Fairfax County middle school students caught vaping on school property

CHANTILLY, Va. - Multiple students are facing discipline for vaping on school property at Franklin Middle School, according to a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools.

The school district would not say specifically how many students were found to have been smoking e-cigarettes during the school day, but two parents told FOX 5 nearly 20 students were suspended as a result of the behavior.

An email from principal Sharon Eisenberg went out to parents Monday night. She wrote in part:

"This note is to inform you about an incident that occurred this past Friday in which students were discovered vaping on school property. The school notified parents of the students involved and assigned appropriate disciplinary consequences."

FOX 5 spoke to a parent whose son was suspended for vaping. She did not want to be identified for fear that her son's identity would be revealed, but she wondered how so many students were unsupervised long enough to smoke the e-cigarettes during the school day.

"They are middle schoolers and anybody working in education or with middle schoolers should know that they are pretty slick and that is why they should have hall monitors. People monitoring the hallways," said the parent. "Teachers should not allow more than one student, two tops, to leave the class at one time."

Fairfax County Public Schools did not answer questions about what they will do to prevent the issue in the future, but said it sent a newsletter out to parents about vaping and juuling in February. Juuling is when people use compact vapes that look like USB flash drives and is especially popular among young people because of how easy the machines are to hide.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product among youth. In 2016, two million middle and high school students reported that they vaped in the previous 30 days.

Last week, a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics found at least five carcinogenic chemicals present in adolescents who used e-cigarettes.