HANOVER — Police and school investigations are ongoing after three Hanover High School students were hospitalized after taking pills that school officials believe they acquired from another student.

All three students who were hospitalized reported taking pills that resembled Xanax, a prescription medication used for treating anxiety and panic disorder, Hanover High Principal Julie Stevenson said in a message to families earlier this month.

“The pills, obtained through third parties, may be blue in color and rectangular in shape, and are typically referred to as a ‘bar,’ ” Stevenson wrote. “A counterfeit Xanax (bar) and real Xanax can look very similar. We urge parents and students to be extremely cautious with all controlled substances, and pay particular attention to any pills or unknown substances obtained from anyone other than a prescriber.”

At a March 15 Dresden School Board meeting, Stevenson said that the hospitalized students had recovered but did not go into detail, according to a video recording. She said the school issued the “alert” to families on March 14 to encourage them to be on the lookout for counterfeit prescription pills.

It “seems like a higher-level community issue,” she said in the recording. “Sort of like a fire.”

It’s not clear from school officials’ statements when the students were hospitalized or if all three incidents occurred at the same time or over multiple days.

School officials do think they’ve identified a student who was involved in distributing the pills, SAU 70 Superintendent Jay Badams said in a Monday email. He said, “student privacy protections prevent me from sharing information that could identify individuals who may have been involved.”

Hanover police Lt. Mike Schibuola confirmed in a Tuesday email that a student involved in the case has been identified and that charges are pending.

“The Hanover Police Department is aware of an increase in issues regarding some Hanover High School students’ consumption of drugs,” Hanover police said in a prepared statement. “The drugs involved have included edible cannabis and prescription pills such as Xanax. These issues were brought to our attention from both students’ family members contacting us and from medical calls when students had adverse reactions from these drugs.”

Rick Johnson, chairman of the Dresden School Board, said in a Tuesday phone interview that school administrators provided the board with a brief outline of events during its March 15 meeting. Johnson said administrators “did not want to provide a lot of information for us (that would) taint our decision-making.”

If a student is officially alleged to have been involved in dealing drugs on campus, the board would serve as adjudicator in the disciplinary case, Johnson said.

Johnson, whose children attended Hanover High between 2014-21, said he hadn’t heard of previous incidents like this.

It’s the “first time I’ve ever seen an issue like this come up,” he said.

Johnson said he has “total faith” that administrators are “handling it appropriately.”

Badams, at the meeting, suggested that the district hold a public forum to discuss substance use, especially in light of the pending retail sale of marijuana in neighboring states such as Vermont. In addition, Badams said it’s important for children and families to understand that “one bit of curiosity could turn into an emergency room visit or worse.”

Johnson said he expects that the investigation will wrap up by the third week in April and the board will get more information at that point. Its next regular meeting is April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Hanover High School library and online. An agenda will be posted online by April 22 at https://go.boarddocs.com/nh/sau70/Board.nsf/vpublic?open.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Hanover police on their non-emergency line, 603-643-2222; police tip line, 603-643-7278; or online at https://www.hanovernh.org/user/182/contact.

Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.

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