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Sheldon ISD SHAC recommends fentanyl-prevention assemblies; district outlines multi-year AWARE mental-health grant
Summary
The School Health Advisory Council recommended age-appropriate, research-based instruction on fentanyl and drug-poisoning awareness for grades 6–12 under House Bill 3908 and proposed spring assemblies using Council on Recovery presenters; officials also described a shared five-year AWARE grant that will fund campus mental-health staff.
The School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) told the Sheldon ISD board it recommends age-appropriate, research-based instruction for secondary students on fentanyl dangers and drug-poisoning awareness as required by House Bill 3908. SHAC members described a November presentation by Jimmy Atkinson and urged the board to use a Council on Recovery presenter, Ginny Addison, for spring assemblies at middle and high schools.
"House Bill 3908 gives duties to the SHAC to recommend to the board age-appropriate curriculum for instruction and the dangers of opioids," the SHAC presenter said, summarizing the council's recommendation that the district adopt prevention lessons for grades 6–12.
SHAC also gave an update on the AWARE grant, a multi-district, five-year award the presentation listed with $1,100,000 in year-one funding shared among partner districts and a projected shared total of $1,800,000 across years two through five. The grant will fund a prevention specialist, a youth wellness specialist and a licensed clinical-dependency counselor to work on campuses; SHAC said hiring for those positions is underway and that specialists will help deliver prevention programming and support the district's mental-health strategy.
SHAC asked the board to approve using the Council on Recovery for in-school assemblies modeled on the November presentation. The presenter said students who attended provided positive feedback and offered ideas for grade-level presentation formats. The SHAC representative noted the assemblies would be tailored to middle school, ninth-grade center and high school students.
Board members and staff did not record a formal vote on the SHAC recommendation in the transcript; administrators said they are working to hire grant-funded staff and will bring formal action items to the board as hiring and contracts are finalized. The SHAC presenter named the organizations and staff that will be involved but did not present a final contract or schedule in the public record during the meeting.
Next steps noted in the meeting: administrators will continue hiring grant-funded positions, bring any required contracts or presenter agreements back to the board for approval, and schedule the proposed prevention assemblies pending final agreements.
