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Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Employee Allegedly Gave Student Prescribed Drugs

According to a communication to parents, the employee since resigned from their position
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Photo: New Africa | Shutterstock

On March 1, R.L. Turner High School’s principal Adam Grinage reportedly informed parents of a drug-related incident between a school employee and a student.

According to the Dallas Observer, the subject line of the email Grinage sent to parents read "Employee Arrest - Drugs." In the message, the principal explained that an employee at the high school provided a student with prescription medication without the needed authorization. 

In the email obtained by the Dallas Observer, Grinage said that as soon as Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD learned of the incident, it launched an investigation and the employee was put on a paid administrative leave, but since resigned from their position. “Law enforcement was notified immediately of the incident and is now conducting their own investigation," said Grinage.

Although there are no details as to what type of prescription medication the employee supplied the student, this is a sensitive issue for Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. Only weeks earlier local police arrested a 22-year-old man believed to be a top source of supply of fentanyl-laced pills that led to three teenage overdose deaths in a span of six months. 

The three teenagers were Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD students and since then the district made efforts to address the issue and help parents with information and anti-fentanyl workshops. However, in the wake of the arrests, the district has been criticized for ignoring parents’ warnings about the presence of the drug among students. 

“I reached out,” Carmin Williams, the parent of a 12-year-old student addicted to the opioid, told NBCDFW. “I begged and cried for help. But I didn’t get it. And now all of a sudden, everybody is so concerned. When I started talking about this in May and June of last year, I was going to the school.” 

On Monday, Feb. 27, a district meeting heat up after parents and activists questioned the district’s response to the string of overdoses and fentanyl-related hospitalizations that occurred last year. 

According to The Dallas Morning News, activist Carlos Quintanilla accused the district of not doing enough. “It is unconscionable, unconscionable, for a district the size of Carrollton-Farmers Branch to allow [students] to overdose,”  said Quintanilla during the first of two workshops planned by the district.