District taking steps to implement education, enforcement programs

By Jason Emerson

Editor

The Cazenovia school district is extraordinary in many respects, but in regard to the latest issue gripping schools, Caz is facing the same situation as the rest — how to deal with teens “vaping” in school.

Vaping (using e-cigarettes, vape pens or juuls) is a form of smoking in which various liquids are heated in a device and the resulting vapors are inhaled by the user. People can vape flavored water and nicotine oils (the latter used typically to help quit smoking), but anything can be vaped, including marijuana, alcohol and harder drugs.

Words like “crisis” and “epidemic” are being used in relation to American teens suddenly jumping on the vaping bandwagon, and the Cazenovia school district has found itself confronted by the issue.

“There is a crisis we are having currently in the district regarding vaping; it is all-too-prevalent in our schools,” said Superintendent Matt Reilly. “We are seeing a sudden explosion in the numbers of students vaping, mainly because a bunch of kids are getting caught and we are imposing consequences on them.”

According to a 2017 report by the U.S. surgeon general titled “E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults,” e-cigarette use grew 900 percent among high school students from 2011 to 2015. The report states that the most commonly cited reasons for using e-cigarettes among both youth and young adults are curiosity, flavoring/taste and low perceived harm compared to other tobacco products.

The report also found that e-cigarette aerosol is not merely “water vapor,” although it generally contains fewer toxicants than combustible tobacco products.

A new report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has found that while there are no long-term scientific studies of the devices’ addictive potential or their physiological effects, vaping may lead teenagers to try regular cigarettes, increasing their risk for addiction. There was additionally moderate evidence found that youths who use e-cigarettes before trying tobacco are more likely to become more frequent smokers.

On the opposite side of the issue, George Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, responded to the report by saying the findings were consistent with those reached by the Royal College of Physicians and other institutions in Britain that have issued reports indicating e-cigarettes are less dangerous than traditional smoking.

Cazenovia students have told administrators that vaping is “widely prevalent” in Cazenovia, particularly in the high school, and it is not limited to any particular group of students, Reilly said.

Cazenovia students have been caught vaping in all areas of the high school, particularly in the restrooms, and sometimes are “vary brazen about it,” Reilly said. He said it is difficult to stop and often difficult to detect because, unlike cigarettes, vaping is usually odorless and the exhaled smoke dissipates rapidly.

“We are not the only ones seeing this — it is happening at other districts as well, and they are just as vexed,” Reilly said.

The Fayetteville-Manlius School District sent a letter to its district parents on Jan. 25 — the same day the Cazenovia district sent out a similar letter — expressing concern about the issue of vaping in its schools.

Cazenovia is addressing the issue through both education and punishment, Reilly said. While there have been, and will continue to be, consequences for students caught vaping in school, the district is also working quickly to create an educational program to teach students why vaping is harmful and should be avoided, he said.

The district is currently consulting with experts at Upstate Medical University to present in-school assemblies to students in the middle school and high school, and also an evening assembly for parents on the issue of vaping, hopefully in early February, Reilly said.

Administrators are also working with student groups — such as Friends of Rachel and Students Against Destructive Decisions — and concerned local parents to create a positive peer pressure campaign to prevent kids from vaping, he said.

“It certainly is on our radar; it certainly is concerning; and we certainly are addressing it,” Reilly said.

Cazenovia Police Chief Michael Hayes said that from the law enforcement perspective, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy or possess e-cigarettes and vaping devices. Similarly, people over 18 who provide vaping devices to underage children are committing a crime and can be charged with endangering the welfare of a child – a misdemeanor. “It’s no different than handing a child a pack of cigarettes,” Hayes said. “You can be arrested for it.”

Hayes said that while the Cazenovia school district has been dealing with vaping incidents internally, the district now will start calling the Cazenovia police for assistance.

“We are trying to assist the district to help send the message that this is not acceptable behavior in school,” Hayes said.

The police participation will include giving information to the district on the issue of vaping; police will also be called to the school when a student is found to possess a vaping device. The police will confiscate the device and make sure that whatever is being vaped in it is not an illegal substance — which creates a separate issue if it is an illegal substance such as marijuana — and then let the district handle the incident, Hayes said.

However, if a pattern starts to emerge with a particular student, then the police will get involved and, if a person over the age of 18 is found to be supplying or enabling the use of vaping devices to underage children, then legal actions will be taken against the adult, Hayes said.

“Obviously, we want to educate first and enforce second,” Hayes said.

Concerned Cazenovia parent Cameron Gale, who is working with the school district to combat this issue from a communications standpoint, said research shows that both children and adults do not understand that vaping is unhealthy, that it is highly addictive and illegal. “Nicotine is a drug — this is drug addiction; it’s a chemical addiction,” he said.

Gale said he became concerned about vaping when he started seeing this is his family’s own social circles around town. He started researching it “out of curiosity,” but “when the truth revealed itself it was very alarming.” The truth, he said, is that vaping is marketed all over social media as something safe and “cool” to do, so kids are trying it — just like the spinner widget craze in 2017.

Gale said that through his research, discussions and connections, he believes there are “easily” more than 100 teens in Cazenovia who are affected by vaping, while he has seen social media posts in which 10 and 11-year-old kids are excited to try it.

“This crisis is new to Cazenovia, but it is not new to other parts of the country,” Gale said. “We have to act quickly to galvanize in kids’ minds that this is not ok.”

Read the U.S. surgeon general’s report on e-cigarettes online at e-cigarettes.surgeongeneral.gov.