Parent and students tell LCSD1 board it must improve crisis response and reverse cuts to drug-prevention supports

A parent and a student told members of the Laramie County School District #1 Board of Trustees on April 27 that the district’s response to a recent student death fell short and that cutting the Safe and Drug Free Schools program would remove essential on-campus help for students.

Lisa Scotty Jaredy, a parent of four with two children at Central High School, said students learned of the death from peers and social media and that “the principal did not make announcements to the students or the families on Friday,” adding that the principal’s first message to families came Monday at 8:57 a.m. “To say nothing to the children and send them home for a weekend is a failure,” she said. Jaredy urged the board to adopt the Wyoming Department of Education’s post-intervention guide (Feb. 2023) and to ensure day-one notifications and resources, saying the principal’s message did not include the 988 crisis hotline.

The board did not provide a response to Jaredy’s remarks on the record during the meeting.

Junior Hannah Carroll, who said she brought a packet and a petition with 158 signatures, urged trustees not to cancel funding to the district’s Safe and Drug Free Schools program. Carroll described her own recovery from substance use and credited school-based counselors — including a counselor she named, Caleb Hanson — with helping her stay in school and reengage in extracurricular activities. “By defunding the Safe and Drug Free School program, you are not only removing the job opportunities for these adults, but reducing the options for students who suffer from addiction,” she told the board.

Carroll also cited several statistics while urging continued support; those numerical claims were made in her public comment and were not verified during the meeting. For example, she referenced overdose and youth-use figures and asked the board to keep counselors in schools so students have accessible help without insurance or outside therapy.

Why it matters: Families and students said timely communication and on-campus counseling are essential to limit contagion after a death and to provide early intervention for students with substance-use disorders. The public comments asked the board to align district practice with state guidance and to preserve staff positions that provide direct, no-cost support to students.

What the transcript shows and does not: The transcript records the parent’s and student’s appeals, the petition and the citation of the WDE post-intervention guide, but it does not show a board commitment to adopt specific changes or a staff timeline for review. No formal motion or board vote on those public-comment requests was recorded in the meeting minutes.

Next steps noted at the meeting: The board continued its agenda after public comment; subsequent items addressed purchases and personnel. Trustees did not take a public vote on the requests from Jaredy or Carroll during the April 27 session.