Students and community members are pressing a Montgomery County high school for greater transparency, after seven hours elapsed between the time two students were found seemingly unconscious in a bathroom and when officials sent out a notice to parents.

The gap in communication gave way to speculation and rumors — and has now prompted an emergency safety meeting on Jan. 30, according to the Bethesda Beat, which will follow a school district-wide family forum on opioid-use on Jan. 28.

“We are looking for a more active ongoing partnership, better information and resource sharing, and obviously, better communication,” Lyric Winik, president of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA) told WAMU/DCist.

Around 8 a.m. on Monday, two female students were found on the floor of a bathroom at B-CC, according to the school’s student newspaper, the Tattler. The school called 911 and the two students were taken to a local hospital in an ambulance. Meanwhile, classes were held in first period as the incident was resolved, sparking confusion in the absence of clear communication from administrators. In addition, photos of the two students allegedly began circulating quickly across the school, furthering rumors and misinformation.

The Tattler published an article around noon, stating the two students were allegedly drunk and setting to rest speculation over opioid use. Shortly after, a notice went out to students that there had been a medical emergency and two students had been taken to the hospital.

The Bethesda-Chevy Chase PTSA sent a message on their listserv linking to the Tattler’s coverage, but it was not until 3:30 p.m. that Principal Shelton Mooney sent out a notice to parents, explaining that two students who “appeared to be under the influence of alcohol” were found passed out in the bathroom that morning.

“I made the decision to hold students in their first period classes while the students were transferred to ambulances,” Mooney wrote in an email to parents, obtained by DCist/WAMU. “A counselor accompanied each student to the hospital and the students’ parents met them there.”

Spokespeople for Montgomery County Public Schools did not immediately return DCist/WAMU’s request for comment on Monday’s incident or the status of the two students. An MCPS spokesperson told the Bethesda Beat that the lag in communication was to protect the privacy of the students involved. According to 2020 statewide guidelines for handling emergency care in schools, school staff are required to notify the parent or legal guardian of a student’s medical emergency as soon as possible, but the recommendations do not include instructions for informing the rest of a school community. In cases of “serious injury or death,” school officials should discuss with counseling staff or critical incident stress management team, and “determine level of intervention for staff and students.”

Winik says this is not the first time the school has bungled communication during an emergency event. Last fall, panic spread in the school community when B-CC went on an hour-long lockdown due to reports of a student with a possible weapon in school. But the school did not immediately notify parents about the lockdown, so panicked and communicating with their children via text, families started showing up at the school.

“It took a very long time to get information out about [that lockdown], and it was very upsetting for for many, many families,” Winik said. “There’s still not a great process in place for internal communication, and getting information to teachers. And I think we saw this again on Monday.”

In the absence of expedient and verified information from officials, Winik says it’s inevitable that misinformation will spread. On Monday, rumors included threats of an intruder, while others claimed that opioids were related.

“I am aware that there are rumors circulating about the severity and nature of what happened,” Mooney wrote in his Monday afternoon notice. “Spreading rumors and sharing information and images that are inaccurate is quite hurtful to all parties involved in situations like this.”

While the specific cause of the students’ emergency has not yet been shared, is comes as concerns of opioid-use among teens and students grows in the county. At the end of 2022, three MCPS students had overdosed while at school and were reversed with the drug Narcan. Overall, youth overdoses rose by 78% in 2022, according to recent data, and the county recorded 48 overdoses in youth in 2022, 11 of them fatal.