Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signs bill on student overdose notification guidelines

ARLINGTON, Va. (WJLA) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Friday that requires the Virginia Board of Education to establish guidelines around school overdose notifications to parents.

The original bill included language that would have required schools to notify parents within 24 hours of student overdoses and that’s what Youngkin and all 40 state senators wanted.

However, Democrats in the House of Delegates took the 24-hour notice requirement out of the bill.

Youngkin said the legislation as he received it was not as strong as he would have liked. However, he went ahead and signed it while his office put out messaging that he would seek to revisit the law next legislative session to try and strengthen it.

“My executive order that I issued right after those tragic overdoses at Parkview High Schoolstill stands and it requires school divisions to notify parents when there's a school-related overdose within 24 hours. And this is critical,” Youngkin told WJLA.

I don't understand why Democrats didn't support it in the House but my executive order still stands and schools are going to continue to notify parents when there is a school-related overdose in your school division.

Late last year, Youngkin issued his executive order after WJLA reporting showed that Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) failed to notify the parents of several student overdoses for weeks.

Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman blew the whistle on the string of student overdoses on Oct. 31, 2023. After this, WJLA’s reporting showed LCPS delayed notification to parents about the student overdoses.

Eleven Park View High School students overdosed late last year, and some included fentanyl, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

During a House of Delegates education committee public hearing earlier this year, Loudoun County Public Schools, the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, the Virginia School Boards Association, and the Virginia Education Association spoke in opposition to legislation that would have required schools to notify parents within 24 hours of student overdoses.

House Democrats took the 24-hour notice requirement out of the bill following that hearing.

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