SAUGUS — The conversation about concerns with the number of students who vape is heating up.
Personal vaporizers heat a liquid to generate an aerosol, commonly called a vapor, that the user inhales. Some vapor products look like cigarettes, while others are larger.
The district has sought the help of The Middlesex Partnership for Youth, Inc., a Wakefield-based nonprofit that develops programming to increase the health and safety of students, to provide an information meeting for parents to learn about the dangers of vaping.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11 at the Belmonte Middle School. A similar program will be delivered to Saugus students following the meeting.
“Vaping is a topic that has all of us parents worried,” said School Committee chairwoman Jeannie Meredith. “More kids are vaping and it’s downplayed — they don’t think anything is wrong with it. Kids are vaping and thinking ‘well, I’m not smoking tobacco,’ but a lot of the stuff has nicotine so, for people who didn’t smoke before, it’s actually introducing them to nicotine.”
While many adults use vaping devices to cut down on cigarette smoking, teenagers are picking up a habit by introducing nicotine to their bodies, said Meredith. She believes many might not understand the dangers.
A student risk survey was administered in the spring of 2017 and developed by the United States Center for Disease Control Prevention to monitor health behaviors among middle and high school students. All 91 questions were completed during a single class period on a volunteer basis.
More than 13 percent of Saugus middle-schoolers reported in the survey that they have used an electronic vapor product, including more than 26 percent of eighth-graders and 10 percent of seventh-graders.
More than 2 percent of eighth-graders said they smoked an electronic vapor product 10 to 19 days out of the past 30. More than 2 percent said between six to nine days in the past 30. More than 4 percent reported using on three to five days, and 4 percent said they used a device on one to two days.
Meanwhile, more than 98 percent of middle-schoolers said they had never smoked a cigarette. About 71 percent of students said they believed people greatly risk harming themselves physically or in other ways if they smoke one or more packs of cigarettes per day. About 24 percent said it would be a slight or moderate risk, and about 5 percent said it would not be a risk.
The School Committee adopted additional language specific to vaping to a 2001 policy prohibiting the use of tobacco on school property at a meeting Thursday night.
“It shall be a violation of this policy for any student of the Saugus Public Schools to possess, consume, display, or sell any tobacco products, tobacco-related devices, electronic cigarettes, vaping products, or vaping-related devices at any time on school property or at off-campus, school-sponsored events,” the policy reads.
It further defines “vaping device” as “any oral device that provides a vapor or liquid nicotine, and/or other substance, and the use of inhalation of which simulates smoking, including e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookah, vaping devices or devices under any other product name or descriptor.”
High school and middle school students have volunteered to provide babysitting services for parents who wish to attend the Dec. 11 meeting.
Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi said the meeting will be the first of a series of monthly informational meetings hosted by the district. Each will focus on a specific topic.
