By Natalie Paez
Schools across the country, including La Cueva, have a common issue: students vaping on school premises. Here, students most commonly use passing periods to vape in the bathrooms. This issue has caused LCHS to have very little no-smoking restrooms on school grounds.
Many students who don't vape feel uncomfortable by the constant clouds of smoke in the bathrooms. Freshman Lainey Alcaraz said, “I feel like it's gotten pretty bad, especially to the point where everytime you walk into the bathroom you’ll see people vaping. I think it should be a bigger subject that teachers talk about.”
Teachers also have concerns about the current situation. English teacher Victoria Dixon said, “I have heard students say there are certain bathrooms they don't want to use because they don't want to accidentally get in trouble if a staff member bust kids for vaping. What it seems like is there are certain bathrooms that have a reputation for it. Which is why one of them is locked now.”
As for which bathrooms are the main concern, Dixon said, “I heard it was the main C hall by the lockers and then I know there's one in B hall that's locked, the one by the book room is locked.”
Luckily, Principal Dana Lee and her administrative team have a plan to help students feel safe and comfortable using the bathrooms at school. They plan to install vape detectors in each bathroom. Vape detectors are specifically designed to catch vapor emitted from battery-powered cigarettes, unlike regular smoke detectors.
However, these devices don't just detect vapors; they can detect other smokes as well. It is unclear at what time these detectors will be implemented at school or what kind of vape detector will be installed.
“I can tell you that we do have plans to install vape detection system in our bathrooms soon. Lots of schools are starting to use them, they come in different forms,” Lee said. " Some of them have an alarm on them so once the vape smoke or the vapor hits the detector it sounds an alarm. Some are silent, but they alert administration and security when they are activated so that we can go and find the offender.”
Lee has two goals once the detectors are installed: “First is the health and safety of the majority of the students who are not vaping, and who are having difficulty accessing a smoke free restroom. That is my first priority: the safety of all the students who are making the right decision. Secondly, identifying the students who are vaping in the bathroom so that I can provide them support to break them of this nasty habit.”
Unfortunately, some students aren’t just smoking nicotine, but also THC mixed with other kinds of drugs.
Crossroads counselor Christine Loidolt, explaining the long term effects of kids vaping, said, “I believe that vaping is extremely dangerous especially for adolescents because the teen brain is still growing, and so when adolescents begin to use nicotine products such as vaping it does create problems later in life that can lead to further addictions with alcohol or other drugs.”
She added, “Do I believe that we have a vaping issue here at our school? I would say that every school, even our middle schools, have an issue with vaping.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, visit Loidolt in room C-31 or email her at loidolt@aps.edu. The following sites can also provide information and guidance: teen.smokefree.gov, truthinitiative.org and See Something, Say something.