In an email from Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright, it was announced that earlier this week a 15-year-old student was found deceased in their home — the seventh since summer 2022.

The death is formally being investigated as a fentanyl overdose by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.

The email is below:

Dear Hays CISD Family, 

I am saddened to report that earlier this week we learned that one of our 15-year-old students died at home. Our counselors and staff have been working behind the scenes to provide support services for this student’s friends and teachers. Today, we learned from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office that the student’s death is formally being investigated as a possible fentanyl overdose.  

The loss of such a young person is always a tragedy, regardless of cause, and we are heartbroken. Though we do not know the cause of death for this student, and won’t know it until law enforcement completes its investigation, I can tell you that it is our continuing worst fear – to lose another student from a danger that remains present in our district and across the country. We have previously lost six students to this evil since the summer of 2022 – each a beautiful and precious life taken much too soon.     

We will continue our efforts to speak up about the fentanyl threat and speak out to anyone who will listen about what we believe are the needs and challenges necessary to fight this drug. It is a problem that we must fight at all levels and we must all be engaged, together, in defeating it.