Black River Schools considering vape lawsuit, working on graduation plans

SULLIVAN TWP. — Black River Local Schools voted Thursday to join a class-action lawsuit against vaping manufacturer Juul Labs Inc., perhaps the most drastic step so far in a long-standing national fight against teens' use of the products. California-based Frantz Law Group filed the suit in 2019 on behalf of numerous school districts in that state, seeking to recover perceived damages caused by exponential growth in vaping popularity among students. On Oct. 23, Judge William H. Orrick III of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the suit may move forward with a trial set for 2022. Black River Superintendent Chris Clark said he estimates his district has spent upward of $25,000 combating student vaping on school grounds over the past five years. "It's been a huge problem for us just like everyone else," he said. "I know it was a big problem before COVID. It didn't seem like it was going away. It was hard to tell last year with the remote learning and this year, it seems like kids don't have the freedom around the school they usually do to get away with it. Right now, the kids having to sign out and people knowing exactly where they are much more often changes things." It's estimated that 3,500 U.S. high school students begin vape use on a daily basis. Thirty-nine deaths related to vape use were reported nationwide between July and November 2019. Many experts suspected vitamin E acetate, a substance used to thicken vaping liquid, to be what caused acute lung injuries and stays in intensive care units. The CDC later put out a report it characterized as a "breakthrough" drawing a clear-cut link between vitamin E acetate and the sudden rash of medical emergencies. Over those months, 2,052 such cases were documented across the U.S including 52 in Ohio and two in Medina County. Forty-seven of Ohio's cases involved hospitalization. Nearly 85 percent of lung injury patients in the nationwide outbreak reported using products containing THC, the principal psychoactive component of marijuana. The vast majority of lung injuries through THC vaping use have come from products sold on the black market with the brand name "Dank Vapes" frequently popping up. "We've seen students have vape items in all sorts of areas," Clark said. "Our bathrooms, buses, everywhere. It's definitely been harder to monitor with COVID. It's hard to say right now whether it's increased or decreased, but it's on our radar." Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows vape and e-cigarette use increasing among middle and high school students by 48 percent and 78 percent, respectively, over the 2017-18 school year. That amounts to the largest yearly increases in use of an addictive substance among those age groups ever recorded. Graduation 2021 Clark said his district is still finalizing its commencement ceremony plans. Officials are wrestling with scenarios like modification of Black River High School's football stadium to accommodate pod seating with social distancing or moving the event to another venue like Medina High School or even Ashland University. "A lot of things have changed lately as far as what the governor is allowing people to do," Clark said. "We're confident in being able to have an outdoor graduation but the wording with the pods of 10, we don't have the ability to do the 6-foot spacing with pods. Before, we were working with a flat number of people, a percentage of capacity." The superintendent said costs will be considered in regards to what's needed to accommodate attendees at Black River High School versus what it would take to secure a date at Medina High School or another facility. He added that the Medina County Fairgrounds' grandstand could be another possibility. "I want parents to be able to see their kids, wherever we are," Clark said. "I can't speak for the Medina County Fair Board but we have talked about the fairgrounds. We're graduating 87 kids and their grandstand sits 5,000. We'd go with a pod of 10, that's 870 potential people that could be there to support a graduate." "I'm a little reluctant to go somewhere else because we all want our ceremony to be unique for Black River and our kids," he added. "It's also hard to go to a gym because then we're back to 25 percent capacity. We're going to figure out what's in the best interest of Black River Local Schools." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.