Jacqueline Munis & Ella McCarthy:
The episode that got her in trouble happened elsewhere in Texas, at Athens High School, where her debate team was competing last February. Iglesias went into a bathroom to vape. Later that day, her coach told her she had been caught.
“I decided to partake in something that I’m not proud of, but I did it,” Iglesias said, adding that her senior year was a stressful time and a close relative of hers was about to come out of jail. “I had had a lot of personal stuff building up outside.”
She immediately was pulled from the debate tournament and her coach told her she could face charges because she was 18. She was sent to her district’s alternative school for 30 days, which was the minimum punishment for students caught vaping under Tyler schools’ zero-tolerance policy.
Students found vaping also can receive a misdemeanor citation and be fined up to $100. Students found with vapes containing THC, the chemical that makes marijuana users feel high, can be arrested on felony charges. At least 90 students in Tyler have faced misdemeanor or felony charges.