Do we talk about emails from Superintendent (overdose)

[Anonymous]

New overdose email. This one at Herndon high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

This didn't happen in a vacuum, PP. For every overdose, how many kids were taking the same drug but didn't OD?

This is a widespread issue and needs to be communicated to the wider community.

FCPS and the police hosted like five opioid town halls last year that were heavily promoted but very sparsely attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

This didn't happen in a vacuum, PP. For every overdose, how many kids were taking the same drug but didn't OD?

This is a widespread issue and needs to be communicated to the wider community.

FCPS and the police hosted like five opioid town halls last year that were heavily promoted but very sparsely attended.

I don’t remember hearing about those.

I am glad I am getting the emails. Definitely a wake up call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New overdose email. This one at Herndon high school.

We are all capable of reading our emails. Especially since we NOW know -whereas we didn't before- that there are kids who do drugs and that opioids are a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New overdose email. This one at Herndon high school.

The emails do not necessarily mean the overdose occurs at the high school. If a police report is filed then whatever VA county public school the student an email is required to be sent by that superintendent. It does not matter where the overdose occurs. If the overdose did occur on school grounds the principal of that school would send an email out to parents/students of that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New overdose email. This one at Herndon high school.

Yes. They all say the same thing. I imagine most people see what they are about at this point and delete without opening them up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

This didn't happen in a vacuum, PP. For every overdose, how many kids were taking the same drug but didn't OD?

This is a widespread issue and needs to be communicated to the wider community.

FCPS and the police hosted like five opioid town halls last year that were heavily promoted but very sparsely attended.

Well if we went then we couldn’t blame the schools for our lack of parenting, could we?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:more deadly than guns.

Well, if my kid avoids drugs he won’t overdose. But if my kid avoids guns, someone else’s kid could still murder him in a rampage at school. So I’d still argue that guns are a greater threat to the school community. You can’t be safe and smart and avoid dying by someone else’s gunfire the way you can be safe and smart and avoid dying by a drug overdose.

The “my kid would never find a dealer and buy and take an Adderall or other drug” is very arrogant. Of course they might if the stars align.

You can’t just assume that because you have an overall great kid (which I’m sure you do) and you talked to them once or twice about drug use kid is immune from academic or social pressure and that their not fully developed brain will always make the right choice. They will screw up— it’s the reality of parenting teens. And if they screw up and take a Fentynal laced drug, that one mistake could kill the.

Parents need to be able to walk and chew gun when parenting teens. ODs and gun violence are both serious health and safety issues (in all MSs/HSs, not just public schools). This isn’t the sufferings Olympics They both should be on parents’ radars. And parents need a to make sure their kids know “Run,, hide, fight” and what to do in a school shooting AND have frank discussions about the very real possibility that and drugs they buy illegally could kill them, because Fyntanal.



Arguing that one or the other is “worse” is not productive. They are both taking the lives of good kids who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or basically good kids who feel pressured and buy a couple pills that they believe to be Adderall in order to write the paper they procrastinated on or to survive finals.

And because Adderall prescriptions are common in this age group , most kids know at least a 1-2 kids with ADHD taking legal precautions for stimulants without issues. And this in turn gives kids a false sense of security.

Your assumption that your kids “would never” might be very wrong. You can’t say “my kids would never pop a pill”. But can you really be 100% certain of that? Are you 100% certain that your kid is exempt from occasional and normal teenage screw ups and mistakes and will never buy a pill “just this once”


The 1% chance your kid or my kid will buy a few pills they that they assume are from a legit Rx/ pharmacy and instead get a pill laced with Fentanyl is terrifying.
High achieving kids facing down college admissions might well feel pressured to “a take a pill, just this once” to do well on a major assignment in a class where their grade is not what they want it to be.

I agree that by the numbers, more kids die of ODs than school shootings. But even one kid being shot or taking a laced drug is a tragedy. Talk to your kid and take these possibilities seriously.

[Anonymous]

It's hard to see this as a school issue. Kids spend all day in schools so that's where most things will happen.
The drugs aren't being manufactured inside the school from local ingredients. Once you've got millions of tiny pills floating around, they're going spread across civilization like dust in the wind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:more deadly than guns.

Well, if my kid avoids drugs he won’t overdose. But if my kid avoids guns, someone else’s kid could still murder him in a rampage at school. So I’d still argue that guns are a greater threat to the school community. You can’t be safe and smart and avoid dying by someone else’s gunfire the way you can be safe and smart and avoid dying by a drug overdose.

The “my kid would never find a dealer and buy and take an Adderall or other drug” is very arrogant. Of course they might if the stars align.

You can’t just assume that because you have an overall great kid (which I’m sure you do) and you talked to them once or twice about drug use kid is immune from academic or social pressure and that their not fully developed brain will always make the right choice. They will screw up— it’s the reality of parenting teens. And if they screw up and take a Fentynal laced drug, that one mistake could kill the.

Parents need to be able to walk and chew gun when parenting teens. ODs and gun violence are both serious health and safety issues (in all MSs/HSs, not just public schools). This isn’t the sufferings Olympics They both should be on parents’ radars. And parents need a to make sure their kids know “Run,, hide, fight” and what to do in a school shooting AND have frank discussions about the very real possibility that and drugs they buy illegally could kill them, because Fyntanal.



Arguing that one or the other is “worse” is not productive. They are both taking the lives of good kids who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or basically good kids who feel pressured and buy a couple pills that they believe to be Adderall in order to write the paper they procrastinated on or to survive finals.

And because Adderall prescriptions are common in this age group , most kids know at least a 1-2 kids with ADHD taking legal precautions for stimulants without issues. And this in turn gives kids a false sense of security.

Your assumption that your kids “would never” might be very wrong. You can’t say “my kids would never pop a pill”. But can you really be 100% certain of that? Are you 100% certain that your kid is exempt from occasional and normal teenage screw ups and mistakes and will never buy a pill “just this once”


The 1% chance your kid or my kid will buy a few pills they that they assume are from a legit Rx/ pharmacy and instead get a pill laced with Fentanyl is terrifying.
High achieving kids facing down college admissions might well feel pressured to “a take a pill, just this once” to do well on a major assignment in a class where their grade is not what they want it to be.

I agree that by the numbers, more kids die of ODs than school shootings. But even one kid being shot or taking a laced drug is a tragedy. Talk to your kid and take these possibilities seriously.

Thank you for this thoughtful response. I get that it's human nature, but I am blown away by the parents who think it could never possibly be their kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

They don't release the name of the student. My son had no idea when one happened at his school. It is so big with so many kids that unless you are near the incident or friends with the person, you could never even know it happened.

Teens tend to feel invincible. Sometimes the only way to really get through to them is when it happens to someone they know and they see the damage first hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

They don't release the name of the student. My son had no idea when one happened at his school. It is so big with so many kids that unless you are near the incident or friends with the person, you could never even know it happened.

Teens tend to feel invincible. Sometimes the only way to really get through to them is when it happens to someone they know and they see the damage first hand.

Right. This is why the message from the superintendent is important.

[Anonymous]

These emails make it seem like it happened at the school. Most of them do not happen on school grounds. They occur in the students houses or as the email states"in the school community". The ones that do occur on school grounds also include emails from principals that specifically state that the overdose occurred on school grounds. These emails only pertain to VA students in public schools whereby if a police report is filed, and the student is identified as attending a VA public school, that VA county school superintendent must send an email out to the community regardless of where the overdose actually occurred. The issue is even greater than it seems as these emails do not pertain to children in Private schools. I can only imagine there would be twice as many notifications going out.

[Anonymous]

This week the House will be voting on a bill that would commercialize high potency THC products, including recreational marijuana.
HB 698 (D-Krizek) seeks to commercialize high potency THC products, including recreational marijuana, on every street corner, which will have serious consequences on our community and lead countless youth down the dangerous path of drug abuse.

If passed, more overdose incidents will be expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of these email notifications other than to fan the flames of gossip and speculation? Why did the governor want this type of communication going out across the county? There are other ways to remind kids that drugs are bad. I feel awful for the kids who overdosed and are subjects of these emails as well as their parents. They deserve privacy while navigating this problem.

I am grateful these messages are going out. Whether the email goes out or not, there will be gossip and speculation. Too many parents put their heads in the sand or are ignorant of that deaths are really happening in our schools even before HS. I wish we had a sense of how many non-fatal ODs are occurring. These happen in plain sight — in the past and to a certain extent even now — administrators gaslight student witnesses. Kid at our HS OD’d in the middle of the cafeteria only a couple years ago and students were made to continue on as if nothing was happening. WTF?! The kid didn’t die and was back playing his sport the next day. No wonder so many kids are checking out from school.

There will always be gossip and speculation but sending county wide emails spreads it from just that school to hundreds of thousands of people (parents, grandparents, guardians). These are tweens and teens that are the subject of these emails. Imagine going through the trauma of overdose, already having everyone in your school know, and then now everyone else associated with FCPS knowing as well. Even if you do know it's going on, parent who want to stick their head in the sand will still say things like PP blaming "other" bussed in kids because it couldn't possibly be their snowflake doing drugs.

As a society, we need to put more other spotlight on teams using fentanyl. I’m pretty sure the parent dealing with their kid having an overdose at school is not focused on an FCPS email. If they are, then maybe their focuses in the wrong place.

We can spotlight drug use in middle/highschools without singling out one child in the middle of their crisis. A parent should be paying attention to an email where their child is the topic of discussion going out to hundreds of thousands of people. I'm sure that isn't going to help the child in crisis. Notify the others within that school, sure, but everyone affiliated with every FCPS kid? Nope, not needed.

This didn't happen in a vacuum, PP. For every overdose, how many kids were taking the same drug but didn't OD?

This is a widespread issue and needs to be communicated to the wider community.

FCPS and the police hosted like five opioid town halls last year that were heavily promoted but very sparsely attended.

I don’t remember hearing about those.

I am glad I am getting the emails. Definitely a wake up call.

How did you not hear about those? Did you not read a single FCPS newsletter all year? Did you see the video of the parents who lost their son to an overdose that FCPS sent out in December? It’s crazy how much schools are suddenly responsible for when parents can’t be bothered to even read a newsletter (but find time to hang out on dcum).