Running Head: Vaping Redesign at Swartz Creek High School

Issue Analysis & Management Plan: Vaping Redesign at Swartz Creek High School

Shauntel Manning

EA 7940: School Community Development

Christine Abbott, Ph.D.

Oakland University

June 16, 2019

Statement of the Problem or Issue:

Over the last two years in Genesee County there has been a huge epidemic of vaping

among our high school students. Vape pens now look like GoPro cameras, USB drives, compact

mirrors, cellphone packs, and/or small electronic devices and being hidden every day in students’

pockets, wallets, undergarments, and other small accessories. The State Health Department said

their look and the many flavors have helped vaping become the latest craze among teenagers.

When we ask high school students why they vape, they state “I am trying to ween myself off

cigarettes”, “It’s better than cigarettes plus it won’t hurt me”, or “my parents let me buy it

because it is safe”. Students don’t think it’s harmful, has nicotine in it, nor that it is very

addictive. They taste the fruity flavors and think of it as flavored candy.

There are a lot of programs and initiatives throughout Genesee County that are giving

high schools hope of finding a way out of this current epidemic. By putting our resources

together as a county combined with what Swartz Community Schools has and creating a redesign

team will create more opportunities for our high school students to succeed without resorting to

vaping as a coping mechanism. Swartz Creek High School has 1300 students and over 60% of

our students are vaping. With this large population we do not have the personal to run a program

efficiently. We have to get creative with our staff at hand and come up with a system to monitor

all our high school students.

Stakeholders/constituents involved:

Swartz Creek High School is currently in the process of re-designing how we address the vaping

epidemic among high school students. On Wednesday, June 5th, several administrators in the

district plus our police liaison attended a Vaping Workshop held at the Genesee ISD. This
meeting was run by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention involving school

administrators, educators, community service providers, and parents. According to the statistics

shared at this workshop, in 2018, 21% of high school students across the country used e-

cigarettes or vape pens. In Genesee County, our high school students are reporting higher past

use of 30 day use of vaping products than the national average. Local education and prevention

partners discussed the potential health effects vaping has on young people. A few of the topics

covered included addressing this epidemic in local communities, resources available to schools,

families and students, and what strategies are working.

Analysis of present situation

During the 2018-2019 school year, SWIS (data management system for behavior) showed over

65% of our suspensions for male students were due to vaping. The nation currently has a vaping

epidemic among high school student. Students do not believe that vaping can lead to asthma,

lung diseases like COPD and an addiction to nicotine. As the year went on, it was coming to a

point where we were searching the bathroom 15-20 times per day, getting calls from teachers 1-2

times per day reporting someone vaping in the classroom and students sending anonymous tips

to administrators that students have vapes in the building. This caused us to question our

procedures and why are our students vaping even more at the school. Why our students are not

worried about getting caught. We need to continue looking for outside resources to help support

what we are trying to do at Swartz Creek.

Development of management plan including timeline and person(s) responsible and

involved in the plan

 This plan will involve all stakeholders at the high school (administrators, teachers,

students, parents, police liaison officer) who will assist the team in being more active and aware

of what is going on at the high school. The core team will consist of: administrators, police

liaison officer, Genesee ISD personal. At Swartz Creek our male students are vaping 85% of the

time in class, out of class, and in the boy’s restroom. They enter the bathroom in groups 5-10

boys at a time. One problem we have is that we only have two male administrators, one male

police officer, and no male aides. This causes a problem because we have to wait until a male

comes and goes into the bathroom. When someone finally arrives, they have discarded the vape

pens or left the bathroom altogether. This group will work with the ISD and police department

for training/workshops on how to address the vaping. This group will come up with a plan in

limiting how many male students are in the bathroom vaping in between class time. We will

come up with a strategic plan to identify our high fliers. We are in the process of switching two

female aides for two male aides. This will allow us to crackdown on how much action takes

place in the boy’s bathroom. We also have purchased a wand to search students if we suspect

anything. Our male students do a great job in hiding the vape pens due to the small size of them.

Our male students have also gotten smarter by separating the vape juice form the vape pen.

Another solution we are looking into is a mechanism inside the restroom. This will alert

administration when students are vaping in the restroom. As a team we will come up with a text

message alert for our students to use to call in anonymous asking for help in getting off vaping.

This number can also have a live person available to talk to them when they are struggling with

making the right decision to walk away. In August we are having training for all staff members

and aides giving them tools for their toolbox of what to look for, what it smells like and how to

detect students are going to the bathroom during class time to vape. The team will meet bi-
weekly tracking data to see what time of day is our busiest time and have people in position to

monitor.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, we as a nation, a county, a district, need a solution in breaking this

new trend of vaping in our teenage students. We need to educate our students and parents on the

long-term effects of vaping. Many students are buying vapes from stores and/or other students

and do not what is actually in the fruity juice they are using. I look forward continuing working

with Genesee ISD, School Liaison Officer, school administrators and other community members

in finding a way to break our teenagers’ habit.