SARASOTA — Following local changes to student discipline and added detection technology, Sarasota County Schools seems to be on a roll with curbing vaping in schools.
It’s now headed to the Florida Legislature to ask for help to accomplish more.
Earlier this month, the Sarasota County School Board spent time choosing the policies they deem most important to lobby for at the state level this year during the 2027 legislative session.
It starts in just five months but committees meet before March, leaving districts to advocate their needs now.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the School Board voted to approve its “priority” list of topics, including tasking staff with tightening state regulations around vaping in schools.
District officials argue the current state law about minors’ access to vaping is making teachers’ jobs harder.
During the Oct. 6 workshop, Chris Parenteau, the district’s lead on government affairs, told the School Board that there are multiple “loopholes” in Florida’s tobacco, vaping and hemp law.
Right now, the law focuses primarily on the sale and use of the products, but it doesn’t specify anything about possession of vaping devices on school campuses.
Because of how it’s written, Parenteau said, a teacher or administrator would have to visibly see a student vaping for the discipline related vaping on campus to be enacted.
The law has another loophole.
While it’s against the law to sell a vaping device to somebody under the age of 21, there is nothing that prohibits the possession of a vaping device by somebody under the age of 21.
Parenteau had suggested to the Board that they lobby for the same civil citation provisions for vaping that exist for being caught with marijuana.
“I don’t think anybody wants somebody to have a criminal record for possession of a vaping device at 14 years old,” he said. “But allowing some of this earlier intervention is something that we think will be a good redirection tool.”
There is already a bill that has been drafted and has had discussions with legislators, Parenteau said, who believes the bill could successfully pass through both chambers.
The outgoing board majority voted through the six-item priority list, members Liz Barker and Tom Edwards voting no.
Both dissenting officials stated they would rather wait for the new incoming board members, who are scheduled to be sworn in on Nov. 17, before approving the list.
“It’s unfair to the board, it’s disrespectful to the new board,” Edwards said.
The outgoing board members are Karen Rose, Bridget Ziegler and Robyn Marinelli.
“I’m very excited about a lot of these priorities, and I appreciate that the outgoing board had the opportunity to weigh in,” Barker said. “I’m simply asking that the incoming board be provided that same opportunity.”