CLEVELAND, Texas — There have been 15 drug-related incidents at Cleveland Independent School District since the start of the school year, according to officials.
The latest incident happened Wednesday morning and NARCAN, which is a medicine used to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, had to be used, officials said. It was Cleveland ISD's fourth drug-related incident where NARCAN had to be used, officials said.
Superintendent Stephen McCanless said most of the incidents are happening at Cleveland High School. In fact, since Aug. 8, eight Cleveland High School students required ambulance services for overdoses, the district said.
"Either using them before they get to school or right as they arrive to school," McCanless said.
Though no students died, the district said it's sounding the alarm after some of the overdoses included Percocet pills that may have been laced with fentanyl.
"Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opioid that can be fatal even in small doses," McCanless wrote in a statement. "Unfortunately, drug dealers have been known to mix fentanyl with other substances, such as counterfeit prescription drugs like Percocet, without the knowledge of the user. These counterfeit pills can be virtually indistinguishable from the real medication, making it difficult to identify the presence of fentanyl."
The district said all of its campuses are stocked with NARCAN and every Cleveland ISD police officer carries the medicine. There are also drug identification courses available that will help parents, teachers and community members identify drug use.
In addition, the district will be increasing drug inspections, which include random daily searches by their own narcotics K9, and host town hall meetings where parents will be supplied with NARCAN.
But some parents say more needs to be done.
"One drug dog is not going to be enough for our school," Onelia Santos said. "The capacity that it’s at. It’s not going to be enough. We need more help here. We need more education.”
Cleveland ISD said if you or someone you know is struggling with drug addiction or misuse, please reach out for help.
Watch Superintendent McCanless' message to parents below: