A student at Sequatchie County High School believed to have overdosed on an unknown substance has been hospitalized and another was taken to be evaluated after an incident at the school early Thursday.
Sequatchie County Sheriff Bill Phillips said the overdose situation was not life-threatening, and the substance involved is not believed to be fentanyl — the substance at the center of many recent overdoses in the U.S. — but investigators don't know what it is yet either.
"There was one student that was thought to have overdosed and was taken to the hospital, and another student was taken to be checked out," Phillips said in a phone interview. "It happened about an hour or so after school started."
Student safety is the the school district's utmost priority, and the district is cooperating fully with law enforcement, Sarai Pierce, Sequatchie County director of schools, said in a statement.
"Our school system will continue to uphold discipline policy, ensuring a safe and conducive learning environment for all students," Pierce said. "In addition, we will conduct unannounced safety checks, working collaboratively with law enforcement and local agencies to further ensure the safety of our students."
School resource officers, investigators and school officials remained at the school into the afternoon, and further details were unavailable, Phillips said.
Sequatchie County High School serves grades 9-12 and has an enrollment of around 680 students, according to Tennessee Department of Education data.
"At this point, we feel like we've isolated what was causing the issue, and our hope is there is nothing else around that could be of danger," Phillips said. "It's still early, and we're limited on what we know and what we can say."
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.