A Comprehensive Approach to Combat Vaping

The Southern Lehigh School District strives to build an environment to support and encourage our students while providing additional resources to help keep them safe and healthy. Like many school districts across the Lehigh Valley and State of Pennsylvania, the Southern Lehigh School District is alarmed at the rates of reported vape use amongst young people and the national reports of health complications that may be linked to vaping. Below are some ways that the Southern Lehigh School District is working to address this growing health concern while also providing resources targeted toward various stakeholder groups. 

• Educate 
  • Empower the Southern Lehigh School District Health and Physical Education Teachers in an update of the curriculum to ensure a focus on vaping education as a key component for all secondary students.
• Enforce 
  • Update the existing tobacco and vaping policy to ensure that the enforcement of school discipline is consistent with the legal mandates in the State of Pennsylvania when students are caught using and/or sharing these devices during school or at school sponsored events.
• Support 
  • Partner with the Caron Foundation to offer a free research backed nicotine cessation and reduction program focused on the use, prevention, and intervention models designed to address high risk behaviors.
• Develop
  • Partner with the Caron Foundation to provide professional development to district staff focused on the current trends in teen substance use as well as provide education on the signs and symptoms of use and where to go with student concerns.
• Protect 
  • Install multi-sensor devices capable of detecting vape, smoke, THC, and sound abnormalities in all secondary school bathrooms to ensure the safety of students during the school day and during all school sponsored events.

If your child is ready to quit, we can help connect them to services in both our high school and middle school that can help. Through our partnership with the Caron Foundation, all Southern Lehigh School District Students are elgible to participate in a free, multi-session nicotine cessation and reduction program specifically designed for young people. If you are interested in having your child participate in this program, a permission form is attached at the bottom of this page and you are free to contact your students School Counselor or call the high school or middle school Guidance Office for additional information. Our goal is to reduce student use and increase community awareness about this national trend. Please consider using the links below for additional information to educate yourself and to start a dialogue with your child about the dangers associated with vaping. 

Resources for Students  

• The Truth Initiative: Inspiring Tobacco Free Lives (The Truth Initiative) 
• Smoke Free Teen (The National Institute of Health)   
• Taking Down Tobacco (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)
• The Real Cost of Tobacco (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens (The National Institue of Health)

Resources for Parents 

• The Vape Talk (American Lung Association) 
• Quick Facts on the Risks of E-Cigarettes for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults (CDC)
• E-Cigarettes and Youth, What Parents Need to Know (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)  
• Talk with Your Teen About E-Eigarettes: A Tip Sheet for Parents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• Know the Risks (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

Resources for Teachers 

• The Real Cost of Vaping (Scholastic)
• CATCH My Breath: A Nicotine Vaping Prevention Program (catch.org)
• Know the Risks: Virtual Field Trip - The Facts on E-Cigarette Use (Discovery Education)
• What's in a Vape - Interactive Game (The Real Cost)
• smokeSCREEN: A smoking and vaping prevention videogame (CVS Health Initiative)

Vaping in the Media 

• PA seeks to smoke out e-cigarette maker Juul's alleged practice of targeting teens (Lehigh Valley Live)
• Vaping lures alarming number of Lehigh Valley middle-schoolers, reversing decades long anti-smoking trend (The Morning Call)
• Vaping & Children (PBS39) 
• How Juul Hooked a Generation on Nicotine (New York Times) 
• Generation Vape: As Juul faces new suit, doctors worry over epidemic of e-cigarette related student illnesses (Fox News) 

Southern Lehigh School District Vaping Materials 

• Southern Lehigh Vaping One-Sheet 
• Caron Foundation Nicotine Cessation Group Permission Form 
• Caron Foundation Project Connect Nicotine Cessation Program Information