Alamogordo Public School District awarded nearly $30,000 in Juul settlement
The Alamogordo Public Schools Board of Education approved a $29,165 litigation settlement with the tobacco company Altria.
At a Sept. 27 meeting, the school board voted unanimously that the money will be used to educate the community on the dangers of vaping. The money awarded to the district is unrestricted and can be used for any purposes, according to Kristina Aghazaryan, an attorney for the law firm that represented nearly 1,000 school districts and public entities that filed the suit against JUUL.
JUUL is an e-cigarette company that is owned in part by Altria.
In 2021, Alamogordo Public Schools joined the class action lawsuit against JUUL Laboratories. The lawsuit alleged that JUUL specifically marketed its vaping products to children.
"The litigation with JUUL involved multiple defendants. Initially, we settled with JUUL and their board members. After that, all that was left as a defendant was Altria," Aghazaryan said. "Now, we have settled with Altria. This is a different settlement than with JUUL. These are additional funds on top of what the district will get for JUUL."
The Altria funds have not been released, but the district should receive the money in November, Aghazaryan said. Funds from the Juul settlement should be received in the first quarter of next year.
"Education would be a really important piece," Superintendent Pam Renteria said of how the funds would be spent. "We would have to do something ongoing, we can't just do one thing and that's all. We could work with health services in the hub. We could educate parents and grandparents and have a community piece and get everybody together because it is a community issue."
Renteria claimed that educators are seeing e-cigarette use among Alamogordo school youth at higher rates. However, the Alamogordo Daily News asked the Alamogordo Public School district for data on citation of students for e-cigarette or tobacco product use but a district official Michelle Bideaux said it was unable to provide specific data to support that claim.
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Mountain View Middle School Principal Danielle Kusmak was present at the meeting and said the staff would support anti-tobacco education.
"We have plenty of exposure and deal with this daily," she said.
Executive Director of Health Services at Alamogordo Public Schools Lisa Patch said the district will train administrative and nursing personnel to identify signs and symptoms of tobacco and e-cigarettes use.
Patch said the district planned to host speakers to educate students and staff about the impact vaping has while also working toward prevention strategies.
From the middle school to the high school, each campus takes different disciplinary action when it comes to smoking on campus.
According to the Alamogordo High School handbook and per district policy, any student caught with tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, chemicals or narcotics may face in school detention or suspension. Recommended expulsion hearings, juvenile probation referrals and a police criminal referral. according to page 35 of the Alamogordo High School Handbook, may also be issued.
A full list of the disciplinary actions Alamogordo High School implements can be found on their handbook.
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Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter at @Juan36Corr.
This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: $30K Juul settlement to fund tobacco use education for Alamogordo kids
