[0:02] Okay. So good evening, everyone. Welcome to our Shaq meeting. My name is Diana. I'm the director

[0:13] of health and wellness for the district. And what we're going to do right now is we're going to go around the room

[0:20] and then around the virtual room and have introduction. So what I'll do is I'll start with our nurses first.

[0:30] I'll start with Nidia, and then Nidia, you tag one of your fellow nurses, and then when we get through the nurses, I'll start with our community and family members.

[0:42] Okay. I'm Nidia Rodriguez. I'm at Mainer High School, and I'm tagging Danielle Keller next.

[0:52] Thank you. I'm Danielle Keller, and I am a school nurse at the 9th Grade Center here in Mainer. Francis?

[0:59] Hi,

[1:06] I'm Frances Foster and I am a nurse at the Maynard High School Complex.

[1:14] Oh, Stiggers.

[1:19] Hi, I'm Cassandra Stiggers, Pavana.

[1:21] I'm the school's health assistant for Maynard Excel Academy, Gianna.

[1:31] And Gianna Maynard.

[1:35] I'm actually right next to Cassandra, hence the echo in the background.

[1:39] but IG on on the nurse over here at Shadow Glen Elementary. All right, Nadia, did you go?

[1:48] Sujit. Okay, so let me tag, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take it from you and I'm gonna have Jen

[1:54] introduce yourself. Thank you.

[1:59] Me, Jen. Jen Parks. Jen Parks. Sorry, Jen Parks, Assistant Director,

[2:05] Doctor of Food and Nutrition.

[2:09] And then Nellie.

[2:13] Hi, my name is Nellie.

[2:15] I'm the coordinator with the whole show at Mainer ISD.

[2:19] And then, Dr. Montero,

[2:25] you're muted.

[2:30] Sarah, can you hear me now?

[2:32] Yes.

[2:32] Okay.

[2:33] Dr. Liz Montero, the pediatric dentist at Mainer Kids' Dentist.

[2:37] Thank you.

[2:39] Karen Turell.

[2:41] Hi, I'm Karen Turell, I'm the wearer coordinator for Mainer ISD.

[2:47] and Dr. Karen Smith. I'm Chair and Smith. I'm a local family doctor and along

[2:55] with Anne Weir, one of the founders and directors of the Mainer Wellness Alliance in

[3:00] Mainer Free Cabinet.

[3:03] And then, Anne Weir? Hi, Councilwoman Anne Weir. I'm an

[3:11] optician by trade. I've been on the shack. It feels like for a really, really, really

[3:15] long time. And like Dr. Karen Smith said, Bounder of Ain't Mainer Wellness Alliance in the Free Clinic.

[3:23] And then Mr. Bean? A big bean, Executive Directive Special Program, so later ISD.

[3:31] And then we will start, we'll move over to Annabelle.

[3:38] Hey, a little bit unconventional. I'm actually a student at UT Austin and I'm going into

[3:44] medical school at Dell here in the spring and I have worked with Maynard

[3:50] Health Alliance these past few years and I have a lot of free time right now

[3:55] before I go into medical school so I kind of just wanted to hear if there's

[3:59] any places that you think that I can help out or any kind of shortcomings or

[4:03] gaps because I just love to help where I can. Great, thank you, welcome and then

[4:10] Rebecca.

[4:23] Okay, sorry. I used to team this with me a second. My name is Rebecca Lasos. I'm a community health organizer for Texas Anims, Texas opioid prevention for students program.

[4:34] And last but not least, Maria. Hello, everyone. My name is Maria Ligria. I'm also, I'm also a community health organizer with Texas opioid prevention for students program.

[4:45] All right. So welcome everybody to our second meeting and this evening our agenda is not really long.

[4:58] What we what I did share in the calendar invite for the minutes for approval from the 828-25 meeting.

[5:06] It has been since August since we did meet.

[5:11] We had to postpone our December meeting, so we will be needing to have another meeting in May, and I would like to see if possible we could do that in person, but we can talk about that in April.

[5:27] Not a real long meeting. I think if we could come together in May, that would be really nice to end the year, but we can talk a little bit more.

[5:38] And for those of you that had the opportunity to view the minutes,

[5:44] were there any corrections or anything that needed to be amended?

[5:56] This was really just an approval of the minutes.

[5:58] So Dr. Smith, were you able to see those?

[6:01] I haven't had time to look at them, but I trust you.

[6:03] I'm not going to make us go through them right now.

[6:06] I was going to say, for Annabelle, in case I have to cut out early,

[6:10] because I'm sharing another meeting here after this one.

[6:13] We can use you on the Graduation Court Project.

[6:17] And Sylia Neville has been reaching out to me

[6:20] wanting to get that going again.

[6:21] So we do have, I guess, three committee members now.

[6:26] And if anyone else is interested in that,

[6:27] is just briefly a project where people who are in high school

[6:32] who do a set of health behaviors, health education,

[6:35] and health volunteering that is not hard, hard to do,

[6:38] could get an honor cord to wear at graduation and maybe we can even come up with some funding for scholarships.

[6:45] That's a long way away, but we're looking for members for that subcommittee, so if you're interested, let Diana know or let me know.

[6:52] Yeah, awesome. That sounds great. Thank you for letting me know about that. I'll definitely reach out to see if I can get involved in that.

[6:59] This is a dangerous place to tell us you have free time and effort.

[7:05] All right. Did somebody else just join us? I think I saw someone pop in. Let's make

[7:18] sure

[7:18] I didn't miss anyone. Okay. So hearing no corrections or any additms needing to be done

[7:28] to our minutes, so we're going to go ahead and move on to our presentation this evening.

[7:33] So Maria and Rebecca reached out to me because one of the things that we have to be, what we have to do for students in seventh grade and above is opioid education and fentanyl awareness.

[7:52] And so as most of you may or may not know, the nurses of course do know, but we do have stock Narcan available or Naloxone available on all of our campuses in the event of the student having maybe experiencing or a staff member, a opioid overdose.

[8:13] So we do have standing orders that allow us to administer that.

[8:19] Also through this state, we have a naloxone order that is signed by the Medical Director of DSHS that allows us to take that

[8:31] Narcan and further distribute it to like our SROs and our athletic coordinators, not athletic coordinators.

[8:42] Sorry, athletic trainers because they see our students early in the morning, so they have

[8:49] Narcan as well. In the event, they have a student who may be experiencing signs of an opioid

[8:58] overdose. So we want to make sure that we're able to give that to our trainers, to our police

[9:05] officers and to have it available on all our campuses or from elementary on up in the event it's

[9:15] needed. So Maria and Rebecca reached out to me to talk to us about a curriculum that is

[9:26] available to be presented to our students. And we currently do not have a

[9:37] curriculum that we utilize in Maynor. We did have a third-party vendor that came

[9:44] in last year to do a presentation at the middle schools. Unfortunately that

[9:53] partnership fell through and not from our end more on their ends because they had

[10:00] some internal staffing issues and so they weren't really truly able to help

[10:05] support the district like we wanted them to. So when I met with Maria and Rebecca we

[10:18] We went over the curriculum and what it would entail, and this would be something that

[10:25] would be implemented and would be presented annually to all of our students.

[10:31] And so it's a great opportunity for us to have something that is not expensive at all,

[10:39] and also available to meet what the requirements are for Tucker's Law.

[10:48] So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Maria and Rebecca.

[10:54] And I believe you guys have screen share capabilities, so feel free to go ahead

[11:00] and share your screen when you're ready.

[11:03] Yes, you guys can let me know if everything looks good.

[11:07] Can

[11:15] you guys see my screen?

[11:17] Yes, no.

[11:18] Great.

[11:19] If you just want to do your slide show,

[11:22] it should be easier to see it bigger.

[11:24] All right.

[11:25] Is that look good?

[11:26] Yes.

[11:27] All right.

[11:27] Great.

[11:28] So, hello everyone.

[11:29] Good afternoon.

[11:30] My name is Maria LaGria.

[11:31] I am a community health organizer with Texas Opioid Prevention

[11:35] for Students Program or Tops for Short.

[11:38] My colleague, Rebecca Lossel,

[11:39] she's also a community health organizer.

[11:42] And today, we're going to be talking about

[11:43] reaching our Texas youth with opioid misuse prevention.

[11:48] So the agenda for this presentation is just to go over the top's initiative, describe

[11:54] House Bill 30908 or talkers law, and discuss the top solution when it comes to youth prevention

[12:01] education. So this is just a little short question that I have for y'all. I don't know if you

[12:08] like a message board here, or if now you can just give me a thumbs up, thumbs down, mental note, however you're going to do it.

[12:16] My school annually provides prevention, education, compliant with talker's law. So thumbs up, thumbs down.

[12:24] So talker's law requires school districts to provide fentanyl abuse or prevention education, suicide prevention education and local resource education for six to twelve grade.

[12:35] And like Diana was saying, every resource that we do have is completely no cost.

[12:40] We are grant funded.

[12:42] Everything is completely free.

[12:45] So what's our purpose?

[12:47] So Tops is a multi-component initiative to provide Texas K-12 grade students with opioid

[12:53] misuse, suicide prevention, education, to comply with talker's law in response to the urgent

[13:00] opioid crisis.

[13:01] So,

[13:05] TOPS core strategies include first conducting a three-parts needs assessment that includes

[13:11] an electronic survey that will send out to Texas principals as well as key informant

[13:16] interviews with state organizations that are leading the substance use prevention space.

[13:23] We also are delivering prevention education that supports schools and their compliance with

[13:29] and we also offer other wraparound resources to reinforce what the students are learning through the curriculum.

[13:36] We are also building awareness and capacity with community conversation sessions as well as community awareness educational events,

[13:44] to the community, and tops is a statewide project.

[13:51] As you guys can see here, we have eight different areas covering all of Texas.

[13:55] So, Rebecca and I were in charge of Area 7, which would be San Antonio,

[14:00] we're stationed in San Antonio, but we covered 36 other counties, as you guys can see in the map.

[14:06] And we are headquartered, our headquarters are in Texas A&M University in college station,

[14:13] but we have people all over the state.

[14:18] So like I mentioned, every single one of these areas has

[14:22] two community health organized areas like myself from Rebecca and Area 7. We are in charge

[14:27] of building partnerships with local school districts and organizations that are serving

[14:31] our youth. We provide three technical support to schools who are implementing the curriculum.

[14:37] We also provide resources and activities that comply with talker's law. And then we also conduct

[14:43] community outreach activities. So we have community conversations and then we also have awareness

[14:48] events. We have a presentation that's called Fentany101. It's roughly 45 minutes long. It can

[14:54] can also be used as a parent's educational presentation, and then we also have a

[15:00] Center, fentanyl 101, and this one's more here towards students. And that's also around 45 minutes.

[15:08] This graph is showing you guys the statewide fentanyl poisoning related deaths from 2020,

[15:14] 2014 to 2025. As you guys can see from 2019 to 2020, fentanyl poisoning deaths increased dramatically

[15:23] and it just keeps increasing all over 2023.

[15:26] It might seem that 2024 and 2025 have dropped a little bit,

[15:31] but this is because the data is preliminary.

[15:34] The data is still being collected.

[15:36] They're still filing that certificates.

[15:39] So it's very likely that's going to continue to rise

[15:43] and also a lot of deaths that are caused by fentanyl

[15:45] are not reported at all.

[15:47] So the numbers are probably much larger,

[15:50] which is very alarming, of course, and this is not an issue only for Texas but the whole United States.

[16:00] So a little bit more about talkers law. So talkers law or House Bill 30908 was passed by the Texas

[16:09] Legislature in September of 2023, but it was codified until spring of 2025. So it focuses on

[16:16] combating the dangers of fentanyl poisoning and abuse by requiring Texas

[16:22] public schools to provide comprehensive education for students

[16:26] grades 6 to 12 grade.

[16:31] So schools need to annually provide research

[16:34] based education prevention to six to 12 grade students which would be middle

[16:40] school to high school and the school health advisory council which read a

[16:44] is in charge of recommending this curriculum

[16:47] and the instruction hours.

[16:52] So what works when it comes to opioid misuse

[16:54] prevention strategies?

[16:56] So the things that are proven to work

[16:58] are research-based interventions.

[17:01] So lessons that are interactive, skill-based,

[17:06] so really focusing on building skills,

[17:09] refusal skills, decision-making,

[17:11] as well as age-appropriate harm reduction strategies.

[17:14] so we really don't want to focus on telling kids what not to do. We want to give

[17:21] them the skills that they need to make better decisions from themselves, educate

[17:25] them and just emphasize behavior change instead of just telling them not to do

[17:32] something.

[17:35] So these are the resources that we offer for youth opioid prevention.

[17:39] The first one will be our ThinkSmart curriculum is a six-lesson youth opioid and

[17:44] as a prevention education for middle and high school students.

[17:48] We do have a curriculum that is being developed

[17:51] for younger students.

[17:52] So that would be for elementary school.

[17:54] However, still in the works, the one

[17:56] that we do have ready, six to 12 grade.

[17:59] Then we also have split second.

[18:01] It's a graphic novel and also it comes

[18:03] with a companion discussion guide.

[18:05] This is just kind of like a companion resource

[18:08] to think smart.

[18:10] I really emphasize all the skills

[18:11] that they are learning in the curriculum.

[18:13] and this one will be available in summer of 2026.

[18:16] And then we are also working on a mobile app.

[18:19] It's called Chas Haso.

[18:20] And this one is just to reinforce

[18:22] the refusal skills that are being taught

[18:24] in the curriculum, also available in 2026,

[18:29] summer of 2026.

[18:30] And then we also have youth community events.

[18:33] We have one already planned for Dallas County,

[18:35] as well as for Brace's County.

[18:37] There are more that are coming soon.

[18:40] So if there is an event that is nearby,

[18:43] y'all will be sure to let y'all know.

[18:45] And then we also have parent educational resources.

[18:48] And this includes our fentanyl 101 presentation for parents.

[18:52] It's a very, I think it's a great presentation for them,

[18:55] just to learn what illicitly manufacture fentanyl is

[18:59] and how it's affecting our community.

[19:01] And it also goes into spotting over those signs

[19:03] and how to use Narcan and all these things

[19:05] that are very important for the community as a whole.

[19:07] So those are, that's like a little short explanation of the resources that we have.

[19:16] Rebecca is going to go a little bit more into death about each of these, so I'll let

[19:23] Rebecca finish the presentation.

[19:30] Rebecca, you're muted.

[19:32] Okay.

[19:33] Thank you so much, Maria.

[19:34] I'm going to be going over a little bit more about the curriculum and kind of what that

[19:38] looks like.

[19:39] So, our curriculum is called ThinkSmart.

[19:42] It is six lessons, includes evidence-informed life skills.

[19:46] It is a youth prevention program.

[19:48] And as Mario was saying, it targets six to 12th grade.

[19:51] It does align with the TEEX and the NHG as well.

[19:55] And it is behavior change focused.

[20:01] And so, each lesson is about 50 minutes per session.

[20:04] One of the great things about ThinkSmart is that it is customizable

[20:08] for each school and what their needs are.

[20:11] So, you could have, you can pick, so there are six lessons, to be in compliance with Tucker's law, you could choose if you wanted to, one lesson from one through five and then add six because six is the suicide prevention.

[20:29] So if you would like to do it that way there is that flexibility however you can also do it where you have one lesson and instead of going through it in 50 minutes you can take it in chunks and you can extend it out or you can do them in a matter of days and just however the school wants to do it we're here to help provide that customized technical support with these free resources for your school and for your school needs.

[20:58] So each lesson consists of five to six activities and these are

[21:02] referred to as topics. These are taught by trained facilitators and

[21:05] co-facilitators. So this is one of the great things that I really like about

[21:09] this particular program is one of the things we hear a lot is the scheduling

[21:15] conflicts. When you bring someone that's out of house and a third party you're

[21:19] having to coordinate schedules and do all of this. Well the way that tops is

[21:24] said, that is eliminated entirely because what Mia and Maria do, we come in and we train

[21:29] who will be facilitating or co-facilitating. And then we step back, y'all do it as your

[21:35] schedule permits and how y'all want to do it. And then we're just there for that technical

[21:40] support when you need us. And it also includes the evidence-based drug prevention strategies

[21:46] as Maria was saying, the decision-making, refusal skills and harm reduction. And this is so important

[21:51] because what I found is most people, whether they're adult or children, want to make good decisions.

[21:57] But making good decisions is a skill. Being able to articulate what you want to do and not do

[22:03] is a skill. And for so many years, we have, you know, especially, you know, I'm going to be 41 soon.

[22:09] What I was growing up, you were taught at, you were told, don't do this. There wasn't a lot of room

[22:15] for conversation and for learning and for growing.

[22:19] And so with this curriculum, we're really giving the kids the power to make the good

[22:26] decisions that many of them really do want to make.

[22:32] So this is the six lessons here.

[22:34] So our lesson one would be smart choices.

[22:38] This is going to be exploring making healthy choices.

[22:41] And week two, we're going to be teaching them about, or the curriculum, we'll be teaching

[22:47] about the teen brain and letting them understand why it's important that they are not using alcohol

[22:54] or drugs or whatever it is. Less than three is act safe so we're going to discuss ways to stay safe.

[23:02] Four is practicing those refusal skills and then we also go into personal goals and

[23:08] reflecting on that. We really want to take the opportunity to allow the students to think about what

[23:16] they want in life? Are the decisions they're making or the opportunity to make these decisions

[23:22] are they aligned with their goals? And so that is something that we find to be very, very important.

[23:27] And again, a lot of youth do care about these things even if maybe sometimes their choices

[23:33] don't reflect it. And then lastly, we have the suicide prevention and this is where we're going

[23:38] over the warning signs and the prevention of suicide. So here's an example agenda for less than one.

[23:45] So you'd open up, first 10 minutes, you'd go over your opening, your program introduction.

[23:50] Again, this is all manualized, this is all ready to go.

[23:54] Something I forgot to mention is the training is about a half day training, three and a half to four

[23:59] hours where we would come out and train. We will have virtual training in the future. It's just not

[24:05] ready to go quite yet. So you'd have your opening and program introduction. You'd go over ground rules,

[24:13] especially stressing the confidentiality as well.

[24:17] And then you go into your topic, so for lesson one,

[24:19] let's talk about drugs.

[24:21] The next portion is you're going to help them

[24:24] with the problem solving method.

[24:27] And then you're going to give them the opportunity

[24:29] to practice this.

[24:31] And so this is one of the other things that is so great

[24:32] about this curriculum is the students aren't just sitting

[24:35] and taking in information.

[24:37] They're listening, but then they're also being

[24:40] given the opportunity to interact with the other students,

[24:45] and to practice what they've learned.

[24:48] And then there's a closing activity as well.

[24:53] And so this is kind of a lesson overview.

[24:55] So you have your opening for lesson one,

[24:58] you would go over the program.

[25:01] And lesson two through five, this is where you would review

[25:04] your past lesson.

[25:06] Then you would move into your topic presentation

[25:08] and guided discussions.

[25:09] Again, all of everything you need is already ready to go.

[25:15] You would receive a facilitator's manual like this here.

[25:24] Oh, same thing I can get in there.

[25:25] So yeah, a big ol' binder, right?

[25:27] You would receive this again for your charge, and then we have, if you wanted to give hand

[25:37] out some things like that to the students, we have all that on a USB. The presentations

[25:41] are also on the USB, so everything is already ready to go for you. And then you would move

[25:47] into skill building, so lessons 1 through 5, you're really focusing on decision making,

[25:52] lesson 3 is harm reduction, and then lesson 4 and 5 is refusal skills, and of course that

[25:57] lesson 6 is the suicide prevention. And then you have the lesson reflection. We also have

[26:02] it available where if you want to send them home with a take home assignment, you can have

[26:06] that ready to go. The students really don't need anything but a pen paper. There's a couple

[26:11] little activities, a dice, and things like that. And we, I believe we provide all of that.

[26:19] And but yeah, so you could print off if you want them to have an assignment. And this is good

[26:24] too because before we did have student handbooks, but I think not only was it not cost effective,

[26:31] But I think it's better the teachers are not having to store all of the stuff in addition to everything else they already have in their room.

[26:39] So I think it was a good move on the top on top part.

[26:45] Okay, so here's a little bit more about the graphic novel Marie was talking to you about called split second.

[26:51] So this engages you through storytelling and provides a relatable narrative to address the fentanyl crisis.

[27:00] highlights real-life risks. It raises the awareness about

[27:03] fentanyl access overdose and recovery. And a huge part of

[27:07] this is because youth are not, you know, going to an

[27:11] alley to obtain these fake pills or whatever it is they're using.

[27:16] Many of them are getting them from trusted friends.

[27:19] And the friends, I'm sure, don't know what they're handing them either.

[27:22] And a lot of these things are being done through Snapchat

[27:24] and Instagram. And so to really be able to get in

[27:28] And with the students to bring relevant and current information to them in the matter

[27:37] of drug prevention, because it's not the same as it used to be when you bring in the

[27:43] social media.

[27:43] It's just an entirely different world now.

[27:47] And then so it also reduces stigma by humanizing addiction and promoting empathy.

[27:52] And I also believe that this is great because the people who are struggling, this will help

[27:56] them open up whenever they see the humanizing of addiction. I really believe it's very important

[28:05] also for those that are struggling. And for most behavioral change it encourages those refusal

[28:10] skills, the informed decision making, and provides an accessible and visual compelling tool. And it

[28:16] should be ready this summer. So that is what we are scheduled for.

[28:22] And this is something I love right

[28:24] right here is trust hustle. One thing I forgot to mention about the graphic novel is it was written by youth for youth and so that is also something that sets it apart.

[28:33] And then so trust hustle is a mobile online game about illicitly manufactured fentanyl and brings awareness and prevention skills.

[28:42] And so it's amazing because it's reinforcing everything that they're learning and think smart and the split second graphic novel.

[28:49] They're getting information about the illicit drug market, the cartel tactics, so they're

[28:55] able to recognize when they are being scammed or hustled or deceived, and being able

[29:01] to also practice the strategies and the decision making that they were learning in the curriculum.

[29:09] It also helps them with risky social situation navigation and also the employment of group

[29:15] contingency management and the best practices game is designed for social interaction

[29:20] is scalable and the expected impact is that it will provide authentic youth engagement

[29:28] behavioral change and multimedia synergy with the top resources and this is anticipated

[29:34] to be released in grant year two which we are moving into in the next few weeks.

[29:38] so it's coming up.

[29:43] And we also have parent resources of it also for Senate Bill 12,

[29:47] which now requires that opt, the opt, oh god, non-confused, the opt out, is the opt out now?

[29:56] Because they've changed it, sorry.

[30:08] Okay, so we have a sample parent guardian letter. We have it already to go, English and Spanish. And that can be sent out about a week before the start of the class. And it can also be used for the Senate Bill 12. I see right there. I apologize guys. And then we have also an optional pre and post survey. And then again, as Marie was sharing,

[30:29] We do have that 45 minutes to one hour parent

[30:33] than all education, and we are going to be releasing this

[30:37] fall, some curated materials on strengthening the parent

[30:40] child communication as well.

[30:44] So here are some key takeaways.

[30:46] Top support schools with Tucker's Law.

[30:48] It is House Bill 39-08 compliant.

[30:51] It can be customized for and tailored for your school's needs.

[30:55] And top's really aims to partner with the schools

[30:57] and the communities to respond to the youth opioid crisis.

[31:03] And our main mission is to honor all of the lives that have been lost and to continue

[31:08] empowering our youth in prevention.

[31:12] And so now we can open the floor if anyone has any questions, we would be happy to answer

[31:17] those.

[31:24] Does anyone have a question?

[31:26] If you have a question, you can use the raised hand feature or feel free to turn.

[31:30] and just a comment, I think this is fantastic.

[31:35] I particularly like the graphic novel.

[31:38] That's all I really have to say.

[31:39] I'm in if we need to recommend it

[31:41] and if the school district has a place for it.

[31:44] Thank you so much to

[31:48] anyone else.

[31:50] And I'm gonna kind of ask you a question

[31:54] because you've been in the community for quite a while

[31:58] and you serve on the Health Council, the Health Committees for City Council.

[32:06] What are your thoughts on this program?

[32:10] I really liked it.

[32:11] I really thought it was very user-friendly

[32:15] and I like it has interactive components on it.

[32:20] And I think it would be great if we could get something like that in our schools.

[32:25] And for our community, I really like it.

[32:30] Thank you so much.

[32:32] Is there any more?

[32:34] Yeah, if I may say something,

[32:36] I really like the aspect that's in Spanish as well.

[32:39] As you know, we do speak,

[32:41] we have a lot of bilingual or Spanish speakers.

[32:44] So I think there'll be a great resource from parents as well

[32:46] that are mainly Spanish speakers.

[32:49] And we also,

[32:50] we're all, I'm sorry.

[32:51] Go ahead, Maria.

[32:52] Go ahead.

[32:53] going to mention that we do have that parent educational presentation translated in Spanish

[32:58] as well if that's needed.

[33:01] And I was just going to add, because I did forget to mention it, we're also available

[33:05] for, you know, if you all want to bring us out for a presentation during Red Ribbon Week

[33:09] or any other time, we are absolutely available for that as well.

[33:18] And even having a community conversation maybe with the nurses or the teachers or everyone

[33:25] together.

[33:25] We just had one with the San Antonio ISD adult education,

[33:31] and we're about to have one with restore education.

[33:33] We're setting a date for that,

[33:36] but it was really great to have so many people

[33:39] from so many different walks of life,

[33:41] so many different ages,

[33:42] and really getting them to be able to talk amongst themselves.

[33:47] We asked three questions and kind of do a rotation,

[33:52] so people talked to different people,

[33:53] and then we do a share out at the end.

[33:56] And it was a really powerful process

[34:00] and I think that it really encouraged the adults.

[34:04] One of the things that we find too

[34:06] is when we're doing, like there was a time

[34:07] we were doing tabling and a mother came up and said,

[34:13] oh yeah, you know, what do you all got here?

[34:14] And when I mentioned what it was,

[34:16] she just went, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

[34:18] and she walked off.

[34:19] And so one of the things,

[34:20] this is why parent education is so important

[34:22] and it's number one, it's scary being a parent

[34:25] in any time, but especially in the stay-in-age.

[34:28] And but we know that as knowledge and information

[34:32] increase anxiety and fear decrease.

[34:35] And so the answer is not for us to put our head

[34:37] in the sand or the answer is for us to be

[34:40] called empowered with the information that we need.

[34:43] And so it is so important for the parents.

[34:46] And then also for staff, I worked in the recovery world

[34:51] for a long time. And it was not until I had this job that I really understood that I did

[34:58] not understand what the fentanyl crisis was and what a listlessly manufactured fentanyl

[35:03] was my filter and my perspective came from growing up in the 90s and 2000s with the prescription

[35:09] epidemic in South Florida. I was in the middle of that growing up and that. And so when I

[35:15] would hear people speak about this, I did not understand that we are not dealing with

[35:20] pharmaceutical drugs, we are dealing with completely fake things, chemicals that are entirely legal,

[35:27] being put together and then pressed into a pill, or however they're doing it, whatever the

[35:33] form is that they're going to give, and giving it out. And I was like, wow, if I worked in this field

[35:39] for so long, and I did not know, and I didn't know that I didn't know. So like I was just like,

[35:47] You know, it was mind-blowing to me and so I'm very passionate to you about getting this

[35:54] information in front of staff members and things like that because it's a whole, it's

[35:59] a whole different ball game these days.

[36:03] I did have one other question, I'm sorry, it's me and again.

[36:08] How do you guys keep track of the metrics of like your success and, you know, how many

[36:17] communities you reach out to, is all that tracked and how, how is that tracked?

[36:24] Yes, it is all tracked. We have a whole team at Texas A&M and so we have, you know, we do surveys,

[36:30] we are, we do surveys to those that we're serving, right? So give them the opportunity,

[36:36] but we're also tracking things. If you're under 18, we don't, you know, track your personal

[36:41] information and if someone's not comfortable giving personal information, even over 18, that's fine.

[36:47] But however, we do have an entire team that of doctors at Texas and that their their sole job is to track all of the metrics.

[36:57] Thank you.

[37:00] So just to give you an idea of what we asked something, what is it possible to maybe get a booth at the annual health fair?

[37:10] We know that we haven't made absolutely.

[37:14] I'm, I'll need to find out Dr. Montero if the mental health fair is happening.

[37:20] Okay.

[37:21] I'll need to get with Jessica and Nelly to see if they're coordinating the mental health

[37:29] fair just because of the reorganization in the department.

[37:33] I'm not sure where they're at.

[37:36] I've not seen any advertisement or ask for that, but that's not to say that we can't do that.

[37:47] And I just want to, on the grant, is for how many years?

[37:54] It is for three years with the possibility of being able to renew for two more.

[37:59] Okay. And after I met with both of you, I went and I talked with the counselor and

[38:11] that's where I got the information that we currently did not have a opioid curriculum

[38:18] that we were using. And then I also met with the chief academic officer which is over

[38:27] the principals over the schools. So he's the head of schools overall of the

[38:31] campuses. And our conversation that we had was we don't have a program, this is

[38:37] a program that is out there that's available, that's free of charge, that we'll

[38:44] get as compliant with Tucker's Law. And we need to present it this year. And then

[38:53] we talked about implementing it moving forward annually into red ribbon. So starting it this year,

[39:04] doing a presentation towards the end of May, only because we know schools coming to the end,

[39:11] testing will be done, teachers need some things for the students to have during that time period.

[39:18] for this year, we can look at implementing it around that timeframe, but moving forward,

[39:25] it would be catalogued into into instruction during the month of October, which is

[39:33] fentanyl awareness month, and then during the week of Red Ribbon Week in October.

[39:40] so that is where we plan to put this in so the other department that we looked

[39:50] at implementing it into is at the high school level they have don't know the

[39:57] actual name of the class but it's like life science or life lifestyles some type

[40:04] of PE slash like class.

[40:08] And so at the high school level, it would be incorporated

[40:12] and presented during that component.

[40:16] And then at the middle schools, it would be done

[40:22] during PE because they have to have PE.

[40:25] And if we end up doing a kid component,

[40:29] it, then it would go through the PE as well, because our PE teachers do a lot of instruction.

[40:43] And so I'm going to mute you, Murray, because there's feedback, I

[40:54] think, I'd say here.

[40:58] So, it would end up being presented through the PE teachers because they do do a lot of

[41:06] the component of physical education and help at those grade levels.

[41:12] So that's kind of where we talked about where we would build this into our curriculum.

[41:18] So the only things that I would need to take forward tonight from our committee is if the

[41:25] committee is in agreement with taking this curriculum and making the

[41:30] recommendation as a shock to the district that this is the curriculum that we

[41:36] would like to utilize for the next three years through two years, probably

[41:44] about two years. And then if it gets extended, continue to utilize this

[41:49] curriculum through their grant period. And then I would take that

[41:54] recommendation forward and then I would work with Maria and Rebecca to

[42:01] align with our curriculum instruction department to identify who's going to

[42:10] help us take the lead and get the teachers that need to be trained on it and it

[42:16] may be that it's like a handful of teachers this year and next year we can build

[42:22] it into their professional development to get them all of the everyone training that

[42:27] needs the training to implement this program with fidelity.

[42:34] Diana, I want to applaud you for even realizing that we need something like this and doing

[42:39] the work to get it because I think prevention and education is in this opioid problem.

[42:48] We've got going on just from the work that I've seen and helped within the community.

[42:52] there's it's a cycle in some families and this is gonna this is gonna be very

[42:57] helpful so patch yourself on the back because I'm applauding you. Well I can't take

[43:02] all the credit because Maria and Rebecca were the ones that sent me an email

[43:07] actually was one of their other co-workers and then we got connected and so we

[43:12] came they came in through the back door because somebody else was trying to get

[43:17] through the front door, and so they were like, no, this is our divot. This is our region.

[43:24] And so it was great to be able to connect with these two young ladies and to be able to have

[43:31] something that, one, it's not time-consuming, right? And the instruction is already there,

[43:39] because we are already tasking our teachers with our lot. So what department could we utilize?

[43:45] and that's where I recommended to or see an eye department that PE because they do health and they do

[43:52] physical fitness and they implement a lot of these things that this is probably the most

[43:59] appropriate place to do it. So I want to thank them for reaching out to us and opening up the

[44:09] conversation because I was it was in the counselors hands the counselors were

[44:15] supposed to be coordinating all of this and I did not realize that it had fallen

[44:21] through the cracks so it all came through perfect timing. So I just need to

[44:29] hear from everyone on this in this group this evening if you give me a thumbs up

[44:36] if you're okay with moving forward to making a recommendation with this curriculum.

[44:43] All right.

[44:44] Looks like it's pretty much unanimous.

[44:47] So any other questions or anything else for Maria and Rebecca

[44:56] Becca before they um...

[45:00] We're going to let them disconnect because I'm sure they've had a long, busy day, and we will

[45:05] Maria and Rebecca will connect maybe some time next week so we can look and see what our next steps are.

[45:15] Yes. Sounds good. Thank you all so much.

[45:19] No, thank you guys so much. I'm really excited and looking forward to partnering with you, and I will

[45:27] connect with you and give you some of my availability for next week to see what

[45:32] it can set up time and and Ariana Morales our risk management

[45:38] coordinator is actually here online with us and maybe this is something to

[45:43] that she might look at staff presentation for our staff you know it's it's you know

[45:52] not to say that our staff themselves are impacted but you could get the wrong

[45:58] prescription and then become impacted or you could be dealing with it at home,

[46:03] whether it's a spouse, a child or a close family member and so education is

[46:10] important and like you said Rebecca you lived in the recovery world and

[46:15] thought it was everybody who was getting the in the that era

[46:19] prescriptions and it's really, it's not and so, you know, very eye-opening. So lots of key people

[46:28] on here that we can partner with to bring parent education, staff education, and most importantly

[46:35] our student education.

[46:41] All right, Maria and Rebecca, I will, if there's no more questions, I will

[46:46] let you guys go. Okay, thank you all so much. You'll have a great evening. Thank you and we'll

[46:51] die. All right. The next thing on the agenda is just the co-chair nominations are still open.

[47:01] I don't, I haven't had anybody chomping at the bits so I want to be my co-chair. So I'm trying to

[47:09] talk someone into it that I reached out to today. They're going to think about it.

[47:18] But if they don't agree by the next meeting, I would need a non-mainer employee to step forward and be my co-chair.

[47:32] Dr. Smith, Karen Smith.

[47:34] I think I told you with the first meeting I'm willing, I just wanted to give someone else a chance.

[47:39] I was your co-chair last year and I am your pitch hitter this year.

[47:44] Well, let's see if we can get someone by the next meeting, hopefully, once they review

[47:50] Shaq, because they're not really familiar with what Shaq is and what I, what it entails,

[47:57] they'll probably think, oh, you know what I can do this, so you have a lot on your plate.

[48:03] Let's see if we can get another person to come in and pinch it there, so yeah.

[48:09] Our next meeting will be April 30th, we'll still do it virtual from 6 to 7, and is there

[48:17] any particular topic that you are wanting to hear on that we might have missed, that

[48:25] we haven't addressed lately, Dr. Smith, anything you could think of?

[48:31] I'd like to invite the doctor in charge of the Honor Court project that we're trying to

[48:35] emulate and let her present.

[48:38] I'm not sure, come up with something more important.

[48:42] Yep.

[48:43] All right.

[48:45] And then,

[48:49] Dr. Montero, is there anything?

[48:52] Because I know we, health does include dental.

[48:55] So, is there anything that you feel you'd like to share with the committee,

[49:04] a presentation wise on maybe what you're seeing

[49:07] and what we need to, how we can help support our families.

[49:12] Is there maybe like a 10, 15 minute presentation,

[49:15] you might be able to share?

[49:17] Yeah, yeah, I can't absolutely,

[49:19] but at the next one, just April 30th, right?

[49:22] Yes, ma'am.

[49:23] Okay, I can do that, so I'm five to 10 minutes.

[49:26] And the answer is I have you.

[49:27] Also, can you send me up for Dr.

[49:30] as Miss Subcommittee, please, as well?

[49:33] Yes.

[49:34] Thank you.

[49:37] Alrighty.

[49:38] is there any other business to discuss?

[49:42] Does anybody else have anything they need to bring forward?

[49:48] Okay, well, if no one has anything else,

[49:52] then I will see you on October 30th,

[49:56] and you get six minutes of your time back.

[50:00] That October?

[50:02] I mean, sorry, April.

[50:04] I'm sorry, April 30th, sorry.

[50:07] Okay, I was too excited. I was like looking at the, you know, not October, April 30th,

[50:14] 6 p.m. saying, um, what are the people? Do what?

[50:22] I think Jen's kiddos had something.

[50:25] Yeah, sorry. No worries. They're a important member of his track team, so he's listening and learning.

[50:34] All right, you guys you have a good evening and we'll see you in April bye

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