PARK CITY — Following what has been a tragic and emotionally draining week for parents, students and administrators in the Park City School District, Superintendent Ember Conley said Friday was the first day the atmosphere at Treasure Mountain Junior High School began to feel normal again.

"This has been an extremely trying time on our community," Conley said. "I would say that we're all very tired."

The tragic chain of events that put the district into a self-described "crisis mode" began over the weekend with the first of two students' deaths suspected of being drug-related.

Grant Seaver, 13, was found dead in his home Sunday. Tuesday morning, his best friend and fellow Treasure Mountain classmate Ryan Ainsworth, 13, was found dead on a couch in his house by his father. Ryan was last seen alive late Monday. His parents told police he seemed to be happy at dinner, showing no signs of depression.

Wednesday, a friend of Ryan and Grant took a number of over-the-counter pills in an apparent suicide attempt, according to police. That Park City High School student was said to be stable on Friday.

Police were still waiting for toxicology results to determine exactly how the boys died. Forensic evidence has now been shipped out of state for testing, Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said. There was still no conclusive evidence that the boys died from drug overdoses.

But rather than wait for lab results before taking action, district officials immediately sent out warnings to parents on Tuesday about a synthetic opioid known as "pink" or "pinky," and set up a system to keep track of their at-risk students.

"At this point, we still have not had any lab results that have come back to unequivocally say we have pink. We have several substances that have been recovered, but at this time we still don't have lab results," Carpenter said.

"Right now, it's speculation as to what the cause of death is. The reality is we started pointing toward pink based on social media conversations," he said. "The connection was made due to the fact when we were looking at the individuals that were close associates to the two deceased, that this group actually had conversations about using pink."

As of Friday, no substances known as pink — or its DEA name, U-47700, a powerful synthetic opioid that can be fatal to first-time opioid users even when taken in small amounts — had been found by Park City police.

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Park City police with drug-sniffing K-9s went locker to locker on Wednesday looking for any possible illegal drugs in three schools.

But police and school officials say it's important for parents and students to be aware of all synthetic drugs and not just concentrate on pink.

"The problem is there are so many drugs that resemble this. And a lot of times clear liquid is a carrier for multiple different drugs. I think that's what's important in this investigation to recognize is whether it's pink or another drug, the fact is there are so many of these synthetic drugs coming off of the market out of China and Europe that we're being inundated with those. So this could be anything," Carpenter said.

After authorities issued warnings this week, Carpenter said a parent went through her student's room and found a box of nasal spray containers that contained a clear liquid with an unknown substance. Police are having those bottles tested by the Utah State Crime Lab to determine if a powder, possibly pink or another fentynal, was mixed with water.

These unknown drugs, he said, can be ordered off the internet and mailed from China. They are then typically mixed with other unknown substances and placed in unassuming containers, like nasal spray.

"Typically we're finding they're having it sent to a friend, someone else's home, one of these other kids within this group. We did confirm that we had one of these packages sent to one of these friends whose mother did in turn collect it and brought it to us," Carpenter said.

Earlier this week, police using drug sniffing K-9s went locker to locker at the middle school, Park City High School, and the Learning Center, the district's alternative high school. At the middle school, a baggy that tested positive for methamphetamine residue was found in a locker of a student who was a friend of Ryan and Grant, Carpenter said.

Conley noted, however, that the district was "thrilled" to learn those were the only illegal drugs found in all of the schools.

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Two 13-year-old Park City boys, best friends who attended Treasure Mountain Junior High School, both died unexpectedly within 48 hours of each other.

But she said parents also need to be aware that some children are abusing legal drugs. Based on the anonymous tips police and school officials have received this week from students, parents need to lock up unused prescription medications.

"Our children are getting their hands on anything and everything their parents are leaving unlocked," she said.

Students are admitting anonymously that they steal their parents' prescription meds, she said.

"We've heard the drugs are in the schools, the reality is they're in the homes," Carpenter added.

As part of the effort to keep students safe, Conley said after attendance is taken each morning, a list of students who are absent is checked with a list of students identified as being at-risk. The parents of those students are then called immediately or, if no one answers the phone, police with assistance from the Summit County Sheriff's Office have been going directly to that student's house to make sure they're OK.

Counselors have also been meeting every day after school to compare notes about how the student body is doing, Conley said. A plan was also in place for the weekend to continue monitoring and helping students.

"We wanted to reach out to the community because this has been a very, very tough time for our community, and recognize what an impact it's had on all of us," Carpenter said.

"This tragedy has brought our community together on a whole new level," Conley added.

The events of the past week has brought to light how important it is to have those "difficult conversations" with children, even very young ones, about the dangers of drugs, she said.

"The reality is this is where our kids are today," Conley said. "We're no different than any other community in the nation. This one has just (received more publicity)."

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