March 27, 2023 by Ciara Meyer (‘23)
In February, all Saratoga Springs High School (SSHS) students and families received an email from Principal Michelle Tsao entitled “Vape Detectors @ SSHS” announcing the school’s newest vaping prevention initiative. By March, some students say they have already discovered how to avoid and evade detection.
“To be honest, you have to be very negligent to get caught. You’re not going to get caught if you’re trying not to,” said an SSHS student. “If you just fully inhale the smoke, it doesn’t go up into the detectors and if you let out a small amount of it, it’s not enough to set off the detectors.” A quick Google search reveals hundreds of blogs eager to tell students other ways to avoid getting caught by the detectors. From the administrative side of things, though, Tsao feels that the detectors are having a positive impact.
“We had been looking at the vape detectors for a while,” said Tsao. “The vape detectors are a pilot, there’s several installed here at the high school and at Maple [Avenue Middle School.] The last data point I ran—we did see a decrease in students vaping in the bathrooms—it was like a 14-15% decrease over a one-week period.” Since the vape detectors were installed, Tsao says the number of students coming into the office for vaping-related infractions is steadily declining. She did note, however, that they can’t fully attribute this to the detectors going off on students—when students are called in, they aren’t always able to follow up on the details of how the student was caught.
The detectors are just one part of a much larger system of how SSHS handles the vaping issue on campus. A key part of the approach to tackling vaping comes in the form of punishments dictated by the Student Code of Conduct. For vaping, and other disciplinary infractions, Tsao said, “we have a progressive discipline policy. It’s automatically going to end up in some type of suspension, the first one usually being in school. If it’s a repeated behavior it could get more severe as it happens.”
When students get in-school suspension (ISS) they complete a Stanford University vaping module with educational information about the dangers of vaping. The last question of the module asks students if they are ready to quit or need help. For students who say they need help, services are available through the school’s onsite Behavioral Health Services North (BHSN), counselors who offer services in mental health support and for students struggling with addiction.
Tsao views this partnering of BHSN, the vaping prevention module, and suspension as more of a preventative measure than a punishment. “The module is really preventative of recidivism,” said Tsao. “There are some students who have gone back into a consequence because they got caught vaping again. Those percentages are very small.”
Even with the measures currently in place, SSHS still clearly has a vaping problem.“It appears to be focused on ‘stop vaping on school property,’” said Clare Hegener, Senior Class President. “It’s focused on punishment right now and not about assisting students who are addicted.”
“We are obviously a drug-free campus and, yes, any student that brings some sort of drug paraphernalia or the substance on campus should obviously serve something,” said health teacher Holly Louis. “My struggle with the kids that are constantly getting ISS or getting pass restriction is that they also need help and support.”
For Louis and Hegener, this means a multitude of things—including more education. In her current classes, Louis says she focuses on emphasizing the negative impacts vaping can have on your financial, physical, and mental health—alongside ways to find “natural highs” in your life, instead of turning to substances. Part of it is about getting to kids young—before they have a chance to get hooked in the first place.
“As a young developing teenager you are more prone to getting hooked faster,” said Louis. “I truly believe that health education should be a requirement in ninth grade or tenth. If I get them as second-semester seniors they’re already in it too deep—it’s this rollercoaster of trying to quit and then relapsing and then they just feel like, ‘I’m an addict and this is who I am.’ And I don’t want it to be who they are.”
Beyond just her push to get to students at a younger age, Louis has also been taking helping students quit into her own hands—purchasing gum, fidget toys, and water to help distract students who are coping with withdrawal symptoms. “The biggest thing with trying to quit vaping, smoking, chewing tobacco—anything with the mouth—is the oral fixation,” said Louis. “They need to keep busy with something, so I have lots of gum.” She gets some financial support from health department funds, but a decent chunk of Louis’ gum purchasing is out of her own pocket. For more long-term support, Louis has also personally developed a ten-step program to help her students quit.
And despite all the talk around vape detectors and ISS, things like Louis’ gum and programming are the types of solutions parents, students, teachers, and staff all seem to get behind. “Consequences don’t fix addiction,” said Tsao. “Support helps addiction—whether that support be in the BHSN, or adults here trying to help, or the harm reduction groups.” Outside of those in-school supports, Louis and Tsao emphasized the roles families have to play in helping their kids avoid or quit vaping.
“I would ask parents to have conversations regarding vaping and the dangers that it has to someone’s health,” said Tsao. “Then, secondly, take a look around your kid’s room and their belongings.” Louis said, in the case of students who get caught on campus, that she believes, “it would be beneficial to have that family have to come into school for a meeting.”
Even if families were to get more involved, there’s no saying if the problem would actually be solved. “I think schools are a reflection of society, they’re not a driver of society,” said SSHS teacher Timothy McGuiggan. “Have we made a significant impact in affecting students’ use of vaping? No. But I don’t think we’re going to see that unless we see somewhat of a societal change.”
Even if the societal problem is too big to conquer, for individual students, programming can make a difference. For students seeking resources on how to quit vaping, resources are available through BHSN (counselors located in the lower G-wing) and the health department (classrooms located in the upper D-wing).