The Martinsville City School Board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the Community Learning Center to consider a number of safety-related policy updates.
The updates will deal with topics including anti-overdose medication, emergency management and medical plans.
“Each school develops a written school crisis, emergency management and medical emergency response plan,” reads information about the school division’s crisis emergency management and medical emergency response plan.
The plan provides best practices for preventing and managing critical events such as those related to fire, flood, tornadoes and other natural disasters. It also includes loss or disruption of power, water, shelter or communications.
A safety audit, held annually at each school, is part of the emergency plan.
“School safety audit means a written assessment of the safety conditions in each public school to identify and, if necessary, develop solutions for physical safety concerns, including building security issues, and identify and evaluate any patterns of student safety concerns occurring on school property or at school-sponsored events,” according to information from the school division.
The school board and emergency management officials play a role in the plan’s creation.
The management of opioid antagonists — medications that block the effects of opioids and can be administered in overdose situations — will also be discussed at Monday’s meeting.
“Each school maintains a properly and safely stored supply of opioid antagonists in an amount equivalent to at least two unexpired doses, inspects its dosage at least annually, and maintains a record of the date of inspection, expiration date on each dose, and the date of administration of a dose, in the event that a dose of such opioid antagonist is administered for overdose reversal to a person who is believed to be experiencing or about to experience a life-threatening opioid overdose,” according to information from the school division.
“The superintendent establishes regulations for proper and safe storage of such opioid antagonist supply in each such school and establishes regulations for each such school to request a replacement dose of an opioid antagonist any time such dose has expired, is administered for overdose reversal, or is otherwise rendered unusable and regulations ensuring each such request is timely fulfilled,” the information says.
The school board partners with the Virginia Department of Health to provide training for administering opioid antagonists. Every school has at least one employee trained to administer, and have access to, opioid antagonists.
