Schools to test alternatives to suspensions

Officials with the Douglas County School District have decided to stop suspending students caught vaping on campus at certain schools, hoping that education and support will make them less likely to continue using e-cigarettes.

The district and the Douglas County Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition are trying out a diversion program in which students will take classes about substance use and complete community service. The hope is that students will learn to deal with stress or other factors that might contribute to using nicotine, alcohol or other drugs.

Colorado has one of the highest youth vaping rates in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 27% of high school students in Colorado reported they had vaped nicotine, according to the 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado survey.

The change comes as concern about vaping is increasing.

The CDC has recorded 530 cases of severe lung illnesses and seven deaths related to vaping, mostly in young adults.

At least six of those cases are in Colorado. Most of the people who fell ill vaped marijuana products, sometimes in combination with nicotine, though some used exclusively nicotine.

Sagewood Middle School in Parker will be the first to try the new program, and Principal Ben D’Ardenne said he hopes it will be more effective than suspensions in changing behavior.

“We’re on board with solutions that keep students engaged in school and involved with their community, not sitting at home where they might feel isolated or be tempted to use substances that got them in trouble in the first place,” he said in a news release.

The Cherry Creek School District also is considering changes to its vaping policy, which currently allows up to a two-day suspension, spokeswoman Abbe Smith said. The district is considering offering Second Chance, an online tobacco education program funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, but hasn’t made a final decision, she said.

Douglas County and Cherry Creek aren’t the only districts that keep vaping students out of school. Adams County School District 14 suspends students for one to three days for vaping, which is the same penalty for smoking on campus, spokesman John Poynton said.

Both Jeffco Public Schools and Littleton Public Schools also allow suspensions as an option, but only for repeated violations of the tobacco and vaping policy.

In Jeffco, schools typically try to avoid suspending students for vaping by having them work with the school nurse, and possibly referring them for addiction treatment, spokeswoman Diana Wilson said. In Littleton, students can be forced to take part in a quitting program, excluded from extracurricular activities or sentenced to inschool suspension for a first offense, according to the student code of conduct.

Other districts stick to less severe penalties. Stephen Saunders, spokesman for Westminster Public Schools, said the district’s approach to vaping is “evolving,” but for now teachers just confiscate any nicotine products, whether conventional cigarettes or vaping materials.

In Denver Public Schools, vaping is a “type zero” offense, in the same category as tardiness and dress code violations, spokesman Will Jones said. Discipline can include meetings with the student’s parents or requiring students to work on a plan to correct their behavior.

Melissa Johnson, spokeswoman for Mapleton Public Schools, said it’s “very unlikely” the district would suspend a student for vaping.

“Our discipline practices are instructional and a part of our productive learning environments,” she said in an email. “Rather than remove a student from the classroom, we first look to support and resources.”