LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Yes. This is the world we live in.
The School Committee on Thursday approved having a Narcan kit in the nurse's office just in case an adult in the school overdoses on heroin. The kit is being provided by the district attorney's office and schools throughout Berkshire County are receiving kits.
"I would hope we would never need it for a Lanesborough Elementary School child. However, we do have other adults who come into the building," school nurse Kathy Larson said. "It is a medication I hope we will never need."
Lanesborough is a small, rural town with around 3,000 people who live in it. The average single-family home costs $217,000. The schools repeatedly score in the top percentile across the state.
School Committee member PJ Pannesco is a volunteer firefighter and trained first-responder. He has been on scenes in town where Narcan was used to save a life.
"As someone who has seen Narcan work on several occasion in our own community, I would absolutely support having it here at the school just in case," Pannesco said.
The medication isn't for children, so the focus isn't on them. But Larson is trained to use it and has been kept up to date with Berkshire Health Systems' strategy to combat the growing opioid abuse problem everywhere in the county.
Interim Superintendent Kimberly Grady says Mount Greylock Regional School, which sits in the affluent Williamstown and near to Williams College, one of the top-ranked liberal arts colleges in the nation, already has a kit. She says the policy for having it limits the administration of it to the school nurse and emergency responders who are called to the scene.
In 2016, 60 people died from drug overdoses in Berkshire County and state police said they responded to 877 unattended deaths statewide that are suspected heroin overdoses.
For the students, Larson said she is also rolling out a dental program. A dental hygienist will be coming to the school to provide oral health screenings, cleanings, and even X-rays. Larson said there are students without dental insurance and this program, fully funded by the state, allows for children to obtain that care.
"Permission slips will go home with every student and on it, they will opt in or opt out of the program," Larson said.
In other business, Business Manager Nancy Rauscher said after two quarters the budget is in good shape. Last year the business department did a large clearup of the budgeting and the way items were charged against the different lines and it is showing. Rauscher said everything is tracked much better this year than in the past.
Looking forward to next year, Rauscher said the budget looks to be in a good place but may require a little more dependence on school choice revenue.
"We are looking at relying more heavily on school choice next year if need be," she said.
The School Committee will be holding a budget workshop in early February to start crafting next year's spending plan.
School choice has been a contentious aspect in town with many town officials opposing the use of it. That message has been made clear and while school officials still support the program, seeing it as a way to bring in additional revenues to cover inherent overhead costs, they are being more aware and conservative about it.
Grady said the administration has been paying a closer attention to what school-choice acceptance on the elementary school level means for the future at the high school. This upcoming year, Principal Martin McEvoy has an early suggestion of opening up just three slots in the first grade.
"I think the other grades have the amount of students we would like to see and a little room should someone move into town," McEvoy said.
