New Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence defended the school system’s handling of a rise in student overdoses, explaining the county has to balance informing the community with student privacy.
At a work session on Tuesday, county staff provided an update on how the Virginia school system is working to combat student substance use. It’s taking various steps, such as planning opioid and fentanyl awareness events, providing naloxone training to some staff and offering students presentations during class.
In response to reports echoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that said Loudoun schools waited more than 20 days to notify parents of a series of recent overdoses, Spence said the school system strives to be as transparent as possible in telling families about medical incidents on campuses. But, he said, that sometimes prompts concerns about student privacy.
Every time there’s a medical incident at a school, Spence said, the school community is told about it. However, the type of incident isn’t specified “for fear of having students be able to attribute whatever that is to the student that they may see going out on a gurney to an ambulance.”
Spence’s comments came after Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman sounded the alarm about student overdoses, explaining that there were nine recent overdoses involving Park View High students. In an online message to families earlier this month, Spence said so far this school year, there have been 10 suspected overdoses on school grounds across six high schools.
Some Park View parents told WTOP that Park View leadership should be praised for how it handled the overdoses and communication process. But others are criticizing the school system for what they say is an effort to try not to disclose information about the incidents.
However, Spence said he’s not aware of a time the school system has ever detailed an overdose in a note to families and said the county was “following the processes and protocols that had been in place in LCPS.”
“I do recognize that it does not matter what I say, that because of the broken trust here in Loudoun County, and concerns over transparency, people are going to think that we weren’t being transparent,” Spence said at the work session. “And all I can say, and all I want to continue to say, is it’s not our intention to withhold important information from our families.”
Spence said he told school board members about a case involving an overdose on Oct. 18, and then didn’t hear about the issue until Chapman, the sheriff, called him the following week. The day after that call, Spence said he asked a task force to start working on an education plan, a safety assessment and a communication plan.
“From an intention perspective, there was no intention to withhold transparency,” Spence said.
The school system, Spence said, is still waiting for guidance on how to implement Gov. Youngkin’s executive order, which requires school districts to tell families about school-related overdoses within 24 hours.
The order directs the Virginia Department of Education to give each school division guidance on the logistics. Loudoun County, Spence said, has not yet received that state guidance.
Meanwhile, school division leaders said the county is expanding naloxone trainings, considering adding more lessons about fentanyl for middle schoolers and exploring the possibility of something such as a recovery high school, where students could go after they’ve been in treatment but aren’t ready to return to a traditional school environment.
More information about how the school system is responding to a rise in student overdoses is available online.
