BELLE — The Maries R-2 School District is experiencing a “vaping epidemic” in the middle and high school according to Superintendent Dr. Lenice Bashm.

“I am upset about the vaping,” Basham told the board of education at their Oct. 26 meeting. “Probably more so than I have been upset about something in a long time.”

Basham said there are fifth graders who were caught vaping and were expected to serve in school suspension on Oct. 27.

“Last week I went to the Healthy Schools Forum put on by MSBA (Missouri School Board Association). There was a person there from the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and she did a big workshop,” Basham said. “She talked a lot and said we need to have everyone be aware that we are a nonsmoking campus and that means no vaping, no smoking, our employees don’t do it, our kids don’t do it. There are consequences to both our adults and our students.”

Basham said DHSS recommends going public with a copy of the policy and explaining why they are doing it.

“On Thursday night at the basketball game here, they were standing outside smoking and the coach came out from the gym and said she thought there was a fire. But the fan was pulling the smoke into that hallway and into the gym,” Basham said. “We need to put up signs and post that this is a non-smoking campus. You don’t smoke anywhere on our campus. You don’t smoke in our parking lots, you don’t smoke on our sidewalks. You don’t smoke on our campus. If you want to go smoke, that’s awesome. But you need to hike up the hill at the middle school or go down the street here if you’re at the high school.”

Basham said over the next couple of weeks she will be posting non-smoking and non-vaping.

“One of those things we are going to do with those kiddos who are caught smoking or vaping is they are going to have to do a three hour cessation video every time they are caught using tobacco. It is set up like a game and there are assessment questions at the end.

“DHSS recommended that they not only be in trouble for smoking but to watch a video about why they shouldn’t smoke,” Basham said. “That is where we will be. Hopefully it will reduce our numbers at the middle school and high school. But especially in middle school.”

The district has posters up, and DHSS has a lot more resources that Basham said she plans to use to fight the issue for kids who have to have a consequence for smoking or vaping.

The district bought signs to post, advertising the smoke-free campus, but have not hung them yet.

“It has always been a huge challenge at events,” said Director Amy Kiso.

Basham said they are going to have to do better.

“Whoever is there, they are just going to have to step out and tell them. We have a huge problem with our kids and we are really focused on not modeling that for our children,” Basham said. 

A post on the Maries R2 Schools Facebook page on Oct. 26 was also sent to every staff employee. According to the post, “ Maries Co. R-2 School District is dedicated to modeling good health practices for our students. We are a no tobacco campus.”

She said the district would be implementing a stronger prevention program at the middle and high schools.

“The increased use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has reversed a trend of declining teen tobacco use in Missouri. Data shows nearly one in four high school students use e-cigarettes that contain nicotine, a chemical that is highly addictive. Not only does the use of these products increase the risk for addiction, but it may also worsen chronic health conditions, like asthma, which put students at risk of increased absenteeism and lower academic performance.”

The post asked parents, family, students and staff to make sure that if they are on campus or at a school event on campus to not use tobacco or vaping products. A link to the school policy and cessation video were also posted. Basham summed up the consequence to disobeying the school policy on vaping.

“Our policy says that I can discipline or terminate (staff) if you continue to smoke on school property,” Basham said.