BUTLER TWP — The Butler Area School District is looking at ways to use $99,000 from its settlement with Juul to prevent students and youths from using vape devices.

Brian White, superintendent of the district, said at a meeting of the school board Monday, March 13 that because the money has to be spent on prevention or education, he plans to present some possibilities to the board for consideration.

He said administrators have implemented a few anti-vaping methods in schools, such as installing vape detectors in hallways and sending emails to parents, but they are looking for more-effective ways of prevention.

“We bought vape detectors. and they really didn’t do much for us,” White said. “Arguably, our new hall pass system has done more to keep kids out of places where they shouldn’t be, should we use a portion of it to fund that?”

The discussion around the Juul settlement came after a parent spoke at the meeting about her disappointment about the lack of information relayed from administrators to parents regarding drug use in schools. School board president Jennifer Cummings said as a parent of a student at Butler Senior High School, she recognizes the need for communication to other parents about illicit activity in schools.

“We have not committed specifically what to use this for, but we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, a lot of opportunity,” White said.

According to the school district’s solicitor, Tom Breth, the district will receive the money in three rounds with the first round expected to be received by the end of 2023.

The school board members also had a lengthy discussion about the cost of sending only a few students to an academic games competition, which could be considered gifted education by some, and an enrichment activity by others.

Ultimately, the board voted 7-2 to spend $2,110 to pay a staff member along with three high school students to an academic games competition in Orlando, Fla., this semester. However, White highlighted the cost to the board and said the price is above the ordinary. He commented that the cost differs from trips for school sports teams, which are generally budgeted for and get support from booster organizations.

“In some schools, academic games are open to all students, and there are kids and parents who do fundraise,” White said. “The question is, ‘Is this the best way to serve all our gifted students or not?,’ and that is a question we’ll take to the advisory council.”

Board member Nina Teff said she supports reviewing the funding source for academic games trips, but still wanted the students to attend the competition.

“We should talk about that for the future, but this is a planned trip and there are students going that need a person to go with them,” Teff said.