Seminole schools might join JUUL suit
Superintendent says easy-to-hide devices cause campus problems
The Seminole County school district, fed up with students vaping on campus, is considering whether to file a federal lawsuit against JUUL, maker of e-cigarettes popular with teenagers.
Like others, Seminole Superintendent Walt Griffin said he worries about the health risks to students from inhaling nicotine-filled JUUL aerosol and the problems the easy-to-hide JUUL devices, which look like USB flash drives, cause on campus.
The district launched a pilot project in August to install “vaping detectors” on some campuses to help combat vaping.
“Student use is increasing,” Griffin said. “It’s absolutely an increased problem at the schools.”
Griffin said he will recommend the Seminole County School Board take legal action against the company. The board will take up the JUUL lawsuit issue at its Dec. 17 meeting.
If it votes yes, Seminole’s school board would join the Brevard and Palm Beach county boards and more than a dozen other school systems nationwide in a consolidated legal case that will be heard, at least initially, in California.
The lawsuits ask for unspecified damages. Griffin said he would use any settlement money awarded to his school district on anti-vaping education programs.
More school districts, in Florida and elsewhere, could join as well, though the Lake, Orange and Osceola county school districts are not interested in taking part, officials said.
JUUL cartridges, initially offered in child-friendly flavors such as mango and mint, each contain as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes. That makes them a dangerous product for children as the addictive substance is especially harmful to their still-developing brains, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The products, introduced in 2015, have surged in popularity among middle and high school students and have saddled the country with a “public health epidemic” by reversing the progress made to limit traditional cigarette use, the agency said.
The National Youth Tobacco Survey, released last month, con
cluded that 5 million youth currently use e-cigarettes, with nearly a million using them daily.
In Florida, the number of tobacco incidents reported by public schools — e-cigarettes are not listed separately — climbed from 4,211 in the 2014-15 school year to 8,278 in the 2017-18 school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.
Possessing or using ecigarettes is a violation of school conduct codes, so student vaping has become a discipline issue on many campuses. In Orange, the district at the start of the school year produced a video for students showcasing how vaping could get them in trouble, part of its effort to tamp down on e-cigarette use.
JUUL took a “playbook from big tobacco” by marketing its products as trendy and stylish, which appealed to teenagers, and by giving its marketing push a modern twist with a heavy social media presence, according to the Palm Beach lawsuit.
The fallout from JUUL’s popularity has hit school districts hard, the lawsuit says, as they “have been uniquely and disproportionately impacted. Educators are being forced to spend significant resources to combat, police, and try to prevent the illegal and unhealthy use of JUUL products by underage students.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment about the school lawsuits.
But this fall, under fire by national health experts, JUUL announced it would cease making flavors besides traditional tobacco ones. It also said it was committed to curbing “youth access, appeal, and use of vapor products.”
The Seminole school board heard a presentation this week on vaping and JUUL’s role from the attorney’s representing school districts that already have filed lawsuits. There would be no cost for Seminole to join the effort, they said.
“I haven’t made my mind up yet,” said Karen Almond, chair of Seminole’s school board. “I’m going to do some more research.”
Almond said while she must decide whether a lawsuit is the best route, she has no doubts vaping is unhealthy for students and creates problems for the county’s public schools.
“We’re struggling with that,” she said, noting the student discipline hearing she attended Tuesday morning involved vaping on campus, among other issues.
Each district involved in the legal proceedings will file its own lawsuit, but initial proceedings will be consolidated and heard in a federal court in northern California, said Steven Maher, whose Winter Park law firm is representing some of the districts, including Palm Beach’s.
He said he continues to meet with officials in other school districts and expects more to join the legal fight.
“There’s a critical mass that’s developing at this point,” he said.
Maher’s law firm helped Florida win its landmark settlement against tobacco companies in the late 1990s, a move that stopped the firms from marketing to children and and is credited with helping to reduce tobacco use among students.
But the JUUL products altered that. “Its undone everything that the tobacco settlement achieved,” Maher said.