The Coronado Unified School Board is suing social media companies for their alleged harmful activities that may have hurt CUSD students over mental health, and it has accepted $30,000 from a vaping settlement.
The district issued a statement on March 23, that said a social media mass-action lawsuit has not yet been filed, but it will name various defendants such as (Facebook) Meta Platforms, Inc., Instagram LLC, Snap, Inc., TikTok, Inc., ByteDance, Inc., YouTube LLC, Google LLC, Siculus Inc., and Alphabet Inc.
The lawsuit follows the San Mateo County Board of Education, which filed a similar suit earlier this month claiming that some social media platforms intentionally target young children and affect their well-being. And, in turn, allows for a mental health epidemic among school children.
That suit additionally claims that social media encourages irresponsible behavior that makes its way into school property which affects schools and districts.
The suits come as members of Congress on March 23, grilled the CEO of TikTok who asked federal lawmakers to not pursue a ban on the popular app or force its sale to new owners.
The platform has 150 million American users but it’s been dogged by persistent claims that it threatens national security and user privacy, or could be used to promote pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation.
Delayed response
The Coronado School Board held a private executive session meeting March 21, to discuss the legal matters and then in a brief public meeting accepted the settlement and authorized the district to file the social media suit.
School Board President Renee Cavanaugh on the evening of March 21, referred questions to Maria Simon, a former Coronado Unified School Board member who also covered the district as a reporter for The Coronado Eagle & Journal until moving into her current position as district spokeswoman in 2021.
Simon the next day said that the district would issue a statement regarding the recent board decisions, but no information was released until two days after the board’s actions.
The district eventually said it would be represented by F3 Law in collaboration with the Frantz Law Group. The two firms represented the district in the vaping case.
According to its website, Frantz Law Group has commenced litigation on behalf of other school districts against social media companies alleging their role in a mental health crisis among children and teenagers causing anxiety, depression, and thoughts of self-harm, in turn affecting students’ ability to succeed in school.
A Frantz Law Group spokesperson said the social media lawsuit likely will be filed by the end of March.
The Coronado News was able to gather some information March 22, from Trustee Whitney Antrim who said she believes the social media lawsuit may be linked to mental health of students.
“We will get updates probably in closed session as the case progresses,” Antrim said. “It will either go to a settlement or go to a trial, and we will get updates as that continues and then, ultimately, however it concludes.”
Settlement results in $30k for district
She also told The Coronado News that the district accepted $30,000 as part of the settlement from Juul. The district did not disclose that figure.
“We are actively pursuing bad actors that know that their products damage our students, and they’re hurting them anyway,” Antrim said regarding the vaping settlement.
Antrim said CUSD began settlement negotiations towards the end of 2021.
“Minors vaping is a problem that educators have had to combat in schools for years. The pandemic exacerbated the challenges we face regarding student health,” said CUSD Superintendent Karl Mueller in a March 23, press release.
“Intentional marketing, targeting youth, to sell these products to teens is unacceptable. We will use this settlement to provide preventative outreach and education to our students and families, and install additional vape detectors in restrooms at Coronado High School.”
Mueller’s statement came two days after The Coronado News repeatedly sought information from him and Simon on the board’s actions.
Vaping suits
Following health complication trends among youth users of Juul products since its inception in 2015, the company became a defendant in multiple cases across the United States by mid-2019 with governmental entities, individuals, and school districts as plaintiffs.
Juul settled with over 30 states and territories for $438.5 million in September and approximately another $1.7 billion for 5,000 California cases that involved school districts in December.
Currently, Juul describes its product as handheld e-liquid nicotine devices “designed and intended” as alternative products to combustible cigarettes for adult smokers.
However, according to the Public Health Law Center, claims about Juul’s intentional product marketing to attract minors, misrepresentation, and nicotine addiction promotion were found to be true.
Additionally, the CDC reports that young people using e-cigarettes may be more likely to use regular cigarettes.
Fighting dangers of youth vaping
While Antrim considers the district’s cut of the Juul settlement is not monumental, she said the amount will be useful to expand resources about the dangers of vaping.
“Those funds will be used for vaping detectors on campus and for education and information about vaping and the dangers of it,” she said. “We have already expended resources on some of those things.”
According to one vape detector provider Forensics Detectors, the cost of integrated vape detectors for schools that send email notifications costs over $10,000, plus ongoing subscription costs.
