Survey finds few students vape on a regular basis

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Vaping may seem common to many students across the state, but a new survey found that a vast majority of people have not vaped in the past 30 days. 

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday night, the NY Mills School Board heard of a vaping program that was spearheaded by Trina Saewert, in conjunction with the Partnership 4 Health program. Saewert said the vaping pilot project was aimed at educating students about not only the dangers of vaping, but also see how many students actually do vape on a regular basis. 

The local program was held in conjunction with school districts in Campbell-Tintah, Breckenridge, Fergus Falls and Rothsay who all participated in the pilot vaping program.

Each of the participating school districts identified an individual who developed an action plan that included education, messaging, policy and procedure reviews and use of the My Life My Quit program as an alternative to suspension. Implementation for the program began in the fall of 2022 and NY Mills conducted both a pre-program and post-program survey to weigh its impact on students. 

As far as the impact of the program, the pre-program student survey found that 97.1 percent of students had not vaped in the previous 30 days. Following the program that number increased to 98.4 percent of students who had not vaped in 30 days. 

Another focus on the program revolved around perception of vaping. Though an overwhelming amount of students reported on the survey that they do not vape, a pre-program survey found that three students in one school district thought 80 percent of the student population vaped on a regular basis. 

According to the survey, post program there was a drop of 2.6 percent of students who perceived other students vaped, either infrequently or regularly. Statewide, the estimation is that 14 percent of 11th grade students statewide have vaped in the past 30 days. 

“That was kind of the focus, because students think that way more are vaping than actually are,” said Saewert. 

In order to educate 5-12 grade students about the dangers of vaping, NY Mills School hosted a guest speaker to give a presentation about vaping.

“He was pretty good. He hit on a wide variety of topics,” said Saewert.

In addition to the guest speaker, students received a dental goody bag, which included a toothbrush, floss, toothpaste and an educational insert about the dangers of vaping related to dental hygiene.  

In other news

• Approved the following appointments: Marissa Witt for after school child care, Kenna Salo as a volunteer volleyball coach paid for by the booster club, Stacy Westman as a paraprofessional, Kaylee Yoder as a paraprofessional, Brenda Reese as a paraprofessional, Selena Warner as a paraprofessional, Zach Hocking as an assistant football coach, Jordan Folkestad as a volunteer football coach paid for by the booster club, Carolyn Brooks as kitchen helper, John Lueders as a bus driver, Dawn Lueders as a bus driver and Jeff Rimpila as a bus driver. 

• Approved the following resignations: Bryan Dunrud as assistant football coach, Creedan Dunrud as a paraprofessional and Stephney Maloney as a paraprofessional. 

• Acknowledged the following donations: $1,500 from the New York Mills Lions Club to the youth football program and $500 from Perham Health/Sanford for the volleyball program.

• Approved a catering agreement with Trinity Preschool to provide lunch for the school. Trinity Preschool will pick up the meals at the school and reimburse the school district for each meal. 

• Approved an agreement with Interquest to provide canine services to search for illegal substances at the school up to nine times per school year. 

• Approved bus routes for the 2023-24 school year. NY Mills Superintendent Blaine Novak said the bus routes were shortened a bit from last year and the school district currently has all of its bus driver positions filled for the school year.