Te Kura o Tititea Mt Aspiring College (MAC) staff are being rostered to regularly check and monitor bathrooms for students vaping, and the school board has considered measures to address “problem vaping”.

MAC board chair Niamh Shaw told the Wānaka App the board has looked at what the school has in place to raise awareness of the risks of vaping and addiction.

In a message to parents in the most recent school newsletter, Niamh said the “main issue is ensuring free access to bathroom facilities for younger students”.

Students have told the Wānaka App that vaping often takes place in the college bathrooms, making it off-putting for junior students to use the bathrooms. 

MAC has rostered teachers on duty during breaks to monitor bathrooms, with staff circulating the area, often in pairs, and students require a pass to leave class during class time.

Last year MAC principal Nicola Jacobsen told the Wānaka App that vaping had been marketed “very effectively” to young people. 

It is also a “risk taking behaviour” and challenging boundaries and taking risks is something that young people will do, she said.

“We need to support the young people in our lives to make the best decisions possible for their health, and tougher legislation on vaping would help us to do this.”

Feedback from recent vaping education workshops run by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ shows that students want vapes to be harder to buy, less prolific and more expensive.

"Rangatahi are being exposed to vapes at a rapid rate - and the age of exposure is getting younger and younger,” Foundation Māori community liaison Sharon Pihema said 

"For most of the children I educate in schools, vapes are part of their life - either at home or at school. It’s more surprising to hear that a student hasn’t tried vaping, than it is to hear they have."

Niamh said the risks of vaping are covered in MAC’s health programme for year 7-10 students, as well as programmes such as the police’s DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programme.

If a student is caught vaping they must meet with their parents and a deputy principal. The student may be required to undertake after school or lunchtime service (such as picking up litter), and they may be referred to counselling.

Read more: Tougher legislation on vaping supported by MAC

PHOTO: Supplied