New app to combat the troubling trend of vaping in Simcoe County schools
Vaping among young people has rapidly increased across the nation, becoming a concern for local school boards.
"I was an elementary school principal for 20 years, I had experience of vaping as young as grade five," said Kevin Kuiack, assistant superintendent of Safe and Accepting Schools at Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.
To help students facing addiction, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and Simcoe County District School Board will join four other boards piloting new programming.
The pilot, known as "Quash," will give students access to an app."The app basically guides them through wanting to quit," said Kuiack.
School boards began training staff on how to roll out quash last week.
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
A component of the province's mandate banning school vaping was announced last month. That came alongside restrictions on when students can use their cell phones, which raises questions about how students can be expected to access the app.
"There's a ban in the classroom, but only during instructional time. So during the rest of the time, if they are in school or if the students are at home or wherever they are, they are still able to access the app," said Member of Provincial Parliament Billy Pang.
"Canada now has some of the highest youth vaping rates in the world,' said Jessica Buckley, the CEO of the Lung Health Foundation.
Based on the most recent Canadian tobacco and nicotine survey of Canadian teens who vaped in the last month, 69 per cent have never smoked.
The Lung Health Foundation developed Quash three years ago to tackle this worsening health crisis. Its CEO states that the app works in two ways: through the app itself and educational support provided by parents and school administrators.
"So it's a series of webinars, and they can also become an adult facilitator and take a program on our website that allows them to facilitate the program," said Buckley.
The Simcoe County District School Board declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board says it will launch the app in its schools in June, which will then be extended into the fall.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6929040.1718564077!/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpeg)
16-year-old boy fatally shot outside Scarborough plaza identified
Police have identified a teenage boy who was fatally shot in Scarborough’s L’Amoreaux neighbourhood on Saturday afternoon.
Joe Alwyn says breakup with Taylor Swift was 'a hard thing to navigate'
Joe Alwyn is speaking publicly for the first time about the end of his years-long relationship with Taylor Swift.
Ottawa Food Bank receives largest donation in its 40-year history
210,000 pounds of food was delivered to the Ottawa Food Bank on Saturday, the largest donation in its 40-year history.
Ontario Northland bus fire closes part of Highway 400
Part of Highway 400 was closed on Sunday after an Ontario Northland bus caught on fire.
Your father’s diet before you were born could have affected your health, a new study suggests
Your father's diet before you were born could have played a role in your health, a new study has found.
Prince William shares childhood photo of him and King Charles III for Father's Day
Prince William on Sunday shared a photograph showing him as a child with his father, King Charles III, to mark Father’s Day in the United Kingdom this year.
Singh 'more alarmed' after reading report, but won't break from Liberal-NDP agreement
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he is 'even more alarmed than before' after reading the un-redacted report alleging there are MPs and senators who are participating to some degree in foreign interference efforts.
Global study ranks two Canadian cities high on list of most expensive places to buy a home
As Canadians continue to struggle with the extremely high cost of buying a home in some of the country’s major urban centres, a new global report is underscoring just how expensive some of those markets are.
'We're in pretty good shape': Calgary goes low in water consumption after state of local emergency declared
On a day that a local state of emergency was declared in Calgary, city residents answered a request from the mayor and emergency officials to use less water.