A number of different stakeholders within the district and across the city gathered on Friday. The mission, tackling the growing vaping epidemic plaguing schools across Texas and nationwide. This is the first United Against Vaping Task Force meeting held this school year.
Topics discussed included the 89th legislative session which focuses on advocacy proposals/status on vaping bills, an update on the success of vape detectors installed across UISD middle and high school campuses, parent awareness meetings/resources available and UISD police efforts. The district and community partners shared the same sentiment in working together to get to the root cause of this epidemic. “It is not just a UISD issue, it is a community problem. By coming together we are sharing ideas and staying on top of this serious issue impacting our youth,” said Rebecca Coss-Morales, Associate Superintendent of District Administration & Student Services. “This is the first year we are including students to our task force, who better to hear from than the students themselves who see first-hand how vaping could be impacting their peers.”
The United South High School (USHS) Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council presented an anti-vaping Public Service Announcement , which received praise from the task force. “We are creating a video that we can spread around UISD so that everyone gets the right information on why you shouldn't be vaping and the effects of it,” explained Janae Palacios, 12th grade student from USHS. The students advised they also plan to launch a peer support group.
This school year, there have been 25 reports of students linked back to vaping, the youngest student being a 5th grader. United ISD Police Public Information Officer, Sylvia Abrego mentioned how the department is addressing the problem, “I’ve been actively speaking with not only our parents but staff inside and outside of the schools. I show school personnel, bus drivers and bus monitors the different vaping devices, some of them disguised as colognes, so they can also be on alert.”
Some of the individuals in attendance outside of the district included representatives from Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, TAMIU, LCC, the City of Laredo Health Department, Laredo ISD, law enforcement agencies and Justice of the Peace Precinct 1, Place 2 judge, Oscar Liendo. “I’m here as an advocate, to provide help and resources to let everyone know that I am available,” said Liendo.
UISD provides resources and information about vaping for students and parents on the district's website. Updated information can be found through the link below.
https://www.uisd.net/unitedagainstvaping
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