WEST JORDAN, Utah — While it may be a new school year, Utah educators are still struggling to help their students break the bad habit of E-cigarette use, which also has been linked to potential health risks.
As a new school year begins, Fox 13 News talked with the Jordan School District about the challenges they’ve been facing more recently and what’s concerning them the most.
“We’re seeing an uptick in our middle school students, and our worry is, if they begin vaping in middle school, it can become a lifelong addictive habit,” explains Sharon Jensen, a consultant in Student Support Services.
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The district will be targeting that age demographic this year by placing vape detectors in one of their middle schools. They secured funding to make this happen and will spend the next academic year collecting data on the effectiveness of these devices before they’re installed in more schools. The price-tag for this technology per school is about $50,000, according to Jensen.
The devices detect not only nicotine but THC, which is the psychoactive substance found in marijuana.
According to Stewart Hudnall, a high school vice principal with Jordan Schools, E-cigarettes containing THC are a more common sight in his halls.
“It almost feels like it’s a one- to- one ratio where I find a nicotine device, I almost always find a marijuana device with it,” Hudnall said.
Addiction is another big issue Hudnall is having to address, with some of his students unable to make-it through a full-day of school without a hit of nicotine.
“That’s where the sad part comes in because they’re so dependent on it,” Hudnall said. “Not only for the nicotine, but for things that’re happening to cope with the anxiety, the depression.”
He says that students in those situations need an extra level of care that goes beyond confiscating the device and notifying a parent. The district does its best to build a supportive team around the student to figure out what they can do.
Both Jensen and Hudnall believe students’ parents can play an important role in their recovery, too.
“If your student gets in trouble, don’t punish them by taking away something that is positive,” explains Jensen. That includes sports, music, and other out-of-school activities.
The biggest advice Hudnall has for parents: Don’t freak out.
He has seen the most success when parents hold their kid accountable, while offering them support in the consequences and figuring out what to do.
