LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish Public Schools will receive more than $221,000 in opioid settlement funds to expand programs aimed at fighting drugs inside schools. The money will fund telehealth therapy, vape detection systems, drug testing, and new staff to support at-risk students.
The funds, totally $221,174, comes through a cooperative agreement between the Livingston Parish government and LPPS, following a proposal by Superintendent Jody Purvis. Parish leaders approved the plan at their July 24 council meeting, and the school board authorized Purvis to finalize the agreement on Aug. 7.
These funds will go toward:
- Funding telehealth therapy for middle and high school students
- Vape detectors on middle and high school campuses
- Drug testing for alternative program students
- New administrative assistant at the Livingston Alternative Program to coordinate resources, awareness, and recovery support
Daybreak Health offers virtual counseling sessions with parental consent, referred through school counselors. Purvis said maintaining access to the program is vital for students who might otherwise go without help.
The vape detectors, already in place at many campuses, are designed to alert administrators when vaping is detected in restrooms.
“It doesn’t just detect the vapes. It also has a sensor on it that detects like hostile language or loud noises, so say there is a fight in the restroom, an alert goes off for that as well and sends it to administration,” he said.
They also can trigger nearby cameras to identify who was present during vaping incidents or fights. Schools using the devices have already seen a drop in drug-related expulsions.
“We truly feel that it is a deterrent for vaping, and so it’s something that we think is very beneficial,” he added.
The new funds will also help with hiring and paying an administrative assistant position at the Livingston Alternative Program. This program works with students who have longer expulsions, often related to drugs, and readies them to return back to campus once their expulsion ends or helps them receive their high school diploma.
Livingston Alternative is the only LPPS program that does not have an assistant principal or administrative assistant.
“That person will actually be working with those kids and give more boots on the ground for helping coordinate some of those counseling services, coordinating more discussion regarding opioid and fentanyl awareness, helping track the behavioral incidents while they’re on that site to try to help be more proactive in preventing some of that behavior in the future, and then also, kind of being the liaison between the families and that program,” Purvis said of the role.
Overall, Purvis is excited to put the funds to use in improving these ongoing initiatives throughout the parish.
“Our goal should always be to help our students improve and help our students grow so they can be productive in society. When we have stronger schools, we’re going to have a stronger community and that’s our goal with the things that we’re working on here,” he said.
Fight against fentanyl
Livingston and other parishes across the state have been battling fentanyl for the past several years. They’re even seeing other drugs laced with the deadly opioid. Drugs like marijuana or even vapes can be infused with fentanyl and have deadly consequences.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is now the leading contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States.
“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” said DEA administrator Anne Milgram. “Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison.”
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