Naloxone policy passed by Butler school board
BUTLER TWP — The Butler Area School District School Board passed a policy Monday that would allow schools to carry naloxone, a drug used to treat people experiencing a drug overdose.
District superintendent Brian White said at the meeting that after the board passed the first reading at its Nov. 21 meeting, school nurses and county law enforcement agencies recommended that the district have a policy in place to allow naloxone.
“They pointed out this major shift between now and four or five years ago,” White said. “Now an innocent person could touch it and it could cause a medical emergency. All those groups are recommending we adopt the policy.”
The board passed the second reading of the policy Monday 8-1, with only member — Bill Halle — voting it down. Halle asked that the board table the vote on the second reading to get more specific language in place that deals with “who and how and what the protocol is going to be” when naloxone is needed.
White said district administrators will now proceed to go through the necessary training for certain professionals in the schools to be able to properly use naloxone. It will likely take until the end of January before the district will have the drug available.
White also said people have offered to donate naloxone, but the district cannot accept it in that form.
“Once all the staff is trained, we’ll have to secure the naloxone itself,” White said. “Just like any medicine we might administer to a child, we have to get it from a pharmacy.”
School board member Jennifer Daniels-Wells asked at a November board meeting that a policy be drafted, and said her concern lay with staff and students who could accidentally come into contact with narcotics.
The health care professionals and school resource officers will have to complete training through the state Department of Health to be authorized to administer naloxone, as per the policy language.
White said the naloxone supply and accompanying training would likely come at no cost to the district. He added that he will attend the training sessions as well, to report back to the school board about what they entail.
