Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools considers policy to allow naloxone in schools

FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Leaders with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools are taking a look at a potential new policy that would allow district employees to administer naloxone to students.

Less than two weeks ago, Forsyth County released numbers on youth EMS overdose calls. For kids 17 and under, the number has more than tripled over the last three years.

If the school district chooses to implement the proposed policy, it would place naloxone at all 81 schools in the district, and district employees would be trained to administer it.

At its meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the school district’s policy committee discussed the drafted policy and gave parents a chance to weigh in.

“To make us feel prepared in the event that a student or even an adult, whether it be intentional or accidental … that we would be prepared to take care of someone and hopefully save a life,” WS/FCS Director of School Nurses Katie Key said.

WS/FCS’s goal for the new policy would be to minimize and prevent opioid misuse at schools. If implemented, emergency naloxone will be on campuses stored in easily accessible locations.

Designated and trained school personnel would be allowed to give it out in the event of a suspected overdose during the school day.

“We haven’t seen any drug overdoses or deaths opioid-wise. We just know that in our Forsyth County community … those numbers have risen over the past couple of years,” Key said.

On campuses, the school nurse would be responsible for monitoring the expiration dates of the drug.

It would be provided by Forsyth County Health and Human Services at no cost to the school district.

“We never know where an overdose is going to occur. So our best preventative measure is to be prepared in every footprint of Forsyth County,” Forsyth County Behavioral Health Services Director Denise Price said.

According to Forsyth County’s online overdose tracking map, 117 kids overdosed between Jan. 2023 and March 2024.

All 117 children survived. In 11 cases, a single dose of naloxone was used. In five cases, multiple doses were used.

“The number of youth overdoses has risen, so the likelihood that we may need it on a school property does exist,” Price said.

Naloxone at schools isn’t a new concept.

While Guilford County Schools does not have a district policy for it, school resource officers carry the lifesaving drug. SROs at Rockingham County Schools do the same. RCS and Alamance-Burlington Schools are both currently looking into information to potentially explore a naloxone policy in their districts.

According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services annual school health services report, last school year, school nurses, staff or SROs administered naloxone 21 times on school grounds in the state.

“In North Carolina over the past year, I have seen … there have been many other school districts that have adopted a policy. So it’s becoming more popular to have a policy of this type and have naloxone available,” Key said.

To be implemented, the proposed policy needs the WS/FCS Board of Education to vote on it and give it their stamp of approval.

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