GHS turns spotlight on vaping epidemic

Roughly 50 people attended Grafton High School’s first community seminar about the harmful effects of vaping.

“The Truth About Vaping, Juuling and Your Child” was presented by Charlene Gaebler-Uhing of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin on Nov. 13.

Principal Scott Mantei said the school plans to hold more informational sessions.

“We believe one of the ways to combat this is to get the word out there about vaping beyond just our school and including our community in those conversations,” Mantei  said.

“We certainly want to continue the conversation moving in the right direction regarding vaping. We want to keep this topic at the forefront to keep families thinking.”

Last spring, the Wisconsin Department of Public Health issued a public health advisory stating that e-cigarette use among Wisconsin high school students had increased 154% between 2014 and 2018.

In 2018, 20% of Wisconsin high school students were using e-cigarettes.

“It’s a new challenge that all school districts are facing. It’s certainly not unique to Grafton,” Mantei said. “There are similarities to some previous challenges that have come forth in schools, but you look to handle it together as a team and that’s what we’re trying to do here in Grafton.”

Mantei said it is difficult to quantify the number of students who vape at school, because the various products can resemble pens, lip gloss and flash drives.

“It’s really hard to do. Does the number of referrals really give you an accurate representation of how many students are vaping?” Mantei asked.

“We understand that there are more students vaping than our referrals suggest.”

The school is also educating students about the harmful effects of vaping in health and science classes.

Students caught vaping at school could be suspended from class and extracurricular activities and cited by Grafton police. These students also have to complete a course through the guidance department during their resource period, Mantei said.

“We want to partner with our families and community to educate our youth. We want to handle this together as a team,” he said.