Throughout recent years, vaping in bathrooms has become a prevalent issue on campus.
As signs of addiction worsen among high schoolers in California, vaping has seen a surge in daily usage. In order to address addiction and prevent the rise of students vaping in bathrooms, the school has implemented new measures to inhibit nicotine abuse.
“People will come tell us there’s vaping in the bathroom, that something is happening. Part of our due diligence is to try to create deterrence. If I put an adult out there, that might deter somebody from wanting to walk in there to vape, knowing that they could potentially get caught. That’s why we have [administrators and security guards] walking around campus,” Interim assistant principal Dr. Jeff Jordan said.
With flavors, accessibility and products designed to look like everyday objects, vaping companies employ several strategies to appeal to a younger audience. These tactics influence how students interact with vapes and increase difficulty in detecting nicotine products.
“I would say in the past five to six years, [vaping] has been increasingly worsening because it’s easier to get vapes and they’re making vapes that are not easily detectable. So as they are advancing and hiding, we have to progress in detecting,” Grade level coordinator Corolar Schultz said.
While each circumstance is navigated differently, there are general steps that the school undergoes to handle students caught vaping. The school first assesses the type of vape, determining the substance that is being used like nicotine. Then, they contact the student’s parents to inform them about their student. From there, the school investigates to better understand the situation: uncovering how long the student has been vaping, hearing what the parents say and talking to students. After collecting information, they decide how to handle the situation. Depending on the student’s needs, there are different programs offered to help students.
“The big thing is that we want to help people stop [vaping]. We have programs [for addiction] and if you are doing it for other reasons, we want to counsel and talk to you. We have outside therapy that we can recommend because addiction is such a strong thing that follows you for a lifetime and can control you. If we can stop it right now and help you with it by catching you, then I think we’ve made a difference in our student lives,” Schultz said.
Beyond programs and consulting, suspensions are sometimes given as a last resort under serious and specific circumstances.
“We don’t want to suspend our students. [Instead], we look for alternatives because the goal is to stop them from vaping. It’s not to punish or keep them away from school. It’s to help them stop it because we know it leads to addiction and if you’re addicted to something, then you have a less chance of being successful in life itself,” Schultz said.
