Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any details on this?

Just this, talking about teen drinking, parental influence, etc:

December 5, 2023
Dear FCPS Families,

I am writing to make you aware of a fatal overdose in the community that was reported last night by Fairfax County Police involving a student from Justice High School. Out of concern for the student’s privacy, we will not be releasing further information about the circumstances of this incident. I invite you to join me in keeping all of those affected by this tragic loss in our thoughts and prayers as we grieve the loss of a young life.

We do want to be sure that every parent and caregiver has appropriate resources, as we know that substance misuse continues to be a problem in Fairfax County, as well as throughout the Commonwealth and nationwide. It is important that we treat substance use disorders and overdoses with compassion, grace and understanding. As a community, we all play a role in reducing the stigma associated with substance use disorders, while also focusing on substance misuse prevention. So often, families are caught unaware. So many families think it does not affect them, until it does. Please be vigilant.

One of the best ways you can help is to talk to your child about substance misuse. The following tips from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) can help guide your conversation:

Show you disapprove of underage drinking and other drug misuse. Young people listen to the adults in their lives. More than 80% of young people ages 10-18 say their parents are the leading influence on their decision whether to drink.

Show you care about your child’s health, wellness, and success. Young people are more likely to listen when they know you are on their side. Make sure they know that you are talking to them about substance misuse because you care about their safety and well-being.

Show you are a good source of information about alcohol and other drugs. You want your child to make informed decisions about alcohol and other drugs with reliable information about their dangers. Establish yourself as a trustworthy source of information. Helpful resources are linked below.

Pay attention to your child and discourage risky behaviors. Show you are aware of what your child is up to, as young people are more likely to drink or use other drugs if they think no one will notice. Discourage unhealthy risky behaviors like substance use, while encouraging healthy activities.

Build your child’s skills and strategies for avoiding drinking and drug use. Even if you don’t think your child wants to drink or try other drugs, peer pressure is powerful. Children will make better choices when they have a clear plan to avoid alcohol and drug use. Talk with your child about what they would do if faced with a decision about alcohol and drugs, such as texting a code word to a family member or practicing how they will say “no thanks.”

FCPS also educates students on prevention strategies. Students learn how substance use impacts their health, academic achievement, and relationships. If you have concerns about your child, please reach out to your school in accessing helpful services. Additional resources can be found on our website.

As always, if you have any information about safety concerns at your child’s school, FCPS' Office of Safety and Security also has a safety tip line that you can access anonymously online, by text, or by phone.

Substance misuse is an ongoing challenge for our Commonwealth and our nation. Here in Fairfax County Public Schools, we will continue our strong collaboration with health officials, law enforcement, and families to keep our students safe.

TOTS AND PEARS.

Wow. How old are you??
My initial instinct/hope is that you are under 25, and the not-yet-fully-formed judgement center in your brain wasn’t able to tell you that posting a mocking version of “thoughts and prayers” is not as clever and cute as you think it is.

So I hope you are able to reflect on the reality that a child in our community has died.

And then remove that pithy response from your repertoire, replacing it with something a little more sincere and compassionate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP.

My spidey-senses get triggered when there is a new "law" that requires schools to disclose information that has no discernable use to most people.

That makes me think that this is meant by Youngkin to be a passive smear/fear campaign -- you know -- like "oh my god, these schools are filled with drug addicts" and how the Fox news crowd tries to hype the "cities are scary places b/c everyone is getting mugged, car-jacked, shop-lifted, murdered, etc."

I don't have a problem with local news making a mention of a death at X high school. I just question the value of the district administration sending out an email each time some kid has an overdose death. Why don't they send out an email every time someone is caught having a fight in my kid's school? THAT has more relevance to my kid's safety than me being notified each time a kid in some other school has overdosed. I have no need for that info.

The fact that this edict came down from the governor -- when it's never been done before and doesn't give me any info. that I can use to make my kid safer --- makes me think it has political intentions.

100% yes. And i think I mentioned above, there is no requirement for private schools to do this. It is focused on public schools. It is part of an overall campaign to erode trust in public schools. I agree that keeping statistics on this would be fantastic. It be great if parents had access to drug statistics at their school. IN fact, the VDOE used to provide this info (at least generically, it wasn't OD related but it did mention paraphernalia and actual drugs). But that info disappeared from the website and the EO say nothing about schools and data and keeping track of anything so we can recognize trends and get useful information. Its focused on parents rights

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP.

My spidey-senses get triggered when there is a new "law" that requires schools to disclose information that has no discernable use to most people.

That makes me think that this is meant by Youngkin to be a passive smear/fear campaign -- you know -- like "oh my god, these schools are filled with drug addicts" and how the Fox news crowd tries to hype the "cities are scary places b/c everyone is getting mugged, car-jacked, shop-lifted, murdered, etc."

I don't have a problem with local news making a mention of a death at X high school. I just question the value of the district administration sending out an email each time some kid has an overdose death. Why don't they send out an email every time someone is caught having a fight in my kid's school? THAT has more relevance to my kid's safety than me being notified each time a kid in some other school has overdosed. I have no need for that info.

The fact that this edict came down from the governor -- when it's never been done before and doesn't give me any info. that I can use to make my kid safer --- makes me think it has political intentions.

100% yes. And i think I mentioned above, there is no requirement for private schools to do this. It is focused on public schools. It is part of an overall campaign to erode trust in public schools. I agree that keeping statistics on this would be fantastic. It be great if parents had access to drug statistics at their school. IN fact, the VDOE used to provide this info (at least generically, it wasn't OD related but it did mention paraphernalia and actual drugs). But that info disappeared from the website and the EO say nothing about schools and data and keeping track of anything so we can recognize trends and get useful information. Its focused on parents rights

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP.

My spidey-senses get triggered when there is a new "law" that requires schools to disclose information that has no discernable use to most people.

That makes me think that this is meant by Youngkin to be a passive smear/fear campaign -- you know -- like "oh my god, these schools are filled with drug addicts" and how the Fox news crowd tries to hype the "cities are scary places b/c everyone is getting mugged, car-jacked, shop-lifted, murdered, etc."

I don't have a problem with local news making a mention of a death at X high school. I just question the value of the district administration sending out an email each time some kid has an overdose death. Why don't they send out an email every time someone is caught having a fight in my kid's school? THAT has more relevance to my kid's safety than me being notified each time a kid in some other school has overdosed. I have no need for that info.

The fact that this edict came down from the governor -- when it's never been done before and doesn't give me any info. that I can use to make my kid safer --- makes me think it has political intentions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read the letter as being a student who attended Justice HS. This post reads as though it occurred AT Justice HS. Very sad incident none the less but the Title of this post is incorrect.

What does the law require to be reported, I wonder. ANY overdose of a student or only if it occurs at school? I would think the latter only, but who knows.

Republican Governor Glen Youngkin passed a law requiring county school systems to notify parents of every drug overdose.

Prior administrations failed to notify, and just astro-turfed the issue so parents would not know.

THANK YOU, Governor Youngkin, for taking steps to help school children and parents in the Commonwealth.

That isn't what happened. Parents of the school the kids attended were notified. For some reason people think they have a right to know what goes on in every single school in the district they attend. So now we get this vague EO that does nothing. How did this EO improve your life? What are you doing differently due to this EO. Were you not planning to talk to your kids about drugs until this school told you they existed and were deadly? Can you only talk to your kids if the government lets you know something is going on?

Are you planning on helping the families who have lost kids or who have kids struggling with addiction. PLEASE tell me how this improved your parenting or helped the children struggling with addiction.

I cannot tell if you just enjoy being on a soap box or you are just ignorant. Of course notices like this prompt parents to have conversations with their kids. And it helps kids have conversations with their parents. No information was given out. And yes, it helps people be more proactive with talking to their kids. Maybe it does not impact you at all, but it helps others. It might even safe a life.

People know about these things. If they don't an email isn't going to be their saving grace and newsflash it doesn't really matter what you say to your kids they will do what they want.

My parents talked to me about drugs a million times and I went through DARE and saw all those "this is your brain on drugs" commercials. None of it worked. I still did drugs and still got addicted.

We could do things that really matter lile provide adequate mental health services and drug addiction programs. But we send emails.

DP. I'm sorry you fell through the cracks. What would have worked? Surely parents must first be aware of the problem? You say people know about these things, but I'm not sure all of them are. Some are totally socially unconnected and clueless. In order to get kids into drug addiction programs, don't their family need to be aware first in order to take them to one?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any point in forcing FCPS to "notify" parents when each overdose happens.

What value does that bring to 99% of the parents? We are just now aware that some unknown kid in some other school died. What am I supposed to do with that information? It has zero effect on me. And then the repeated "notice" each time will also have zero effect on me other than to give the false impression that kids are dying right and left.

The number of overdoses should be reported on an annual basis. But, it is essentially useless information, that I guess is meant to make public schools look bad???? Is this part of Youngkin's agenda to ultimately drive parents away from public schools, into private (more religious) schools, and increase homeschooling funding?

This kind of publicity has very little useful information to the vast majority of parents.

This kid died. Your denialism is false, not the teen's overdose death.

This information is useless to you but for other people, they learn that teens are dying. Information that they previously didn't know.

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any point in forcing FCPS to "notify" parents when each overdose happens.

What value does that bring to 99% of the parents? We are just now aware that some unknown kid in some other school died. What am I supposed to do with that information? It has zero effect on me. And then the repeated "notice" each time will also have zero effect on me other than to give the false impression that kids are dying right and left.

The number of overdoses should be reported on an annual basis. But, it is essentially useless information, that I guess is meant to make public schools look bad???? Is this part of Youngkin's agenda to ultimately drive parents away from public schools, into private (more religious) schools, and increase homeschooling funding?

This kind of publicity has very little useful information to the vast majority of parents.