Students report widespread vaping, classroom use at Covington high schools; council to raise issue with school board

Covington City Council members and members of the Covington Youth Council discussed widespread vaping and other substance use at local high schools during a joint study session, with students describing regular use in bathrooms, in classrooms and under desks and saying current school measures have not stopped the behavior.

Students said vaping is common and sometimes occurs in plain sight during class, and that bathroom closures and limited open facilities have made the problem harder to manage. One student said school bathrooms have become “a place like, bring your own weed” where groups meet; others described seeing students use devices under desks and in hallways. Youth council members reported that past attempts to detect use — including smoke alarms — were ineffective because vaping does not produce the same signatures as cigarette smoke.

The discussion highlighted three practical consequences: disruption to learning when use occurs in class, health issues when students avoid bathrooms, and uneven enforcement because hall-pass systems and digital pass tools are not always enforced by staff. Council members said they would raise the problem with the school board and encouraged the youth council to coordinate with student governments at other high schools to present a unified set of concerns.

Council members and staff said searching students at random raises constitutional concerns and is unlikely to be adopted as a district-wide practice. Students and councilors discussed alternatives the district might pursue — including stepped-up monitoring of bathrooms during passing periods, revisiting where cameras are placed in buildings (with legal and privacy limits), and better coordination between administrators and student leaders to set expectations and measures that would reduce use during school hours.

City officials encouraged youth leaders to collect specific metrics the district could act on — for example, counts of incidents by school and by location — and said the council would ask the school board for clarity about enforcement practices, disciplinary consequences and any pilot programs the district might consider. Several council members offered to attend upcoming student advisory or senate meetings to listen and bring student concerns to the board.