Want to stay home from school for three days? How about harming your developing adolescent brain that controls attention, learning, mood, and impulse control? 2.14 million high school students reportedly vape, and at Sahuaro High School, it has been a growing problem for many years and the addiction is just getting worse. This year it seems our school wants to make a huge impact because everything got too out of control last year and if there is no change, the school won’t survive. There are brand new rules in place to get vaping under control because kids at this school who just want to use the bathroom can’t due to the smell and the overwhelming amount of smoke. It has gotten worse over the years but today the problem may be reduced to none.
The problem that this school is facing is how common vaping is in class or in the bathroom. Our principal, Mr. Estrella said, “The plan is to reduce it dramatically by almost eliminating it, and to do that we must limit how much students can go to the bathroom at a time and not give out too many hall passes.” If the students disregard this and go out anyway, then being caught the first time vaping would be the first offense, which is an immediate 3-day suspension. The second offense would be a 6-day suspension and the third offense would be 9 days. These suspension rules are new so it may take time, but the outcome might be a success.
There are many details to the rules that are now in place. For example, if a freshman is caught vaping, then that will be their very first offense but if they get caught the following year, or even their senior year, then it picks up where they left off and that will be their second offense. I asked Mr. Estrella if he thought the students would learn not to vape at school. H replied, “It’s all about progress and reminding them why they are here at school, and, of course, we can’t judge them for the mistakes they made, but we just expect progress. We are here for learning and to get on with our lives after, so vaping can hinder people from doing that.”
Admin has been hanging out outside of all the bathrooms, and the walk of shame students must make when they get busted should be a vicarious lesson to others not to vape at school (or really…ever…)
