School Committee Ready to Tackle E-Smoking

E-Cigarettes may not be a problem around the Sharon Public Schools but the school committee is hoping they can be ahead of the curve by addressing it.

While no tobacco products are allowed at any of the schools in Sharon, e-cigarettes do not use tobacco, leaving a loophole in the no smoking policy.

“I think it’s an example of the times not catching up to the technology,” Superintendent Timothy Farmer said at a recent school committee meeting. 

Unlike regular cigarettes, an electronic cigarette is a battery powered device which simulates using a tobacco product by vaporizing a liquid solution which may or may not contain nicotine.

With the device’s popularity growing, the committee is hoping to create a policy for the device that is not covered in the current no-tobacco use policy.

“Certainty one of those things that doesn't fit even into the no tobacco use policy on campus but isn’t chewing gum either,” chair Emily Smith-Lee said.

There are no state laws concerning e-smoking or e-cigarette.

While it is not something that the schools are dealing with regularly, Sharon High School principal Jose Libano admitted that he has dealt with some incidents involving e-smoking and is hoping a clearer policy would decrease situations in the future.

“Do I go up to everyone and say ‘is that real or electronic?'” Libano said, “It’s not an urgent thing but I would prefer to get ahead of the curve.”

A subcommittee will create a policy before the issue returns to the full committee.