School Board Hears Sobering News About Drugs
Photo by Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash
Mica Hutchison - CRR Staff
Copper River School District School Board held a work session followed by their regular board meeting on March 8.
The board heard two presentations on health and safety during the work session. Glennallen Middle and High School principal Jason Williams presented information on student infractions. Most issues involve truancy and technology violations like inappropriate cell phone usage, but school officials have seen a rise in tobacco and drug usage.
Williams has been discussing the possibility of an alternative school with Superintendent Ashton. They’d like to see high-risk kids in a smaller setting with a teacher who could work closely with those students.
Alaska State Troopers spoke with the School Board on the rise of drugs in the Copper River Basin and in CRSD schools.
Board President Joshua Scott said, “We’re hearing a lot of parents voice concerns about the drugs,” and asked Troopers if there is merit to rumors in the community. Board member Becky Schwanke expressed similar concern saying, “I had one of the high schoolers tell me that he sees (Xanax) in the school every single day.”
Illicit Xanax is readily available in our area according to Sgt. Briggs. Troopers are also seeing a lot of Suboxone which comes in a film that quickly absorbs under the tongue.
Sgt. Briggs traced the evolution of the drug problem in the Copper River basin over the last decade. While marijuana and alcohol have always been around, authorities saw a rise in prescription pill abuse. “Kids kinda trended into getting meds from home,” which Sgt. Briggs said became a sizable issue.
There was an effort to raise public awareness about the need to secure medication cabinets. With the rise of awareness, pharmaceuticals became harder to find and addicts shifted to street drugs.
“Now the methamphetamine and the heroin are through the roof,” said Sgt. Briggs. “It’s worse now than it has ever been. The drugs are coming over the border in the hundreds of millions of tons every year.”
Briggs spent time in Palmer on a drug unit, and they are intercepting large amounts of heroin and methamphetamine every week. “Straight-up kilos like you see in the movies, cartel stamps on them, coming right into the Mat-Su Valley. And that stuff is coming here,” said Briggs, adding that the Copper River Basin is seeing a large uptick right now, “and it’s continually getting worse.”
School and law enforcement authorities have seen a rapid rise in vaping in CRSD schools. When asked by Board Member Hannah Bengtson if students are vaping nicotine or marijuana, Sgt. Briggs replied, “Everything. You can get on the black web and you can order anything you want and deliver it right to this post office right here.”
In addition to THC oils, there has been a rise in vaping methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl. The smell is often masked with fruity scents, and he mentioned they’re seeing heroin which smells strongly of vinegar when vaped.
Sgt. Briggs also sounded the alarm over fake Oxycodone 30 mg tablets they’re seeing in the community. The little blue pills contain fentanyl, and the dose in each pill varies. “Three kids buy these pills. Two of them will do these pills and they’ll be high. Then the third one will die,” said Briggs.
Bengtson asked if they were being manufactured in Alaska, and Sgt. Briggs said they were coming from cartels. “Mexico can buy direct from China. They can buy hundreds of tons of pure fentanyl, or carfentanyl, and that stuff then gets pressed into these pills, it comes over the border, and it’s dispersed all over.”
Recently, troopers in Glennallen have seen a drug called “grey death,” which looks like concrete powder and contains a mixture of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanyl, and other pharmaceuticals.
In response to the rise of drugs in area schools, CRSD will be obtaining Narcan rescue kits to reverse opioid overdoses.
Trooper Somerville said they’ve recently seen cases where students are getting drugs while in the Valley or Anchorage with their parents. Social media is being utilized to arrange meetings with drug dealers. “Your child stays in the car when you run into the pharmacy or the grocery store for two minutes, and they’re meeting your child at your car in the parking lot,” said Trooper Somerville.
President Scott closed out the work session by asking for recommendations CRSD could implement, and Sgt. Briggs said the most important thing is communication. He stressed that information can be brought to the Troopers anonymously, and intervening in drug distribution and use saves lives.
Opening the School Board Meeting, the Board accepted the resignation of eight teachers and one paraprofessional. They also hired a daytime custodian and an intensive paraprofessional.
Superintendent Ashton brought the matter of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference back before the Board, which previously voted against approving the travel expense. This time the measure was approved and up to seven staff members and two board members will attend the conference in New Orleans, LA the last week of June.
Adoption of the 2022- 2023 School Calendar was approved. Parent Marce Simeon gave a public comment stating that she’d like to see the calendar approved two years out. With COVID, information needed to create the calendar has not been available that far out, but the board agreed more notice for parents is ideal.
The board declined to send members to the Alaska Association of School Boards’ Legislative Fly-In.
Approval was given on the sale and purchase of new district vehicles. A prior Transportation Committee meeting discussed the need in detail.
Also approved was an Impact Aid application, a surplus of shop equipment, and revisions to the AR 2110 Organizational Chart which details staff lines of responsibility.
