CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year, about 7.7% of middle and high school students were using tobacco products.
That amounts to about 2.1 million students across the county.
With a new school year back in session, KRIS 6 News reporter Tyrese Boone went to Tuloso-Midway to speak with Assistant Principal Priscilla Vega about how vaping is impacting students there.
Vega says that although vaping is a problem, they have new security technology that can detect the use or possession of vapes.
"So, those sensors are calibrated with our newly updated cameras," she said. So when they calibrate, they can tell what's going on in the bathroom and what we need to address. Then it sends an alert to our phones and emails for administrators to go address the issue," said Vega.
However, they want to do more than prevent vaping. They want to ensure that their students receive the help they need.
"Oftentimes, vaping does impact their ability to focus on school or their ability to make friends," Tuloso-Midway social worker Amanda Muegge said. "It impacts them in a lot of different negative ways. So, we just look for positive strategies to address the mental health and help them make better decisions."
I also spoke to some parents and locals about their thoughts on TMISD's plan against vaping.
While some think those are good ideas, others came up with some new ones.
"Talk groups could be a good idea," local resident Kim Cummings said on vaping. "The bottom line is that you have anxiety. Everybody on the planet does. It's not abnormal. It's not strange. Let's talk about it. Sometimes, not knowing you're alone is enough."
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