is ok. This is SCHOOL, not Kensington Rd in Philadelphia, god

Do you all realize Narcan is in all the Arlington public libraries at this point? It's right next to the AED/defib machines. I don't find that depressing. It just seems smart. I would have thought it would have been in schools already in the same fashion.

So you're saying because it might make a kid feel bad in some way down the road, it shouldn't be there at all? Let's remove the AED machines too then. Wouldn't want to screw it up if someone has a heart attack.

That is not what I said. I said ADULTS in schools have narcan, as they should. It should NOT just be posted around the school for kids to access with the message that they need to administer it to their peers.

So how this works in real life is the equipment is put in easy reach for anyone to access and training is offered to anyone who wants it and easy instructions are put on the box. There is no message anyone needs to adminster it to anyone. The hope is if the situation arises, someone will step up and administer it. If you feel deeply uncomfortable your child might ever be put in this position, I think it's appropriate to tell them to never use it.

Again, I AM A TEACHER . This is not about my child, who, by the way, knows what Narcan is and how to use it since I’ve taught her. It’s about what kind of terrible environment are we just accepting kids in a crucial stage of childhood development should just tolerate rather than talk about societal fixes for this. But sure, make the kids mini field nurses and pretend that fixes it, way better idea. This is very much like when people suggest “just give teachers guns” instead of being willing to grapple with and legislate around the myriad issues causing mass school shootings.

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I get what you are both saying-we have some really great kids who want and can jump into action and help. BUT as a teacher myself I understand though what a scary place school and growing up is becoming. When my high schooler walks out the door I tell them I love them and to be safe. I also say- BE aware of your surroundings-- because we(teachers and students) constantly have to worry about violent fights, guns, and now drugs everywhere. It's a lot on a still developing mind. Heck it's a lot on an adult mind.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't kids feel better if they had access to Narcan and could at least try to save their friends life then if they could do nothing..I think it's weird to act like this is too much responsibility to put on kids..if someone has a life threatening allergy I would hope my kid could grab an epi pen and save them.. I would hope they could do CPR to save someone of that was needed. In any emergency situation if my kid is the one that is there I hope that they feel empowered enough to step in

Obviously if a teacher or authority figure is there they should act first but seconds matter and i want my kid to feel like they have the tools to act if needed. Feeling powerless is a horrible feeling.

[Anonymous]

You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

[Anonymous]

It would be a PR nightmare for schools to suspend a kid for carrying Narcan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

So then where is this big brain logic of posting it all around schools and training kids in how to use it coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

So then where is this big brain logic of posting it all around schools and training kids in how to use it coming from?

I think people are hoping schools will change. But also kids aren't in school 24/7 and plenty of parents are sending kids to school with narcan anyway.

I also think schools should have test strips available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

So then where is this big brain logic of posting it all around schools and training kids in how to use it coming from?

I think people are hoping schools will change. But also kids aren't in school 24/7 and plenty of parents are sending kids to school with narcan anyway.

I also think schools should have test strips available.

Plenty of parents are sending their kids to school with no clue the kids have pills in their backpack if we want to talk about who all needs to change.

[Anonymous]

If you have actually even given Narcan, CPR or Heimlich you'll know its a somewhat traumatizing experience. I am all for getting Narcan in more hands, but we do need to prepare people for what goes along with it. Your teen may freeze in the moment and that is normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have actually even given Narcan, CPR or Heimlich you'll know its a somewhat traumatizing experience. I am all for getting Narcan in more hands, but we do need to prepare people for what goes along with it. Your teen may freeze in the moment and that is normal.

They don’t get it. They just think you pop it in and go about your life a hero. I doubt many of them would last a day in schools or be able to respond to a non responsive teenager as easily as they claim other teenagers should theoretically be able to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have actually even given Narcan, CPR or Heimlich you'll know its a somewhat traumatizing experience. I am all for getting Narcan in more hands, but we do need to prepare people for what goes along with it. Your teen may freeze in the moment and that is normal.

They don’t get it. They just think you pop it in and go about your life a hero. I doubt many of them would last a day in schools or be able to respond to a non responsive teenager as easily as they claim other teenagers should theoretically be able to.

I get it. I am just not sure what is more traumatizing. Giving narcan to someone or watching them die while you can do nothing. I have been in the second spot and it was pretty dang traumatizing and I would give anything to have had an ability to do something (anything). No one is claiming that kids will be able to calmly do this. Or that it will be a perfect wonderful happy moment where they save a life. Just that kids should have access to it and should know how to use it if they wish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

They can’t? Why not? Honest question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

So then where is this big brain logic of posting it all around schools and training kids in how to use it coming from?

I think people are hoping schools will change. But also kids aren't in school 24/7 and plenty of parents are sending kids to school with narcan anyway.

I also think schools should have test strips available.

What good are test strips?? What am I missing here? Are teens now supposed to run chemistry labs on illicit pills? Or teachers? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get your kids narcan and teach them to use it. Nothing stopping you.

but they can't carry it in schools

So then where is this big brain logic of posting it all around schools and training kids in how to use it coming from?

I think people are hoping schools will change. But also kids aren't in school 24/7 and plenty of parents are sending kids to school with narcan anyway.

I also think schools should have test strips available.

What good are test strips?? What am I missing here? Are teens now supposed to run chemistry labs on illicit pills? Or teachers? Why?

It would be the same as handling out condoms to kids. The test strips would show is fentanyl is present. If kids are thinking they are taking Percocet but fentanyl is shown to be present hopefully they will be more cautious?


Like I absolutely get and have talked to my kid ENDLESSLY well before this overdose happened about this. I have family first hand experience and this isn’t new.


My kid rolls their eyes every-time because at this point I don’t think they will do pills. BUT I also want them to know that IF they do there’s measures they can take to make sure they don’t die.