While cigarettes may not be as popular with teenagers as they once were, youths are now turning to vaping to acquire their quick fix — an issue that concerns some public division trustees.
During Prairie South School Division’s October board, trustee Crystal Froese said she attended a school community council (SCC) meeting gathering and learned about the challenges high schools in Moose Jaw face with students using electronic cigarettes. This prompted some schools to join forces to address the problem.
“It’s quite a bit different than when I was in high school, where it was tobacco. Vaping brings a whole new dynamic into the challenges,” she said.
Froese wondered if the board could support the high schools’ collective fight and whether there was a new or existing educational component trustees could promote. She also wondered if there were smoke detectors in bathrooms since that’s where students seem to vape regularly.
“Vaping, because it’s different than tobacco, tends to be an overwhelming intimidation for people to go in and use the washrooms after someone’s been vaping in there,” she continued. “No one’s 100-per-cent sure about the health implications, but we all know that it’s not good for you — and it’s certainly not good for our children.”
According to Health Canada, a survey from 2021 showed that:
- Five per cent of Canadians over 15 had reported vaping in the past 30 days, while youths were more likely to have vaped in the past 30 days (13 per cent aged 15-19 and 17 per cent of those aged 20-24) compared to four per cent of Canadians over 25
- Vaping to reduce stress was reported as the main reason for vaping among 15-19 years (33 per cent) compared with 58 per cent of those over 25 who reported using vaping to reduce, quit or avoid returning to smoking
- Six per cent of males and five per cent of females vaped in the past 30 days.
Division administration has met with principals and vice-principals from the three high schools and discussed the effect vaping has and some possible solutions, said Ryan Boughen, director of education. That group will spend more time thinking about what it could do to dissuade teens from using e-cigarettes.
“It’s a tricky situation. And we have students off our property who are congregating who are creating potentially a situation where it’s not as welcoming as we’d like it to be around our schools,” he continued. “And we have situations going in our bathrooms that we’re trying to control.”
Administration is spending plenty of time dealing with those problems, including Boughen, superintendent of school operations Derrick Huschi, and others, the education director said. The group is open to any support — including from the board — that could address the health issue.
Prairie South has done a decent job with its campaign blitz against vaping, but sometimes the posters do a better job of persuading youths to use e-cigarettes than dissuading them, Boughen said.
“Changing adolescent behaviour is a tricky thing,” he chuckled.
Huschi said some schools have vape detectors in their bathrooms. Meanwhile, he put out a call recently to superintendents asking if other schools use similar technology. He plans to collect that data to determine what schools are doing.
“I know the first (email response) I saw, they (the detectors) did well until someone ripped them off the (wall),” he chuckled. “We heard very clear from the high school folks that there are different issues in different buildings, but there are issues and we will work … to see how we can support and alleviate some of that pressure.”
The next board meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
