Vaping Pervasive at Framingham HS, Students Say

FRAMINGHAM, MA- More than half of students at Framingham High School say they avoid the bathrooms to avoid seeing other students "vaping," according to a new student survey.

The survey was conducted by the Student Advisory Committee and received about 409 responses, with the majority of questions focused on vaping in the high school. One of the survey questions asked how often students found people vaping in the bathrooms of the high school- 39.5 percent of students said they often found and 41.7 percent of students said they sometimes found students vaping in the bathroom.

The follow-up question asked whether students avoid bathrooms in an effort to avoid seeing students vape- 55.6 percent of Framingham High School students who answered the survey said they often or sometimes avoid the bathroom at their school to avoid seeing vaping.

The results of the survey were presented to the School Committee at Wednesday night's meeting.

School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg called the statistics from the survey a major concern, citing a statistic by the Center for Disease Control that found vaping by high school students increased by 78 percent. "What it comes down to, for me, is not just the community education but a whole of government approach," Freudberg said at Wednesday's meeting.

School Committee member Gloria Pascual highlighted that the report could be helpful to the utilization of the high school. She added that now that administration can be aware that vaping is happening in certain bathrooms in the high school they can prevent it. "As we think about the layout of the building and what's happening, it might be real useful so that we can have eyes and ears everywhere," Pascual said.

The survey also tested student's knowledge of vaping and the laws surrounding it, asking questions like "Is vaping FDA regulated" and "Do you have to be 21 to vape in Massachusetts". The results found that most students were well informed about vaping and cautious.

Freudberg said the high school will be tackling the issue with principal Carolyn Banach preparing to launch a public relations campaign through the high school's Flyer News channel.

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