BERLIN – Members of the public are encouraged to attend a community forum on vaping next month.
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Stephen Decatur High School will host a community forum on vaping during its annual Taco Night fundraiser.
At 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., parents, students and members of the community are invited to join the discussion, which will be held in the school’s auditorium.
Principal Tom Sites explained the forum is one of the first initiatives to come from the school’s Vaping Task Force, which was formed during the fall semester to address a number of vaping incidents on school grounds. He said task force members include teachers, administrators and students.
“At the beginning of the school year, we were seeing a number of vaping incidents among some of our students …,” he said. “So we decided to form a task force and start looking at ways to address this issue.”
Sites noted that smoking and vaping on school grounds is prohibited, and students who violate the countywide policy are referred to Saturday school and smoking cessation classes. But he said that hasn’t stopped some pupils from using e-cigarettes, particularly in school bathrooms.
“This isn’t just a school-wide problem,” he said. “It’s not a problem we are just seeing here at Stephen Decatur. It’s a nationwide issue.”
Nationally, from 2017 to 2018, use of tobacco products grew by nearly 40% among U.S. high school students, with the use of electronic smoking devices increasing by 78%, according to a recent press release from the Maryland Department of Health.
While noting that the number of vaping incidents on school grounds has decreased in the last two months, Sites said the school continues to take proactive measures.
In addition to the upcoming community forum, he said teachers and custodians have been stationed in the hallways and near bathrooms between classes and during lunch. There are also plans to speak with younger students about the dangers of vaping in the coming months.
“We really want to reach the students that are about to enter high school,” he said.
Assistant Principal Leland Green said the goal of the community forum is to inform parents, students and community members about the dangers of vaping. The presentation will include speakers from the Worcester County Health Department, Deputy Kenny Reed, the school’s student resource officer, and more.
“We will be having a session at 5 p.m. and another at 6 p.m.,” he said.
School administrators said the forum will be open for members of the public as they attend the school’s Taco Night fundraiser, which will be held in the cafeteria from 2:30-7 p.m.
“Taco Night is one of the biggest events we have at the school each year,” Sites said. “So we said, ‘Why not use this opportunity to host the event?’”
Sites said he is optimistic the school’s efforts, as well as the new sales age for tobacco products, will reduce e-cigarette use. He noted that students on the Vaping Task Force have already reported a dwindling interest in vaping.
“The students on our task force are telling us it’s becoming less of the cool thing to do now …,” he said. “I think a lot of students are starting to see the dangers and uncertainties of vaping. They see the damage it can do to their lungs, they see the risks associated with it, and I think it scares them.”
For more information on the community forum, contact Leland Green at 410-632-2880.
