Vape detectors are currently being installed in public schools across Simcoe County following stricter rules passed down by the Ontario government for students caught vaping at school.
When contacted about vaping in Simcoe County schools, communications manager with the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) Sarah Kekewich said their board is currently in the process of installing approximately 125 vape detectors in all of their board’s 15 secondary schools, at an estimated cost of $300,000.
“(Vaping) is an activity of concern across the province,” said Kekewich.
This past April, the Ontario government announced it would be strengthening the rules around students caught using or carrying vapes or cigarettes in schools. Also in April, the province announced $30 million in the 2024 budget to install vape detectors and other security upgrades in schools.
Students caught with the products at school will be required to surrender them and their parents will be notified. Many school boards across Ontario spent the summer updating their student codes of conduct to include harsher measures for students found in possession of, and using, vapes on school property.
“SCDSB schools work closely with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit to educate students about the health impacts of vaping and support the enforcement of smoke-free schools,” said Kekewich. “The SCDSB code of conduct sets out clear expectations for student behaviour. Educators and school administrators follow progressive discipline practices if students are found to be vaping on school property.”
Electronic cigarettes are commonly called vapes, e-cigs, mods, or pens. They come in many styles, from box-like shapes to small flat USB-like sticks. They all have the same basic parts: a mouthpiece, a heating element, a tank or pod to hold liquid, and a battery.
E-cigarettes work by heating a liquid until it turns into an aerosol, the user then inhales the aerosol. The liquid may or may not contain nicotine.
According to the Ontario Student Drug and Health Survey, the number of students in Grades 7 to 12 who reported using vaping products doubled from 11 per cent in 2017 to 23 per cent in 2019, with 13 per cent – representing approximately 105,600 students – vaping weekly or daily.
The 2023 report notes that vaping rates across Ontario dipped last year, down to 13 per cent of students Grades 7 to 12 reporting vaping within the past year. However, the issue still persists.
According to data from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), in Simcoe and Muskoka in 2023, 32 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 reported using an e-cigarette in the past year, with this number jumping to 43 per cent when looking at only high school students, a rate significantly higher than the provincial rate.
While initially marketed as a way to help people to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes in the mid-2000s, e-cigarettes quickly gained popularity among people who don’t smoke, including youth.
Vape detectors monitor the environment for not only smoke and vape emissions but for loud noise and unit tampering.
The SCDSB declined a request from CollingwoodToday to enter a school to see a vape detector, and declined to provide a photo of one.
“School administrators will have access to each unit through a web portal with automatic alarms being sent notifying of activity,” said Kekewich.
While the total project cost for the vape detectors alone is estimated by the board at $300,000, the board only received $231,200 this year from the Ministry of Education for all safety infrastructure across more than 100 schools within their board.
The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board received $104,000 through the fund, however with 50 schools within their purview, that equates to about $2,000 per school and is expected to cover the costs of not only vape detectors but also security cameras and motion detectors.
“At this point, we want to ensure we are making the best use of the funding we do have,” said Pauline Stevenson, director of communications for the Catholic board, in an email.
“We plan to review what is working well for other boards and determine how we can best equip our schools to make a meaningful difference,” she said.
The Catholic board did add a new vaping protocol to their student code of conduct, and are part of a project along with the Simcoe County District School Board and four other Ontario school boards to pilot a new app called Quash, created through a partnership between the Lung Health Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Education.
The app offers students non-judgmental help to quit smoking or vaping.
“Our board is already very active in its work to address vaping in schools, and we are having some success,” said Stevenson.
The health unit’s Smoke-Free Program team works closely with many schools and school boards in Simcoe County and Muskoka to address vaping among youth using the locally developed program Not An Experiment.
For more information on that project, click here.
