Vaping at School has been a growing issue of concern in the country over the past several years. Different schools have been tackling the issue differently. Now there is an uproar over how some schools are handling the issue.
During the local council education meeting for West Lothian, a councillor claimed that the local west Lothian high school was locking school toilet doors during school hours to prevent pupils from vaping in school. This claim was quickly backed by a community representative that was present.
However, it was quickly shot down by Siobhan McGarty, the West Lothian council secondary education head. However, questions are still being asked by stakeholders over the claims as this could adversely affect the pupils.
This is even though Mrs Mcgarty made it clear that schools in west Lothian don’t close toilets during the day. Instead, they are applying many other methods to manage the vaping problem. She said that people are only making claims about toilets because those are areas where students with any illegal things they want to hide will tend to go.
Mrs McGarty added that the council and the school system are working closely with the pupils to support them understand the dangers vaping products pose. While vaping products may seem safer than cigarettes, they still pose some health risks to users. She said that there is more work that still needs to be done to help local pupils. She said the council is working a lot through the personal and social education (PSE) programs.
Councilor Moira McKee-Shemilt, the SNP council, admitted that it was surprising that local teens could be using vaping products right under everyone’s nose. She used to think those programs were designed to help smokers to quit. While speaking to the Education Policy and Development Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) she said that vaping in schools is becoming an endemic problem in local schools.
Leona Mullarky a representative of the Joint Forum of Community Councils was quick to dispute the assertions by Mrs McGarty that school toilets in some of the council schools were not being closed during the day to prevent pupils from vaping. The stated that she had confirmed that indeed that some schools were locking toilet doors during the day because of vaping and that pupils in these schools are being told that the school does not have sufficient staff to monitor them to find out who has vaping products. She added that e-cigarettes should not be used by those under 18 years. The schools should be therefore equipped to confiscate those products.
On his part Councilor, Borrowman took issues with senior education officers following the revelation that some schools had a toilet closure policy in place to prevent pupils from vaping. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting, he said that he doubted that the education department was adhering to the education policy. They believed that the discussion has caused some stir.
In a rejoinder, Mrs McGarty issued a statement stating that school toilets in local schools were still accessible by pupils during school hours. The toilets in some schools were only closed temporarily during repairs but not because of vaping. However, she admitted that there were some local issues with one local high school but she was working with the principal to have those issues solved and she was ready to have a further discussion on the issues with councillor Borrowman
