RACINE — The Racine Unified School District (RUSD) is intensifying its efforts to prevent youth nicotine use through a combination of evidence-based health education, targeted recovery programs, and community engagement strategies for students vaping in schools.
According to district data, the top reason students begin vaping is peer or family influence—39% say they vape because friends or family members do. Another 31% cite flavored products as the primary reason, while 17% believe vaping is less harmful than other tobacco or nicotine products.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.63 million students will use e-cigarettes in 2024. Most middle and high school students who vape want to quit, and many have tried. The CDC reports that 63.9% of students expressed a desire to quit, while 67.4% made an attempt in the past year.
Education across grade levels for students vaping
RUSD’s anti-vaping education is tailored by grade level. In elementary schools, students learn about making healthy choices using the district’s health curriculum. The district’s social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum reinforces key life skills such as self-management and responsible decision-making.
By middle and high school, instruction becomes more specific. Students are taught about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and tobacco products. They also learn coping strategies related to mental health and social influences, including:
- Conflict resolution
- Peer pressure
- Anxiety, depression, and anger
- Media influence and more
Prevention programs in use
RUSD currently uses the Botvin Life Skills curriculum, a highly rated evidence-based prevention program recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Nonprofit Focus on Community provides the instruction for this curriculum. Focus on Community is also partnering with RUSD with the Empowering Futures program, an expulsion abeyance opportunity for high school students who have violated the student code book of rights and responsibilities by being under the influence of, possessing and or using alcohol or other drugs.
The program is 10 weeks, three two-hour sessions a week, with a 90% attendance rate requirement along with active engagement.
The district also implements Catch My Breath, a vaping-specific curriculum endorsed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as the only school-level youth vaping intervention included in its evidence-based resource guide. The program is taught in health classes from sixth to ninth grade.
“These programs are grounded in emotional learning,” Andrea Rittgers, RUSD’s Executive Director of Student Services, said during a Monday work session. “I think the real conversation is about what we’re going to do next.”
Costs and sustainability
Although the district received a grant to support some of these initiatives, many of the programs are free to implement. However, staff training remains a barrier to expansion.
“If we’re going to add something, we have to ask: ‘Who’s going to be trained?” Rittgers said. “Training often requires staffing or reallocation of resources, and that raises sustainability concerns.”
Community challenges
School board member April Harris voiced support for the district’s initiatives but expressed concern about the rise of vape shops in Racine.
“There are so many vape stores opening, and it’s becoming so popular,” Harris said. “I’ve actually lost friends over this because I don’t agree with them opening stores. They’re bringing poison into our community, and these kids are getting access to it.”
Board President Jane Barbian echoed that sentiment.
“Anything that’s a problem in the community—gangs, alcohol—it spills into the schools,” Barbian said. “Vaping is a community problem.”
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