How Wake schools plans to curb vaping among students

The school system received $5.9 million from a lawsuit settlement with two different electronic cigarette makers, and it plans to use those funds to create a "cultural shift" among students about using tobacco products.

Posted 8:01 p.m. Feb 20 — Updated 12:27 a.m. Feb 21

Emily Walkenhorst

, WRAL education reporter

CARY, N.C. — The Wake County Public School System plans to hire staff and contractors and create curriculum and programming to keep students from using electronic cigarettes.

Brian Glendenning, the district’s senior administrator over K-12 Healthful Living courses, presented a $5.9 million draft plan to the school board Tuesday. The plan would use money from lawsuit settlements with e-cigarette companies to address concerns from parents and students about teens vaping in school.

“This is the first time I think we actually have the resources to put together a program with real, measurable impacts,” the board's chairman, Chris Heagarty, said.

Juul was the lead defendant in the settlement and has been the target of similar legal action across the country. The company said in December that the settlements have helped the company move toward fulfilling its mission “to transition adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes while combating underage use.”

Efforts to curb vaping will include all levels of schools and training for all levels of teachers. That way, Glendenning said, students can get information about the dangers of electronic cigarette use before they’re ever offered one.

“We’re hoping this create a cultural shift in our students,” Glendenning told the board.

The school board sued JUUL Labs and other e-cigarette companies in 2021, arguing the companies were marketing vaping products to teenagers. Students’ struggles with vaping can be disruptive to their health and school performance, the board argued.

School board lawsuits from across the nation were combined into one case based out of California.

In 2023, the school boards settled claims against JUUL Labs and Altria. The Wake school board settled with JUUL Labs for $6.2 million and with Altria for $1.9 million. After attorneys’ fees, the school board will receive $5.9 million total. The money will last about seven years.

The school board doesn't need to approve the plan, but board members wanted to see the plan before it was implemented.

Here’s what it would be used for under the draft plan:

$2.9 million to hire employees to help with the programming and supporting students who are struggling with tobacco use problems. The employees would be funded for only the seven years, and they could be coordinating teachers or substance-use specialists.
$24,500 for health curricula for third through ninth graders that informs them of the dangers of vaping and tobacco use. It would pay for ready-made curriculum or curriculum writers to create new lessons.
$670,000 toward tobacco cessation programming and treatment for a seven-year period.
$769,000 for tobacco prevention programming.
$95,625 for training for a few teachers at every school on curriculum on vaping and tobacco use.
$1 million for community and parent-focused educational events.
$156,875 for a communications plan against tobacco use.
$280,000 to fund 10 $4,000 scholarships every year, for seven years, for students who advocate against the use of tobacco by their peers.

Most efforts would go into effect next school year, except for new curriculum, which the district doesn’t expect to roll out until the 2025-26 school year. New employees and substance abuse programming would come first, as soon as the start of the next school year.

The delay in getting curriculum implemented was a concern for several school board members, who urged the district to buy already-made curriculum when possible, rather than paying curriculum writers to create it.

Glendenning said the district is looking into that but noted that some curriculum isn’t written for elementary-age students. That means it may need to be written.

“I feel like there’s a real sense of urgency” in curbing e-cigarette use among young people, board member Wing Ng said.

The National Youth Tobacco Survey, released in 2023, shows 2.8 million youth use a tobacco product, like an e-cigarette. The survey shows 25% of youth who say they use e-cigarettes use them daily, and they find it difficult to get through the school day without vaping. They overwhelmingly prefer flavored cartridges. E-cigarettes have been the most popular tobacco product for 10 years.

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