CLEVELAND, Texas – The Cleveland Independent School District will host town hall meetings throughout the month of October to address the increase in drug use in its schools and community.
The district spokesperson Matt Bieniek tells KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun since the start of the school year, on August 8th, there have been 15 drug-related incidents. Of them, eight required EMTs with four overdoses.
“We are seeing Percocet are largely the main substance that is being found when we have these EMS calls to our high schools,” Bieniek said. “We suspect these are laced with fentanyl however we have to send these to lab to be tested in order to officially determine that.”
The Cleveland ISD police chief is awaiting testing results.
“We are doing anything and everything we can to stop this. Safety is our priority for our students, and we are concerned, and we want the community to know about what is going on,” Bieniek said.
In a news release, the district said it will give away free Narcan, which is a life-saving medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdose and help save lives.
“We’re going to be distributing, while supplies last, free NARCAN for families and we’ll also be providing training on how to use this NARCAN,” Bieniek said. “Hopefully, they won’t have to use it but if the situation arises, they’ll be properly trained on how to use it and potentially save a life.”
The chairman of the Opioid Task Force at Texas A&M, Joy Alonzo, provided Cleveland ISD with the medicine. Doses will be given on a first come, first serve basis, while supplies last.
Here are the dates and locations of the town hall meetings:
- Oct. 18 - 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Cleveland Civic Center
- Oct. 23 - 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Santa Fe Middle School
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