Area schools seek to combat students' vaping

Principals aren’t worried about students smoking in school bathrooms these days. They are worried about students vaping.

So much so the Jackson School District is planning to install vape sensors this school year, following in the footsteps of Saxony Lutheran High School, which began using such devices at the start of this school year.

The use of e-cigarettes, which is harder to detect, has become commonplace, particularly in junior high and high schools in the area and nationwide.

“They are doing it everywhere,” Jackson superintendent John Link said of his district’s students.

Students vape in locker rooms, restrooms, on school buses and even in classrooms, Link said.

E-cigarettes have even been confiscated from middle-school students in Jackson, although Link said at that age it is often “more about showing off that they got it than using it.”

At the junior high and high school, it “has become such a distraction,” he said.

“About two years ago is when we started seeing a huge increase in incidents of students vaping while in school,” Link said.

E-cigarettes produce an aerosol by heating a liquid typically containing nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals.

“It dissipates so fast that if a teacher turns his back, they can take a hit on the vape and the vape will be dissipated before the teacher ever turns back around,” Link said.

Disciplining students over vaping has become routine.

“We spend so much time during the day with kids who are vaping,” he said.

Jackson school officials plan to install several of the sensors and test them out this school year, Link said.

“It is kind of like a smoke detector. If someone is vaping around one of these detectors, it will send a text message to the administration that someone has set off the detector,” he said.

According to Link, cameras in the schools then can be used to identify those students who vaped.

The sensors cost about $1,000 each.

If they prove effective, the district will purchase more sensors, he said.

School staff confiscate e-cigarettes and discipline students caught vaping. If the students are under the age of 18, the district doesn’t return their devices.

The devices are returned to the students, if they are of legal age, at the end of the school day in the case of an initial offense, and they are told not to bring the devices back to school.

Link said Jackson school staff are working to educate students on the health risks of vaping.

Illness

Earlier this month, a man in his mid-40s died in a St. Louis hospital from an illness associated with the use of e-cigarettes. He was he eighth person to die in the Untied States from such an illness.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) said the latest death was the result of a vaping-related lung injury. DHSS recently sent out a health advisory on the risks of vaping. According to DHSS, the Missouri Poison Center has received more than 600 calls with various complaints related to e-cigarettes over the last 10 years and has managed more than 30 cases with breathing difficulties associated with vaping over the last five years.

A Southeast Missouri State University student recently said she suffered from a lung illness associated with vaping.

There have been 530 cases of vape-related lung injury from 38 states and one U.S. territory, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on its website earlier this month.

E-cigarette companies marketed their products as being a safe way to quit smoking.

“Lately, we are starting to see that is just not a true statement,” Link said.

But the dangers of vaping still aren’t registering with many students, the Jackson superintendent said.

“It is one of those things where we can have the conversation, but in their mind, it is still not harmful, and we don’t seem to be making a lot of progress,” he said.

“People just ignore that we have people dying from using this,” Link said. “Quite frankly, it is scary.”

Those who vape defend the practice. Johnathan Dialto, who works at a local vape shop, said he has been vaping for three years and doesn’t believe legitimate e-cigarettes are a health risk.

But his view is not shared by local educators or public health officials.

Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center director Jane Wernsman said there are concerns e-cigarettes not only contain nicotine, but also heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and cancer-causing chemicals.

Other schools

Saxony Lutheran High School principal Mark Ruark said his school installed eight sensors in restrooms and locker rooms. They have proven effective in deterring students from vaping, he said.

“It really is an outstanding tool,” he said, adding similar sensors are being used in some St. Louis area schools.

“We wanted to, No. 1, prevent them (students) from using it on campus and then educate our students on the dangers,” Ruark said.

Without the sensors, it is difficult to detect vaping, he said.

There is no telltale smoke or even odor like there is with regular cigarettes.

The devices can look like other electronic devices, such as flash drives, he said, making them difficult to spot.

Cape Girardeau School District superintendent Neil Glass said education is the key to combating the issue.

The school system has no plans right now to install vaping sensors, he said.

Glass said the district might look at sensors at some point, “but I think the first line of defense is education.”

“Sensors might help but kids are pretty savvy,” he said, suggesting students would find a way around the detection system.

Glass said the Cape Girardeau district plans to hold educational workshops to inform middle, junior high and high school students about the health risks.

“I feel like the kids don’t have all the facts when it comes to vaping and I certainly don’t,” he said.

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