GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford County Schools parents and staff are concerned students will get ahold of fentanyl as overdoses continue to increase across the country.
According to Guilford County Public Health, there's been a 200% increase in overdose deaths in the past decade. Fentanyl is the number one killer of young adults in the United States.
Faculty at Northern Guilford High School is stepping up to bring awareness.
WFMY News 2's Itinease McMiller spoke with the school's PTSA president Kelly Reis that's working to prevent fentanyl from entering schools.
Reis says that vaping and alcoholism are big problems at Northern Guilford, not deadly drugs.
Yet, she's worried that it's only a matter of time before a student gets their hands on fentanyl and experiences an overdose.
Reis says it's hard to ignore the vaping that's going on in school bathrooms and parking lots.
To better gauge the problem, all Northern Guilford students took a survey on drug awareness at the school.
They found 88% of students say there is some severity of drug use, and 22% say it's a major problem at Northern Guilford.
"It's going on in all of our high schools. You'll hear from different principals what their drug of choice is," Reis said. "The seniors-- if they're the alcohol group or the vaping group. It can be a class or with the whole school"
She and other Northern Guilford staff are hosting an educational town hall on Wednesday, Feb. 22 to share the facts and dangers of the drug.
Reis has also gotten the county's board of education involved.
Guilford County school board member Deborah Napper says she's encouraging folks from all schools to attend.
"To prevent any interaction with it as humanly possible. I believe Dr. Oakley has done a fantastic job with our ESSER money of providing mental health resources for students and families," Napper said. "There is no cost and they can reach out at any time. They can reach out to councils for mental health services because this does not have to be the way to cope."
Several other school board members say drug use including fentanyl is a community issue that could spill over into schools.
They plan to talk about the issue in next week's meeting.
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