Kansas wants public schools to ban all vaping — even for visitors at events
The Kansas State Board of Education voted Tuesday to encourage public school districts to ban vaping — including not just students and staff but any visitors at any school activity.
The policy, approved unanimously, calls for prohibiting students and staff from using, possessing or promoting any tobacco products, including vape pens, while they’re on school property, in school vehicles or at activities.
In addition, parents, volunteers, contractors and vendors also would be banned from using any tobacco products and e-cigarettes “in any district facility, in school vehicles, at school-sponsored activities, programs or events, and on school owned property at all times.”
Kathy Busch, the board’s chairwoman, called the policy recommendation “quite inclusive and definitive.”
“Hopefully we’ll begin to stem the tide, but obviously we haven’t reached that yet, still much work to do as our young people are unfortunately still getting into this and we wish they wouldn’t,” said Busch.
Many school districts in both Kansas and Missouri already prohibit the use of e-cigarettes on school property.
But, “I would be surprised if there are really more than a handful of districts that have this comprehensive of a policy,” Mark Thompson, a program consultant for the Kansas Department of Education, told the board.
School officials in Olathe applauded the board’s decision.
“As a district, Olathe has prohibited possession and use of tobacco products and nicotine delivery products at all district locations for a number of years,” said Cody Kennedy, communications and media manager for the district.
Olathe is one of several Kansas school districts — including Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley — that are suing the country’s largest e-cigarette maker, Juul, which has been accused of targeting children and teens with its marketing. The Lawrence school board voted Monday to join the lawsuit.
Concerns over health
A state task force spent months researching and crafting recommendations out of concern over increasing reports of health problems, even deaths, connected to vaping.
According to the latest reports from the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaping has been linked to 2,291 cases of lung injury and 48 deaths across the country, including two in Kansas and two in Missouri.
Thompson said 78% of people hospitalized with vaping-related injuries have been younger than 35 — and more than half of those were ages 14 to 24.
The popularity of e-cigarettes among middle and high school students continues to rise like a rocket, from 3.6 million users last year to 5.3 million this year, the CDC reports.
More than 1 out of every 4 American high-schoolers — 27.5% — now say they have vaped in the last 30 days, the CDC says.
In Kansas, the 2019 Kansas Youth Risk Behavior Survey of ninth through 12th-graders revealed that nearly half of them use vaping products, according to the Kansas Association of School Boards.
And yet, most of them probably don’t even know what they’re vaping. Sixty-six percent of teenagers think their e-cigarettes contain only flavoring, the National Institute on Drug Abuse says. Nearly 14 percent don’t know what’s in their vape pens.
“Many administrators were caught flat-footed as the vaping trend started to take off several years ago — including stealth use of the sleek products in class — and tried to stem the problem with a hodgepodge of approaches, from strict zero-tolerance policies that came with mandatory suspensions for students caught vaping or with vaping paraphernalia on campus, to programs that teach high school and middle school students the dangers of vaping,” Education Week reported in August.
“It’s a tricky balance for school districts as they weigh sending a strong message to students that vaping and nicotine use will not be tolerated on campus, while also recognizing that students need help to understand the potential health consequences and available treatment options if they become addicted.”
States and cities crack down
In most states — including Kansas and Missouri — it is illegal for anyone younger than 18 to buy an e-cigarette. But a growing number of states and cities have cracked down and raised the age limit to 21.
Kids, though, reportedly don’t bother with the vape shops. They buy their vaping supplies illegally online or get them from older friends or siblings, and they know the places around town that will sell to underage customers.
in October, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order giving the state departments of Health and Senior Services, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Public Safety one month to get the the Clear the Air Campaign program running without any additional funding.
The program is designed to use social media to reach teens about the dangers of vaping.
Thompson said the Kansas vaping task force that wrote the recommendation approved Tuesday will turn its attention next to the issues of discipline and helping students quit the habit. “We know that schools are struggling with how to handle situations where students are caught vaping or with vaping devices,” he said.
The task force hopes to have those recommendations ready for districts to use next school year, Thompson said.
The Star’s Mará Rose Williams contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 3:52 PM.
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