One Upstate NY School Using Tech to Crack Down on Vaping

In high schools all over New York state, many students are vaping during the school day. A study from the Center for Disease Control states that one in every seven high school students has used electronic cigarettes. An Upstate New York school is cracking down on vaping using special technology.

The Mechanicville City School District has seen an increase in students using vapes. I have many friends that teach in the district and they say there seems to be an uptick in teens vaping in school.

Kenny Cooper, former Saratoga County Sherrif's officer and now Security Advisor for Mechanicville City School District said that vape companies are targeting our youth and making it where they enjoy vaping.

What is the Mechanicville City School District Doing to Crack Down?

They have installed vape detectors in all of the bathrooms. This helps to detect both nicotine and THC vapes. The monitors send a message to Cooper's phone when it detects vape usage. It even tells him which bathroom and the time the vaping took place. If they are unable to locate the student at the time when it occurs, they review the security cameras in the hallway outside of the bathrooms to find out who was there at that time.

The detectors aren't foolproof. Sometimes they can be falsely triggered. They also act as a destruction monitor. If there are loud noises in the bathroom, this could alert them that there is a problem.

The Vape Detectors Aren't Perfect

Cooper said that this is a catalyst in helping the school crackdown on vaping. There are false alarms but when they do detect vaping, the school tries to help the student and allows the staff to intervene. It is all about doing the best for the students and the staff.