By Josh Liepper (Syracuse, N.Y.)-
The numbers don’t lie. In Central New York, vaping has become an epidemic and it’s not just adults who are obtaining these devices.
High School students are using these vapes during school hours, prompting school administrators to search for solutions.
One of the ways is to educate the students instead of punishing them harshly. Lafayette Junior-High School Principal, Jason Ryan, believes in this.
“We want to pull back five-day suspensions if students complete informative, online seminars and discussions,” Ryan said.
That’s what their job is: to educate; and that’s what they’ll do because all these administrators want is for their students to learn about the health risks and consequences that occur when using these devices.
Lafayette also works with the Prevention Network to help them in trying to combat the vaping epidemic.
Ryan has caught as most as six students vaping during school. They were suspended for five days for violating the code of conduct. He says the kids were “remorseful” when they got caught.
Parents contact school administrators about the issue so that they can learn more about it.
“They’re concerned. Some of them don’t even know what they look like,” Nottingham High School Principal, Wil Mecum says.
In most cases, it could look like a USB flash drive or even a pen.
It’s not just the students and administrators that need to be educated. The parents need to be also so that they can prevent their child from using a vape in the future.
That’s if they don’t vape. Some parents don’t even know if their child does or does not.
The “trend” that has taken Central New York by storm is not something that will go away soon.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has inquired about the idea of adding menthol to the list of banned JUUL pod flavors, leaving only tobacco as the only pod left.
Mecum believes that these kids use vapes because “they don’t have to burn anything.” Ryan says, “It’s just like when cigarettes were being used years ago.”
One thing is for certain, the need to get these vaping devices out of the hands of young adults has never been more urgent.
