In an effort to combat vaping among students, members of the Oak Harbor School Board voted unanimously Monday to join a pending lawsuit against prominent e-cigarette company Juul Labs and its biggest investor, Altria Group.

Oak Harbor is now one of over 800 school districts across the country that has taken a stand against the vaping company after principals reported the widespread use of vaping devices among high school and middle school students.

The lawsuit aims to hold Juul and Altria responsible for costs incurred by districts in their efforts to prevent, intervene and educate about nicotine use and addiction, according to attorneys from Stevens Clay PS. There is no cost for districts to join the lawsuit.

The trial is scheduled for November of this year, unless the lawsuit is settled outside of court before that time.

North Whidbey Middle School Principal Bill Weinsheimer said vaping poses a serious problem at the middle school. He said that while staff have received numerous reports of students vaping at school, it is difficult to catch them because vaping devices are easy to hide and don’t produce a strong scent.

“We have seen this year quite an increase in the number of just the stories of kids vaping, and then we are catching kids in the bathrooms vaping, but we catch very few compared to what we are hearing is going on,” he told the school board during a March 28 meeting. “…When you talk to students, they talk about it being really prevalent, and when you talk to the adults, there’s very little that we seem to be able to do.”

Weinsheimer added that he has looked into installing vaping detectors in the bathrooms, but the cost is expensive.

At the high school, Principal Nate Salisbury said the cost to install vaping detectors in all the bathrooms would cost around $79,000. But the losses are more than monetary, he said. School staff devote time during the day to trying to catch vaping students. Salisbury said he receives at least two or three vaping-related referrals each day.

Vaping also costs students class time, as students are put into in-school suspension.

“It’s a big deal,” Salisbury said. “Kids are missing a lot of school because of this.”

Student board representatives Thinalyn Ramier and River Clark confirmed that vaping is prevalent among students, and they have been aware of many of their peers participating.

School board members authorized Superintendent Karst Brandsma to represent the district in this matter.