As the summer season wraps up and students prepare to return to school, Hays CISD officials are stepping up their warnings to parents about the persistent dangers of fentanyl. This heightened sense of awareness comes on the tail of a tragic spate of fentanyl-related deaths in 2022, which saw six students from the district lose their lives to the potent opioid. Addressing the urgency of the issue, the mother of one victim, Janel Rodriguez, has been proactive in sharing her late son Noah's story to educate the community on the gravity of the epidemic. She told CBS Austin, “We were on the map in ’22 for Fentanyl, and now we’re changing that.”
In response to the dire situation, Hays CISD launched a campaign to make Narcan, an overdose reversal medication, widely available on all campuses. An 11-time administration of Narcan by school nurses during the 2022-2023 school year attests to its critical role in combating overdoses. The district's effort includes a stark video reenactment of a student overdosing, which, according to Hays CISD Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy in a statement obtained by KUT, has been effective in conveying the seriousness of the fentanyl crisis to students. Sadly, the challenge remains in the limited treatment options available for those seeking help, a gap that Rodriguez's nonprofit Forever 15 Project is working to bridge by connecting with rehabilitation facilities outside the county.
Enhancing the district's arsenal against drug abuse, Mark Andrews, a deputy with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office and a parent to a teenager, has stressed the importance of open communication between children and parents. He's been involved in presenting to over 25,000 people about fentanyl's dangers. Andrews emphasizes the availability of anonymous reporting apps as a resource for kids to reach out safely, saying to CBS Austin, "We have those avenues in place, especially when we do our presentation."
The battle against fentanyl, however, is far from over. Anthony Hipolito, a deputy at the Hays County Sheriff's Office, warns of a new wave of even stronger synthetic drugs infiltrating the drug supply. “It’s killing us. It’s killing our friends. It’s killing our loved ones, our peers," he told KUT. The need for a comprehensive county-wide approach has never been more critical, as the fight against this evolving drug crisis continues to demand collective vigilance and concerted efforts to prevent future tragedies.
