After consultations with various stakeholders, Chinook’s Edge School Division has decided not to introduce anti-overdose naloxone kits into its facilities, says superintendent Kurt Sacher.
In March trustees instructed administration to prepare a report on the kits, including requirements for training and current practices in other school divisions.
The decision to examine the possibility of bringing the kits into schools was part of ongoing efforts to ensure student safety, he said.
During last week’s board meeting, administration reported that a decision had been made not to introduce the kits, he said.
“With the greatest of intentions we wanted to take a look at what we could do in that area, but it really requires a careful expertise,” said Sacher. “Teachers are incredible and trained in so many ways, but they are not trained to administer naloxone kits.
“Alberta Health Services has advised us of the legislation on which groups are set up and able to administer naloxone kits and teachers are not included.”
Other experts the division consults were also not recommending bringing in the kits, he said.
“We talked with our insurers, our legal team, and all information we have at this time we should not be administering those kits,” he said.
“Until the legislation changes or we have different advice from Alberta Health Services and others we won’t be providing those kits at this time.”
There have been no fentanyl overdoses in the division’s schools, he said.
“We haven’t had any so I don’t think there is any real reason for alarm,” he said. “It was just one of those things (the kits) that would have been nice to have if we were able to do it without putting our staff in a bad position.”
All schools in the division have a protocol in place to deal with overdose situations, which involves calling 911, he said.
