WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) — A group of Wichita students say efforts to stop fentanyl deaths don’t go far enough and they want real local stories to be told. Students with TeenView Magazine they want more awareness to be brought to schools, including videos and magazines featuring true stories that they think draw more attention to other students and what they are experiencing.
But students say these efforts are meeting resistance from the Wichita school district. The district said it reviewed the videos and, in part, found the content inappropriate for schools. For example, the district said the videos were poorly made and characters labeled students as nerds, dumb jocks, and other labels that could be seen as promoting bullying.
However, the school district said working with TeenView students to help them get their message across is not out of the question. During a board meeting on Monday, a TeenView magazine was handed out to board members, and the district was willing to work with students to make a school-sponsored educational video on fentanyl they deemed most appropriate. No action was taken by the council on Monday.
“We have to face the bad with the good and we have to acknowledge the fact that this is happening. Teens are a big group of people who use drugs, and we need to defend that they get their hands on it and promote that we need to stop it,” said student Jeremiah Olguis, a representative for TeenView Magazine.
