For as long as senior Sarayu Maddala has served on the Student Advisory Board in Indian Prairie School District 204, the group has been searching for a way to cut down on one common problem: vaping.
“I’m excited to say that this year, it finally happened,” Sarayu said.
Fewer tobacco/drug offenses recorded this year
During Monday night’s school board meeting, Sarayu got to share the results of a vaping intervention piloted this year at Waubonsie Valley High School. She said the data shows it appears to be working.
Last year, through the second week in April, Waubonsie recorded 45 total tobacco and drug offenses among its student population. This year, during the same time, the number of offenses decreased to 30, Sarayu said.
Twenty-eight students involved with those 30 offenses were referred to the new anti-vaping education program, which Student Advisory Board members researched and pitched last year.
INDEPTH shifting response ‘from punishment to education’
The program uses a free online course offered by the American Lung Association called “INDEPTH,” and it shifts educators’ response to first-time vaping offenses “from punishment to education and support,” administrators wrote in a presentation to the board.
After Student Advisory Board members promoted INDEPTH to Waubonsie administrators, the school agreed to try it and got a counselor trained to facilitate elements of the program.
Students referred to INDEPTH have worked with the counselor in groups of six to 10 over a four-week period, learning facts like how many chemicals are in vaping products and the harmful health effects of any type of tobacco, Sarayu said.
Suspensions decrease with anti-vaping education in place
Along with the decrease in tobacco or drug offenses from 45 to 30 so far this year, Waubonsie also has seen fewer out-of-school suspensions, in-school suspensions and in-school interventions related to vaping or drugs. Out-of-school suspensions dropped from 32 last year to four this year; in-school suspensions decreased from 30 to one; and in-school interventions fell from 13 to 7. This year, however, the school has seen an increase in repeat offenders from two to three.
“While this program continues, we’ll be able to see a greater impact,” Sarayu said. “For now, it’s working very, very well.”
Next steps: Launching ‘Not on Tobacco’ program
Waubonsie plans to have the INDEPTH counselor also trained to offer an additional program called “NOT,” for students who need additional support to stop vaping. The program name stands for “Not on Tobacco,” and it’s a voluntary cessation program for teens, also developed by the American Lung Association.
As administrators celebrated the positive contributions of senior Student Advisory Board members like Sarayu and seven others, they also applauded the importance of student voice in addressing teen issues such as vaping.
Sarayu said it’s been satisfying to find, present and see implemented a solution that appears to be decreasing the prevalence of vaping at school.
“We’re looking at stopping the behavior, not just punishing the student for doing a certain activity,” she said. “It feels really good as a senior leaving that we were able to do something about it.”
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