PERRYVILLE – Perry County School District No. 32 Superintendent Dr. Fara Jones confirmed Wednesday that PCSD 32 was not one of the school districts testing wastewater for the presence of nitazene, a new opiod said to be five to 10 times the potency of fentanyl.
Thirty-seven school districts, including adjacent Ste. Genevieve County School District R-II, is involved in the testing program. The Ste. Genevieve district reported one of its weekly tests indicated the presence of nitazene, but noted that during the week many visitors were on campus, so the source may not have been a student. (See related story for details on the Ste. Genevieve testing.)
A Perry County School District No. 32 spokesman released this statement regarding the issue of drug use:
“Student safety is the foundation of everything we do at District 32, and that includes staying vigilant regarding emerging health threats like nitazenes. The District is aware of the increasing presence of these synthetic opioids. We remain committed to educating our students on the life-altering dangers of all illicit drug use through health curriculum and ongoing campus awareness efforts such as DARE.
“While we hope to never encounter an overdose on our campus, we are prepared. Our school nurses and safety officers maintain a close working relationship with local first responders and are trained to coordinate immediate emergency care should a crisis occur. We will continue to evaluate our protocols to ensure our staff has the tools necessary to keep our students safe.”