Drug overdoes at Cleveland ISD high school continue to rise
Cleveland, Texas - Cleveland ISD confirmed that Wednesday morning a student overdosed on drugs at the high school. This marks the 15th drug incident of the school year in the district. They say in 8 of those cases an ambulance was called out to the school and in 4 cases, the student required Narcan.
The district says the overdoses are suspected to be linked to fentanyl-laced Percocet.
Onelia Santos has a 17-year-old son who goes to the school.
She first spoke with Fox 26 on Monday about the rash of overdoses. Just a few days later she was hurt to hear yet another child fell victim to drugs in the high school.
Another drug overdose at Cleveland ISD
Cleveland ISD confirmed that Wednesday morning a student overdosed on drugs at the high school. This marks the 15th drug incident of the school year in the district. They say in 8 of those cases an ambulance was called out to the school and in 4 cases, the student required Narcan.
"I heard there was another overdose today. It was a young girl. It made me literally sick to my stomach. And scared," she said.
Luckily, the district says all the students who have overdosed survived. But, Santos says she's afraid for all the kids in the high school.
"I don't want kids to die, they're too young. I don't want that happening."
The district says they have many measures in place to try and combat the growing issue. Students are required to carry only clear backpacks, they have a drug dog on campus daily and are planning drug courses for students and parents. They're also working with the police department on a daily basis.
"We're around school districts in the morning time looking for suspicious activity," said Darrel Broussard, Cleveland Police Chief.
"We of course work with them daily and work with them every which way we can to try and prevent some of these
Students being affected by illegal drugs," he said.
The district also says they are working to get more staff trained and cleared to administer Narcan in response to the recent overdoses.
"Our district needs help right now that's what I want," said Santos.
The district has also planned multiple town halls, one on October 18th and one on October 23rd. The chief will be there to help spread awareness and give out free narcan.
"To put the awareness in the community that this is a problem," he said.
Santos wants to see parents, students and the whole community show up for the town hall to try and find a solution to this potentially deadly problem.
MORE: 14 drug-related incidents in Cleveland ISD since start of school
"Our superintendent and our district is doing everything they can. But there's only so much they can do. If we don't come together as a community and try to stop this… We're going to lose more kids than we have."