"She really lived up to her name": Justice High School Principal Tiffany Narcisse slammed over insensitive response to student death

The principal of Justice High School in Fairfax County, Tiffany Narcisse, is currently receiving criticism over a photo she shared on social media. This happened after a student of the school overdosed and died. Principal Narcisse was seen in the now-deleted picture smiling as she stood in the school corridor, with the caption reading,

"Losing a student is never easy for a building principal. Still smiling. Still standing. Still leading. Still teaching, learning, and growing”.

This entire incident garnered backlash from netizens. Even though the photo was later deleted, it had already been uploaded on X (formerly Twitter) by users like @libsoftiktok. Once the post got enough attention, social media users took to the comment section of the post to criticize Narcisse regarding the photo.

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Tiffany Narcisse’s response to student's death draws online backlash

The community in Fairfax County, Virginia, is in grief following a student's fatal overdose on December 4, 2023. According to Fairfax County police, the overdose that occurred in Seven Corners last week Monday is being looked into.

As per the police, at about 6 pm, they arrived at an apartment in the 2900 block of John Marshall Drive and discovered the unconscious teen. After being brought to a hospital, the teenager was eventually declared dead. She reportedly lost consciousness while on a video chat with a friend, according to the police. As per FFX Now, the police said,

“The friend alerted a family member who found the juvenile unresponsive and called 911".

Principal Tiffany Narcisse is being criticized for her recent post regarding the death of a student (Image via Justice High School)

The detectives discovered evidence of drug use, as they claimed to have "found evidence of narcotic usage nearby." Detectives from the Opioid Investigation Unit and the Major Crimes Bureau are currently working together on the case.

As per Annandale Today, the teenager was later identified as Madeline Valeria Moran Centeno, a tenth grader. An overdose of fentanyl was declared to be the cause of her death.

Principal makes students suicide about herself byu/ubal0xh inmildlyinfuriating

Addressing the tragic incident, Tiffany Narcisse, the school's principal, posted a picture of herself smiling and holding a cup while standing in the school hallway. The photo's caption implied that despite the student's death, she was continuously growing, teaching, learning, and smiling.

The photo drew much criticism and backlash once it went viral. People flooded the comment section of the post uploaded by Libs of TikTok on X and condemned the principal for the picture and the caption.

In response to the ongoing criticism, Principal Tiffany Narcisse and Fairfax County Public Schools have apologized to the whole student body. The picture that drew the backlash was later deleted.

To rectify the situation, the Principal wrote on X,

“Hi everyone. The previous tweet has been deleted. I apologize if anyone was offended. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.”

However, she eventually deleted her X account.

Student died of drug overdose byu/treetow inImTheMainCharacter

Meanwhile, WTOP reported that Tiffany Narcisse called the event a "heartbreaking loss for our community" in a letter to the Justice High School community. She wrote that the school has dispatched a crisis team in the wake of the tragedy.

This incident marked the most recent overdose among kids in the DC area at a time when school administrators are rushing to inform students about the risks associated with fentanyl and teach staff members how to revive someone from an overdose of opioids by using naloxone.