Cops: Fentanyl found outside U.D. elementary school
UPPER DARBY » Police have a person of interest involving packets of fentanyl found Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of St. Bernadette Catholic Grade School where kindergarten students assemble and play, Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Friday afternoon.
According to Chitwood, a parent of one of the kindergarten students noticed a baggie on the ground about 10 yards from one of the school entrances.
“The parent knows it could be drugs,” Chitwood said, adding that the parent picked up the baggie and brought it to a faculty member who then gave it to the principal. The principal immediately called police, as well as the parish pastor. Police were dispatched to the school on Turner Avenue at 12:42 p.m.
According to Chitwood, the recovered baggie contained 41 packets. Of those, 29 were full, and 12 were empty but contained residue. The empty packets had red and black skulls with wings stamped on them.
Police field-tested two of the 29 full, unmarked bags.
“The test was positive for fentanyl,” Chitwood said.
Noting the school houses 300 students from kindergarten to eighth grade, Chitwood said it was fortunate that none of the children, especially “inquisitive 5-year-olds,” made the discovery.
But given the dangers posed by fentanyl if even the smallest amount is absorbed into the body, Chitwood encouraged adults who find suspicious substances to simply call police. “Don’t pick it up,” he said. Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate painkiller that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. This year, heroin, fentanyl or a combination of both accounted for 129 out of a total of 141 drug overdose deaths in Delaware County, according to county spokeswoman Emily Harris.
Chitwood said Friday that he believes the bag was accidentally dropped by either a parent or caretaker of the one the younger students. As of Friday afternoon, the investigation was continuing.
“We have an idea who it might be, we have a person of interest,” Chitwood said.
In a letter sent home Thursday afternoon to parents, St. Bernadette Principal Joanne Montie said students were “at no time” in danger.
“Based on guidance from law enforcement I can assure that the property is safe and share with you that we have no reason to believe that anyone from our school community was responsible for the presence of the illegal substance in question. Our facilities manager was also asked to survey the property to ensure no other materials were present. That check did not reveal any additional issues,” she stated in the letter.
Montie wrote that she has instructed the facilities manager to do a thorough sweep of the grounds each morning when he arrives at 6:30 a.m. She will also monitor the school yard each morning.
“Each child at St. Bernadette School is very precious. Be assured that we take your child’s safety very seriously,” the principal stated.
The letter also indicated that the students were unaware of the incident.
“I trust that you, as parents, will be the best judges of sharing information with them,” Montie wrote.
The discovery on Thursday marked the second fentanyl scare on school property in a little over a week in the township.
Residue found in one of 13 empty packets recovered on the grounds of a township Kindergarten Center Aug. 30 by a security guard for the Upper Darby School District tested positive for fentanyl. Some of the bags were found along the fence line of the playground, and several other bags were found on the Shadeland Avenue side of the school. No one was harmed in that incident.