Verkada – Air Quality Sensors – Vaping On Campus – Part III - Strategies To Identify, Prevent and Curb Student Vaping.

8 Effective Strategies to Address Vaping

Across the country, how to stop vaping in schools is becoming a major conversation. To stand up against the teen vaping epidemic, there are a range of programs and strategies that schools can use to deter vaping.

"We have a health class that's required in and we actually added a section into that class that was based around vaping. We were hearing from students that [vapes] don't have any tobacco or nicotine. And so they didn't even really know what they were putting in their body and educating those students was key: we educated them on what those effects could look like." – Kurt Seiler, Principal Independence HS, Kansas - Unified School District #446

To address the root of the vaping epidemic, teachers and administrators need to take a range of steps to curb vaping, drive better education around the topic, increase awareness, and more. Some of the strategies school leaders can deploy include:

1. Create an effective vaping policy: A clear and concise vape-free policy is the first step to addressing the problem. The policy should include disciplinary actions for students who violate the rules, as well as education on the risks of vaping.

2. Increase monitoring and enforcement: To ensure the policy is being followed, schools need to increase schoolwide monitoring for vape-related incidents. This might include more frequent check-ins during lunch or after school, as well as more random locker and backpack searches. It should also include building security cameras and vape detectors in bathrooms and other common areas.

3. Educate school staff: When staff members are educated on the risks of vaping and how to identify vape-related incidents, they can play a crucial role in prevention. Each school administrator should be trained on the signs of vaping, so they can take action when necessary.

4. Engage parents: Parents need to be involved in the conversation about teen vaping, both at home and at school. Schools can host parent workshops or send informational pamphlets to a family member to start the dialogue.

5. Educate students: Many young adults are unaware of the harmful consequences of vaping nicotine. Students need to be educated on the risks of vaping, as well as the school's policy against it. This education should start early—in middle school—to prevent students from ever starting to vape.

6. Enforce consequences: If students are caught violating the school's vaping policy, they should be subject to disciplinary action. This might include detention, suspension, or even expulsion, depending on the severity of the case. The consequences should be strict enough to deter students from vaping, but not so severe that they are unreasonable.

7. Provide support and resources for students: Some young people vape because they struggle with other issues, like anxiety, depression, trouble at home, peer pressure, or a psychological issue. In other cases, they need the help from an addiction specialist. Schools should provide support and resources for these students, so they can get the help they need to stop vaping.

8. Capture student data: Many schools collect data on student vaping, which can help administrators understand the scope of the problem and develop targeted prevention strategies. This data can be collected through surveys, focus groups, or student interviews. It can also be gathered through environmental monitoring systems placed on school grounds.

In the end, installing Air Quality Sensors in non-smoking/no-vaping areas would be essential. This would include restrooms, hallways, gymnasiums, equipment closets, and of course classrooms, to name a few.

How It Works!

The Verkada Air Quality solution is extremely powerful in school settings as it allows school leaders to proactively monitor bathrooms, locker rooms and other indoor environments for vape events. The sensor uses multiple onboard sensors to detect and measure vaping events. Combined, these sensor readings output Verkada’s Vape Index, which determines the likeliness of vaping/smoking occurring on a scale of 1-100. The Vape Index takes several environmental changes into consideration, including increases in TVOC, PM2.5 and motion to determine if a person is present.

For best results, the Vape Index should only be enabled in areas more prone to vaping (restrooms, classrooms, hallways) and not in spaces where common events could cause a false positive (kitchens, manufacturing floors). Additionally, for some areas, users are encouraged to link a camera with each sensor, providing visibility and context into events taking place to investigate what triggered an increase in the Vape Index reading.

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