BUTLER TWP — The Butler School Board voted Monday night to suspend a policy it approved in December that would allow opioid-antidote Naloxone to be kept and administered in each of the district’s buildings.

Board member Bill Halle suggested that the board reconsider the policy in light of the recent news that carfentanil has been circulating in the region.

Carfentanil is an extremely potent opioid that is used as a tranquilizer for elephants and other large mammals.

It is estimated to be 10,000 times more potent than morphine, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency issued an alert last year to police and medical professionals cautioning that contact with the drug, even by skin, could result in an overdose, or death.

The board voted 5-4 in favor of suspending the policy.

“The drug that is on the street right now, that is mixed with heroin, there is a significant danger,” Halle said.

Board member Alvin Vavro voted in favor of keeping the policy.

“What is the alternative if you have a student that has overdosed?” Vavro said.

Halle responded that it would be better for paramedics to respond to the building than for a nurse to be put at risk.

“You have qualified medical professionals that are within the 911 (coverage area) that are specially trained and equipped and prepared to administer that drug and deal with what happens afterwards,” he said.

Superintendent Dale Lumley said he was in favor of suspending and revising the policy.

“I was originally in favor of this policy, but I do share the concerns about the carfentanil and the potential danger it would have for our responders,” he said.

The district was in the process of applying for a state grant that would have covered the costs of the Naloxone. However, officials did learn that the grant would not have covered the costs for it to be supplied to the elementary school buildings.

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Mary Wolf said that the first two requirements to apply for the grant were that the district have a board policy in place and that the school nurses who would administer the Naloxone be trained. The policy also had made it possible for other school employees to be trained and able to administer the antidote in the future.

The nurses had yet to be trained as of Monday, so the application had not been submitted, she said.

Board member Neil Convery said he plans to bring up the policy in the next meeting of the board’s policy committee.