This emerging issue impacts staff and students alike: large numbers of students congregate in washrooms to vape nicotine and/or cannabis, resulting in poor air-quality and activity that contravenes municipal by-laws and school board policies. Supervising staff and non-vaping students report feeling unsafe while using the facilities or when having to enter washrooms to enforce regulations. Within the Near North District School Board (NNDSB), school teams have employed a variety of preventative measures including parent conferences, referrals to Child and Youth Workers, meetings with the local health unit and student suspensions. Principals acknowledge that vaping on property was an issue prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, however data gathered at the local level by the Safe Schools Team demonstrates a steep uptick in this behaviour since March 2022. This correlates with when provincial protocols related to washroom capacity limits were lifted, thereby allowing students unfettered access to the facilities, which they hadn’t had access to since before the pandemic.

 

As part of an Action Research Project, a literature review of the issue was conducted and a subsequent project plan was generated. The purpose of the plan was to reduce the use of e-cigarettes on school campuses. The project plan provided five key recommendations that, when enacted together, could combat this multi-faceted issue. These recommendations included:

 

• Install vape detectors in high-use areas such as bathrooms and locker rooms to support staff in identifying when vaping is occurring and to collect data that will inform the efficacy of these recommendations.

• Provide on-going training to staff about vape products, vaping behaviour and vape culture in collaboration with the local health unit.

• Provide on-going information to parents about vape products, vaping behaviour, vape culture and the proven health risks associated with e-cigarette use in collaboration with the local health unit.

• Develop and implement a whole-school approach to educating youth about the harm of vaping through curriculum connections and course material.

• Identify individuals who are consistently caught vaping at school and provide them with addiction counseling and cessation programs to support a reduction in their nicotine dependence.

 

Beginning in August 2022, and alongside the staff and Principal of Almaguin Secondary, we were able to enact these five recommendations, having purchased five working vape detectors from Zeptive using funding from a Ministry grant that was received during the 2020/2021 school year. 

 

Data collected to date, including data from the Zeptive dashboard as well as anecdotal evidence, demonstrate great success in addressing the problem of e-cigarette use on campus, as well as combating the associated problems including washroom congregation and vandalism. We believe that this approach can be duplicated at our other secondary schools.