Chatham School Board Adding E-Cigarettes, Vaping To Tobacco Policy

CHATHAM, NJ — The Board of Education for the School District of the Chathams is set to vote Monday night to add e-cigarettes and vape pens to their tobacco policy. Currently the ban only explicitly applies to traditional smoking methods.

The board will vote to amend the 5533 Pupil Smoking section of the policies and regulations to add “electronic nicotine delivery system,” and “vapor product” to the list of banned devices. While they were banned in the old policy ("any other matter or substance which contains tobacco or any other matter that can be smoked"), the new policy will be more explicit.

The anti-smoking policies were first added to the policies and regulations in November 2007, and were last revised in March 2010.

The policy will still focus on prevention in health curriculums, and punishments will remain the same.

As e-cigarettes and vapes have become more popular and traditional cigarette use has declined, schools around the country have modified their tobacco and smoking policies to clearly include the new devices.

Image: A set of vape pens, via Vaping360, Flickr