In a lyceum near Moscow, teachers searched the backpacks of high school students: they tried to find vapes

The lawyer called the actions of teachers illegal

A search was recently conducted in the Vidnovsky Art and Technical Lyceum (Leninsky urban district of the Moscow region). In one classroom, teachers searched students’ personal backpacks for vapes. Found some electronic cigarettes. The moment of the search was captured on video, which was later posted on social networks. The Department of Education justifies the actions of teachers.

Natalia Kiseleva, head of the city district’s education department, gave explanations about the “investigative” event at the lyceum. “Traces of e-cigarette smoking were found in the school toilet,” the official explained. And she added that the “visual inspection” of things in adolescents was carried out “for the safety and health” of students in grade 9. And with those who found electronic cigarettes, the administration of the lyceum held a conversation with the participation of the district police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And parents and children have no complaints, Kiseleva emphasized.

Vaping in schools is a very sensitive issue. Soaring is fashionable not only among teenagers, but also among children of a much younger age. One has only to mention vapes on teachers’ public pages, as the abysses open up. “Sits and smokes right in the classroom, 7th grade. He covered himself with a textbook, he thinks I won’t see it, ”a Saratov teacher complains just the day before. “And in the toilets there is a column of smoke, even for fourth graders. They take advantage of the fact that we are women, we cannot go there … ”There are always a lot of comments, in the widest range. From “take away and throw in the trash”, “put a deuce”, “kick out of class” and even “inform the police”. To “we have no right to touch the personal belongings of students and spy on them” …

– School teachers are not entitled to conduct any searches, – says lawyer Stanislav Popov. So this situation is illegal. And the parents remained in the claim or not, this is a reason for conducting an internal audit and starting investigative actions at the school. What then is possible? If a student has a vape, the teacher, of course, must notify the school administration and the social worker. The administration must notify the legal representative of the minor and call for a conversation. But in the case of smoking in the classroom, this, of course, is a reason to contact the police. Or at least urgently meet with the administration and parents, because this is an emergency. But, I repeat: even if the teacher knows for sure that all students came to class with electronic or regular cigarettes in their pockets, only police officers and other authorized bodies have the right to inspect them.

From the Vidnovsky Lyceum they report that soon all high school students will have a preventive conversation about the dangers of electronic cigarettes. And they will begin to closely monitor that students do not soar on the school grounds.

“One of the ways to fight electronic cigarettes could be to invite doctors to schools,” says pulmonologist Valentina Pankratova. – Smoking electronic cigarettes is not harmless, even “expensive and good.” It can lead already in childhood to the development of age-related diseases such as bronchial asthma, high blood pressure, heart problems. Fragrant mixtures contain nicotine, acetaldehyde, which cause inflammation of the lungs and fibrosis. And diacetyl, which can cause airway obstruction, remember the cases when children smoked a vape and began to choke. And the beautiful white vapor from e-cigarettes can contain heavy metals and carcinogenic tars. Previously, there was a tradition in schools when specialists came and talked about things that were harmful to health, about safety. Not everything can be learned from OBZH, as you can see. Perhaps this tradition should be revived.