The Holy Family Catholic Regional School Division held a meeting on January 17th with Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Dan Williams to discuss Mental Health and Wellness in HFCRD schools.
Two topics jumped out as significant issues among students during the discussion- cell phone usage and vaping in the classroom and at school.
According to HFCRD officials, student engagement sessions between student representatives and the school division revealed that students are feeling the effects of distractions in class.
Officials say a lack of set rules surrounding cell phone usage has led to the problem expanding into what the division calls a mental health issue.
“During our chat it was noted that there was no legislation around this, no rules, but it’s definitely on the minds of education,” they say.
Cell phones have become a major distraction for students and teachers alike, and the HFCRD says temporary solutions are in place; however, with a lack of protocol, teachers are limited in what they can do about the problem.
“At a lot of our schools we have a docking station, where they can have a station at the front where they can come into the classroom and the students will place them in this station,” they say. “If they need the phone for something like classwork, they’re allowed to use it, and that can happen but there is no division-wide protocol, or Alberta Education protocol on this.”
It’s not all bad however, the HFCRD says the school division sees cell phones as a useful tool for students and can be beneficial when used appropriately.
“They are used in positive ways like research, but there is the screen time addiction, that’s why we brought it up because it is a roundabout addiction,” they say. “It’s being brought up with families too, in parent-teacher interviews, that the kids are maybe a little bit distracted with the phone at times.”
When it comes to vaping and e-cigarette usage in schools, the school division has described the issue as an “epidemic” in children, and steps are being taken by the province to combat the problem, but once again, the lack of legislation on the matter has allowed the matter to explode, with kids as young as 14 using e-cigarette products in school.
“It’s such an epidemic right now in children, obviously at schools as well,” they say. “There’s no real anti-vaping campaigns in place, there’s no legislation in place, but honestly HFCRD has been a leader in deterring that.”
HFCRD says the division has experimented with installing detectors in vaping hotspots like bathrooms to ensure the proper steps are taken if a child chooses to use nicotine products in school.
“They’re detectors that are placed in places like the bathroom and they will actually detect that vape and let the appropriate people know that this is happening.”
Officials say the detectors function like a “silent smoke alarm” and allow faculty to take the appropriate steps should a student use a vape in school, and deter children from vaping in school altogether.
