The North Union Board of Education was honored by the Ohio School Boards Association for January’s School Board Recognition Month. Pictured, from left, are board members Matt Hall, Shelly Ehret, Brian Davis, Matt Staley and Bradley DeCamp.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Ally Lanasa)
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North Union’s Board of Education and administration expressed concern about middle and high school students vaping during its meeting on Saturday.
Superintendent Richard Baird said the “biggest challenge with vaping” is that “it is so easy to hide it.”
“Kids need their personal time and personal space at school, and they take advantage of that,” Baird said. “I’m not sure the numbers that we have of kids that we’ve dealt with directly with vaping is correct, and I think that’s the scariest part of it. So, we’ve got to continue to look at the usage of it and take it very seriously when it is happening.”
Justin Ufferman, principal of North Union High School, said restrooms have HALO smart sensors installed, which are multi-sensors capable of vape detection, smoke detection, THC detection and detection of loud sounds like gunshots or students fighting.
The HALO detector also monitors carbon dioxide, particulate concentrations, humidity, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen dioxide in the air.
However, Ufferman said the vapor has to be within a certain distance for the sensor to detect it. North Union Middle School Principal Matt Burggraf added that students will blow the vapor into their sleeves to avoid setting off the sensor in the restrooms or alerting teachers in the classroom.
He added that “a pack of cigarettes is noticeable, but a vape pen” is easier to disguise. Furthermore, the smell of vapor is not as strong as cigarette smoke.
“We can walk in bathrooms at the high school and the middle school and know that they smoked a cigarette. We can’t necessarily detect that,” Burggraf said.
Ufferman said in some encounters with students who were caught vaping, the students placed the vaping pens “somewhere we’re not going.”
“Honestly, sometimes in the search, we really end up finding the charger for it or an empty pod or something and then that alerts us that we know it’s on you,” he said.
Ufferman said some students have even developed “communication systems” to notify others that the administration is checking the bathrooms for students vaping.
The high school principal said he asked some students how to combat vaping in schools, and the students said through education. Students told him they “really don’t know what it’s doing” to their bodies. He explained that many students believed vaping products just contain flavored water vapor.
“The difference between that and a cigarette to them is like it is on two different planes,” Ufferman said.
Board member Matt Hall asked Ufferman whether students use tobacco or THC vaping products more.
“We don’t get as much THC, I would say,” Ufferman replied. “We have gotten some.”
Burggraf added that the middle school has some encounters with students vaping, but not the same amount as the high school.
In most cases, students have taken their parents’ vaping pens, the principals said.
“We’re fighting a lot of different battles,” Ufferman said.
Board member Bradley DeCamp, who serves as the executive director of the ADAMH Board of Crawford and Marion Counties, said one of the biggest hurdles with educating children about vaping is the lack of evidence for health risks.
“If you look at cigarettes, I think, there’s been pretty good evidence that suggests that that’s harmful, regardless if you’re talking to an adult or a kid,” DeCamp said. “I think the challenge with vaping is the data’s a little bit less clear with results. It looks like it may not be as harmful for adults, especially those who have been long past smokers.”
He added that children could be confused seeing parents who switch to vaping after smoking for an extended period.
North Union Elementary School Principal Darlene Allison shared that Deputy Shawn Dyer provides education about the health risks of vaping in the D.A.R.E. program.
In an encouraging note, Ufferman announced that Tri-Rivers Career Center’s Drug Free Hire Me program has been adapted at North Union High School. He said more than 20 students have joined the program, and additional students have expressed interest.