ENOSBURG FALLS, Vt. (WCAX) - An incident involving used needles found at a Vermont school has left some parents concerned.

Kati Marchessault received a call last Friday that no parent wants to get: her 11-year-old was poked by a used needle she found on the grounds of Enosburg Falls Elementary School.

“I was scared because that’s a very serious issue,” Marchessault said.

Kati’s father, Peter, picked up his granddaughter that day and was equally concerned.

“I was nervous because who knows if there’s anything left in the syringe or if they had any diseases,” Peter Marchessault said.

Kids found three needles on Friday in the grass near the parking lot. Peter found an additional two on Sunday in a nearby spot underneath a basketball hoop.

“Something needs to be done because this is on school grounds and there’s a lot of kids at these schools,” he said.

The school says they’re open to suggestions from the community on what preventive measures they can add.

Peter hopes they add more signage to the property to discourage substance use there.

“Signage that says this property is surveilled is a great idea, and that’s something that we’re definitely willing to explore,” said Lynn Cota, the superintendent of the Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union.

Cota says the school has cameras surrounding the property and now requires facility staff to do morning and afternoon walkthroughs of the premises.

Monday, the school nurse walked through classrooms and showed students what the needles are and what to do if they find one.

“We’ll do everything we can to be vigilant that if anything is seen that we obviously take care of that quickly and keep our students away from it,” Cota said.

The student who got poked received medical assistance and has a low chance of infection. Her mother says she’s still worried.

“Oh, it’s going to be a fear going forward until we finally see a change. We feel like it’s going to be in the back of my mind when I drop her off,” Kati Marchessault said.

Vermont State Police and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office have been working with the school surveillance footage to potentially identify who left the needles at the school.

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