Starting Friday, students caught using electronic cigarettes to inhale nicotine or THC at school will be sent to an alternative school, an escalation in punishment usually reserved for more severe offenses.
District officials have been warning parents through social media posts and other communications about the changes spurred by the passage of House Bill 114 since the start of the school year.
Given the rise in popularity of vape in recent years, district officials are bracing for an overwhelming influx of students being sent to the disciplinary campuses, potentially overloading the system and causing cascading disruptions.
“Our alternative school was never built to hold that many kids,” said Katherine Lyssy, the director of the office of student advocacy and school choice for the Northside Independent School District. “Because it’s supposed to be where you send the ones that have to be removed from the campus because they’re more violent offenders.”
Advocates and administrators also shared concerns about the efficacy of the punitive approach on deterring students from using the substances, which can be harmful.
Punishments that remove students from the classroom were already in place for students caught with vapes containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but, under the new law, any vape device will land students in out-of-school programs for a minimum of 10 and up to 25 days, with sentences between 45 and 90 days for THC devices.
The law requires the removal of students, even if it is their first offense. There is no appeal process.
Tobacco, on the other hand, is usually handled at the campus level, according to NISD spokesman Barry Perez.
“Consequences could range from an after-school D [detention] hall to something more serious, such as in-school or out-of school suspension,” he said. “Each situation is based on the administrator’s investigation and incident details. Something like prior incidents by the student could also factor into the consequence.”
Lyssy said she anticipates 1,000 more students in the district of 102,000 will be placed in the off-campus programs due to the law.
In anticipation of the uptick, the district is working to expand the Second Chance Academy, an alternative program with intensive interventions and education for middle school students that is shorter than other alternative programs. Such an option is not available for high school students.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has warned parents about the danger of vaping, including a spate of violent crimes tied to the proliferation of the devices in Bexar County schools in the last school year.
Multiple incidents, including a homicide involving a Brennan High School student that occurred off campus were tied to THC vape pens, Salazar said during a safety town hall in March.
Mixed signals
In the North East ISD, administrators are predicting the number of students in the alternative disciplinary program will double amid the confusing shift in punishments.
In past years, students with THC vape devices would be expelled and sent to the Bexar County Juvenile Justice Academy, one of the harshest punishments possible. According to the district, that was the law at the time, although others disagreed.
Tyler Shoesmith, the executive director of pupil personnel services for the district, said those same students will be sent to the disciplinary alternative campus program this year because of the new law — a lower level of punishment.
Students vaping nicotine, on the other hand, would previously have only gotten in-school suspension and will now end up in the same place as those using THC.
“It kind of sends a mixed message,” he said. “We’re going to over-criminalize nicotine and then we’re going to under-criminalize THC.”
The increase in punishment for all types of vaping could also result in lasting consequences for students, Shoesmith said, including those who complete classes while in the alternative setting. On transcripts, those credits would reflect the disciplinary placement forever.
“Some of them have never really been involved in any kind of disciplinary action,” he said. “And now we’re going to send them to a place where you already have kids who have committed much more serious offenses.”
Easy access to vapes a concern
According to Shoesmith, NEISD caught 620 students with nicotine vapes and 666 with THC vapes last schoolyear.
If those numbers are repeated this year, the district will not have the staff or capacity to hold all the students in the disciplinary program, he said.
In the event a student commits a violent infraction, and the alternative campus is full, the law allows districts to bump students being punished for vaping back to their campuses for in-school suspension. Once another seat becomes available, however, that student would be expected to return to the alternative campus.
Shoesmith worries about what that could do to the education of the students and the workload of teachers across the district.
“The more transitions kids have, the less likely they’re going to be successful in their work,” he said. “Especially if they’re having to transition between two different places more than one time.”
The district will try to keep students in the same place to manage that concern, said Shoesmith, who is also awaiting more guidance from the Texas Education Agency.
Initial guidance was sent in a letter earlier this month, which notes that the law may “decrease the number of mandatory expulsions for felony-level drugs.”
TEA spokesman Jake Kobersky said more guidance would be provided to districts later in the fall.
But the root of the problem is not inside the school, according to Shoesmith.
“While we are taking steps to address vaping, we also need more action at the policy level to prevent the flow of these products into the community,” he said. “Easy access to vapes is putting pressure on kids to use them, and punishing the lowest level of the chain is not the solution.”
Awareness could deter vaping
Edgewood ISD Superintendent Eduardo Hernández thinks that the change could curb vape usage in schools, noting that when the law was passed, awareness was spread by word of mouth.
“As a school district community across the state, we’re all in unison,” he said. “So kids are going to hear about it on social media, we’re doing a lot of parenting work, also.”
Hernández said the district starts by telling parents they don’t want to remove children from the classroom.
“But we have a law that we have to execute,” he said.
Without additional funding, however, the move will also strain districts with the need for additional social workers.
“It’s not just putting the kids out,” he said. “We also need additional counseling, social workers … that costs money.”
Lyssy, from Northside ISD, also said parents should be on the lookout for devices, which could be small and deceptively designed.
“I encourage parents to be nosy,” she said. “Don’t let ignorance be an excuse. … Parents really need to stay up to date on what the trends are and help us if they know something.”
Punishment not a solution
Advocates that have worked to stop youth tobacco use for decades — and more recently vaping — say solutions need a buy-in from students to be effective.
Truth Initiative, a multi-pronged nonprofit public health campaign focused on stopping young people from vaping and smoking, has provided districts with a curriculum, connected with influencers and launched massive ad campaigns in their efforts to curb vaping, with a measure of success.
Amy Taylor, the chief of community engagement at Truth Initiative, said students who are using vapes could be in need of help.
“The young people who are vaping may be addicted, right, and so they can’t stop,” she said. “So just telling them, ‘oh, you have to go to detention,’ or … whatever the discipline is, we’re not getting to the core problem.”
Alternatives include programs to help students quit and educational programs to help students understand the dangers.
One free, anonymous tool the initiative launched to help Texans stop vaping is a support program called “This is Quitting,” which can be accessed by texting VAPEFREETX to 88709.
“What we want to do is to empower them to make the decisions,” she said. “We don’t want to penalize them, because then it’s a negative consequence. We should really find ways to support young people, not penalize them.”
