Flagler County schools will soon have Narcan available on campuses

PALM COAST, Fla. - Flagler Schools will soon become the first school district in Central Florida to carry opioid overdose treatment on its campuses, advocates say.

On Tuesday evening, board members voted unanimously to add Narcan to its list of emergency medications a school nurse can administer. 

"The school nurse will be in charge at each school, but they're going to train other staff members the same way as they do with CPR and any of those other things," Michael Feldbauer, president of the Flagler County Drug Court Foundation, said.

Feldbauer's nonprofit has been working with the school district for months on this matter. His group will be supplying the district with the Narcan sprays thanks to a grant it received from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

"It's not a scare tactic. We just want to be prepared and we hope we never have to use it," he said.

For Renee DeAngelis, it's personal. She lost her 23-year-old daughter Savannah to a fentanyl overdose in 2017. Since then, she's been working to inform students and parents as part of several organizations, including Feldbauer's nonprofit. 

She hopes other school districts will follow Flagler Schools' lead.

"If I would have had it, we might have been able to save my daughter's life," DeAngelis said. "I hope this is the catalyst… for our country because of this epidemic we're having until it's somehow gotten under control."

Following Tuesday evening's vote, district staff members will be tasked with determining where the Narcan sprays will be stored and who, other than the school nurses, will be trained to administer them. 

The goal, the school district's attorney told FOX 35, is to have everything finalized by the 2024-2025 school year. Until then, its SROs will continue to have the life-saving device handy, as SROs at other local districts do.